Fondazione Roi launches CORSO hub in Vicenza's former Cinema Corso

The Fondazione Giuseppe Roi has announced CORSO – Culture del Contemporaneo, a €5 million urban regeneration project to transform the former Cinema Corso in Vicenza into a hybrid cultural hub. The cinema, at Corso Fogazzaro 31, has been disused since 1996. President Francesca Lazzari, who took office in 2024, stated the foundation chose not to sell the property but to invest in its revival. The project includes an international architecture competition for architects under 40, managed with the Ordine degli Architetti P.P.C. della Provincia di Vicenza. Consultants Cristiano Seganfreddo and Fabio Severino contributed to the plan. The space will feature flexible exhibition areas for at least two international contemporary art shows per year, co-working spaces, residencies for under-35 artists, curatorial labs, think tanks, and a new media and digital art hub. The foundation aims to fill a gap in 20th-century and contemporary art in Vicenza, a city traditionally focused on Palladian heritage. Construction is expected to take 18 months, with the first major international exhibition already in planning. Photographer Marco Zorzanello has documented the current state of the building.