Over seven hundred places open in four hundred cities of the twenty Italian regions. These are the main numbers of the Days FAI di Primavera reached their thirtieth edition this year and which will lead us once again to discover the Italian cultural and landscape heritage. Even that in many cases not accessible and little known. L'appointment is for Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 March, with a particular cut this year, linked to the dramatic reality of the war that Ukraine is experiencing.
The FAI, as an institution of the Republic, has in fact chosen to express its own explicitly closeness and solidarity to the Ukrainian people by displaying the colors of its flag in all communication and in the Goods. More. FAI also wants to make a concrete contribution. Therefore formally undertakes to finance the recovery of a work of art from the Ukrainian cultural heritage which will be identified as soon as the war ends and the reconstruction of the country begins.
Castles, museums, churches, archaeological areas… 700 places open in 400 cities
Historic villas and buildings, archaeological areas, churches of great architectural or historical-artistic value, examples of industrial archeology, castles, libraries, art collections and museums will be the great protagonists of this FAI weekend to discover what is beautiful in our country. There will be itineraries in the villages in search of lesser-known corners of the Italian landscape, where hidden treasures are preserved and ancient traditions handed down.
And educational visits to urban parks, botanical gardens, historical gardens. As always, the contribution of the volunteers (of 350 Delegations and FAI Groups active in all regions) who will contribute to these visits will be fundamental. Together with many students, those who in these thirty years of FAI's activity have been defined as the “Ciceroni apprentices”.
Monuments and landscapes represent the genetic heritage of a people for the FAI
It will be a journey into beauty, but also a reflection (which is repeated every time on the occasion of these weekends) on the meaning and role of Italian cultural heritage. Which reflects our identity, which testifies to our culture. Monuments, landscapes, works of art represent for FAI the genetic heritage of a people, a code of experiences and shared values. Hence the importance of their conservation, enhancement and dissemination. Because all this also speaks of Italy, to the men of the present and to those who will come in the future.
Among the places open in Rome there is also the small and ancient church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus of the Ukrainian / Byzantine rite
Among the most interesting openings, in Rome, the sixteenth century Casino dell'Aurora Ludovisi. Palazzo Corsini seat of the Accademia dei Lincei, the oldest scientific academy in the world. And also, to stay on the sad news of these days and reiterate the closeness of the FAI to the Ukrainian people, the Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus, open to visitors on Saturday 26 March. It is about a small and ancient Ukrainian-Byzantine rite church overlooking Piazza Madonna dei Monti, today the seat of the Apostolic Exarchate for the Ukrainian Catholic faithful of the Byzantine rite residing in Italy.
In Lombardy, the FAI proposes the Bertini power plant in Cornate d'Adda. It was built along the Adda River in 1898. At the time it was the most powerful hydroelectric plant in Europe. Not to be missed in Florence Villa Medicea di Careggi, the fifteenth-century residence of choice of Lorenzo the Magnificent.
In Palermo visit the museum dedicated to the memory of Falcone and Borsellino
Among the villages, we remember the visit to Montecassino, with its late medieval urban fabric immersed in a countryside landscape. In Palermo, FAI invites us to visit Villa Ida, built by the liberty master Ernesto Basile in 1903 as his own home studio. And the “Bunkerino” in the Palace of Justice, museum dedicated to the memory of Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, 30 years after their death.
There are also many thematic itineraries, from north to south of Italy: discovering ancient universities, the history of the Salento tobacco economy, the artisan traditions which sees, among others, a visit to Spilimbergo, in the province of Pordenone, for the hundred years since foundation of the Mosaic School of Friuli.
Further information on all events, how to participate and any reservations on www.giornatefai.it
(featured photo credits: Ministry of Cultural Heritage; other photo credits: FAI)
