FAI Spring Days 2021: 10 thematic itineraries to rediscover Italian cultural heritage
On May 15-16, 2021, the 29th edition of FAI Spring Days will take place in 300 Italian cities, marking the first major national art and culture event after the last lockdown. Over 600 sites, usually closed to the public, will open with free contributions and mandatory reservations. Highlights include the exceptional opening of Castello di Sammezzano in Reggello (FI), a masterpiece of eclectic Orientalist architecture closed since 2016, winner of FAI's 'I Luoghi del Cuore' census in 2016 and second in 2020. Other notable openings: Villa Il Vascello in Rome, seat of the Grand Orient of Italy, designed by Plautilla Bricci, likely the first female architect; Gio Ponti's Chiesa di San Francesco al Fopponino in Milan (1964); the newly restored Appartamento di Carlo Felice di Savoia at Palazzo Chiablese in Turin; the ONU Campus in Turin, designed by Nello Renacco for Italia '61; the park and gardens of Castello di Agliè; the Grand Hotel Majestic ex Baglioni in Bologna; Palazzo Malvinni Malvezzi in Matera, reopened after decades of abandonment; Castello Mackenzie in Genoa, now home to Cambi Casa d'Aste; and Gio Ponti's Concattedrale Gran Madre di Dio in Taranto (1964-1970). The event also closes the fundraising week organized by RAI in collaboration with FAI.
Key facts
- FAI Spring Days 2021 takes place May 15-16 in 300 Italian cities.
- Over 600 sites open to the public with free contribution and mandatory reservation.
- Castello di Sammezzano opens exceptionally after being closed since 2016.
- Castello di Sammezzano won FAI's 'I Luoghi del Cuore' in 2016 and ranked second in 2020.
- Villa Il Vascello in Rome is the seat of the Grand Orient of Italy and designed by Plautilla Bricci.
- Gio Ponti's Chiesa di San Francesco al Fopponino in Milan was inaugurated in 1964.
- Palazzo Malvinni Malvezzi in Matera reopens after restoration following the 1980 earthquake.
- The event is the first major national art and culture event after the last lockdown.
Entities
Artists
- Gio Ponti
- Plautilla Bricci
- Gian Lorenzo Bernini
- Benedetto Alfieri
- Francesco Tadolini
- Alfonso Torreggiani
- Gino Coppedè
- Evan Mackenzie
- Nello Renacco
- Amedeo di Castellamonte
- Cristoforo De Amicis
- Francesco Tabusso
- Ferdinando Panciatichi Ximenes D'Aragona
- Ascanio Vittozzi
- Emanuele Filiberto
- Carlo Emanuele III
- Benedetto Maurizio di Savoia
- Carlo Felice di Savoia
- Camillo Borghese
- Paolina Bonaparte
- Giacomo Medici
- Vittorio Emanuele II
- Luigi Medici
- Prospero Lambertini
- Papa Benedetto XIV
- Vincenzo Malvezzi
- Giovanni Antonio Orsini del Balzo
- Erennio Malvindi
- Nicola Romanov
- Lady Diana
- Federico Fellini
- Filippo Tommaso Marinetti
- Alessandro Manzoni
- Cardinal Montini
Institutions
- FAI (Fondo Ambiente Italiano)
- RAI
- Grande Oriente d'Italia
- Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio per la Città Metropolitana di Torino
- ONU
- ITCILO
- Staff College
- UNICRI
- Centro per l'UNESCO
- Turin School of Development
- Direzione Regionale Musei Piemonte
- Cambi Casa d'Aste
- Artribune
- Sammezzano Castle srl
Locations
- Italy
- Reggello
- Florence
- Tuscany
- Rome
- Lazio
- Milan
- Lombardy
- Turin
- Piedmont
- Bologna
- Emilia Romagna
- Matera
- Basilicata
- Genoa
- Liguria
- Taranto
- Puglia
- Agliè
- Castello di Sammezzano
- Villa Il Vascello
- Gianicolo
- Chiesa di San Francesco al Fopponino
- Palazzo Chiablese
- Campus ONU Torino
- Castello di Agliè
- Grand Hotel Majestic ex Baglioni
- Palazzo Malvinni Malvezzi
- Piazza Duomo (Matera)
- Castello Mackenzie
- Concattedrale Gran Madre di Dio
- Porta San Pancrazio
- Piazza Navona
- Porta Vercellina
- Po River
- Sassi di Matera
- Civita (Matera)