In 1947 the Municipality of Milan, pressed by the need to find a new exhibition space for contemporary art, focused its attention on the site of Villa Belgioiosa, destroyed by bombing in 1943.

In 1993 a bomb destroyed the building (Via Palestro massacre) at a time when Italy was heavily committed in its fight against the Mafia.

Gardella subsequently rebuilt the exhibiting space according to the original design, though with key technical improvements.

Over the past thirty years PAC have organised solo presentations of international artists such as Marina Abramovic, Laurie Anderson, Jivya Soma Mashe, Christian Boltanski, Chen Zhen, Lucio Fontana, Franko B, Regina José Galindo, Alberto Garutti, Jannis Kounellis, Richard Long, Robert Motherwell, Pino Pascali, Cindy Sherman, Yinka Shonibare, Tony Oursler, Jeff Wall and Zhang Huan.

In 1994 Maurizio Cattelan presented at the Laure Genillard Gallery in London a sculpture called Lullaby consisting of a blue bag containing debris he collected from PAC after the bombing.