The fully restored old barn now serves as a versatile space, featuring two new areas designed to enrich educational activities and showcase video storytelling about the history of the Monastero di Torba in Gornate Olona (VA).

FAI has inaugurated the teaching rooms at the Monastero di Torba, built in the old barn, thanks to the restoration of the building’s first floor. Two large spaces have thus been created, which are fundamental for improving the visit offer, i.e. enriching the educational and cultural services of the Asset. One will be dedicated to school classes and students visiting the Monastery, the other to all visitors, who will be invited to attend more comfortably the projection of a video story on the history of the Monastery, previously set up in the Tower.

The classrooms were inaugurated on November 12th, 2024 in the presence of Daniela Bruno, FAI Assistant Director General for Cultural Affairs; Emanuele Poretti, Mayor of Gornate Olona; Mario Clerici, President of Parco Pineta; Paola Candiani, FAI Director of Restoration and Conservation; and Alice Forni, President of the Associazione Amici del FAI*.

Emanuele Poretti, Mayor of Gornate Olona: “I am honoured to have participated in this inauguration and to have brought my greetings on behalf of the Gornate community. For my part, I am fully committed to ensuring that in the future the relationship between the Municipality of Gornate Olona and the FAI will develop further, with projects that can make the Monastero di Torba an even more attractive place from the point of view of tourism and culture“.

FAI Deputy Director General for Cultural Affairs Daniela Bruno continues: “In 2023, the Monastero di Torba welcomed more than 2,000 students, almost a hundred classes, of all levels, from the province of Varese, but also from Milan and Como. The visits offered to the schools are participatory, active, and range in content from archaeology – which can be ‘touched’ here thanks to the excavations still in progress – to art history, landscape and biodiversity. This place has much to tell and teach: to the students, whom we want to welcome in far greater numbers, thanks to the new services, and to all visitors, who discover in this hidden corner of the landscape a historical monument that is a world heritage site”.

She is echoed by the Lombardy Region’s Culture Councillor Francesca Caruso: ‘With this inauguration, Lombardy confirms its commitment to supporting the enhancement of our cultural and landscape heritage. The opening of the new teaching rooms is a concrete example of how it is possible to revive a site of great historical importance, making it accessible and stimulating for the new generations. FAI has realised a project that combines innovation and tradition, involving the public through quality educational experiences“.

INNOVATION IN TRADITION
The subject of restoration was the 19th-century barn, the most recent structure in the complex and concrete evidence of the monastery’s transition from a religious to an agricultural function. Historically used for grain storage, since 2018 it has housed a small ticket office and shop on the ground floor. Work has now been completed to open up the two rooms: the space, previously unused and completely open on the sides, has been enclosed by new walls and has become an accessible room, equipped with the necessary didactic equipment. The choice of materials was very careful: for the typical “mandolate” walls, bricks from old Lombardy farmhouses were reused, and certified wood fibre panels were installed to insulate the roof.

A project that combines innovation and tradition, respecting the rural and historical architectural language of the building and the local area, and which is designed to be sustainable, as in the choice of materials with a low environmental impact, also in the efficiency of consumption and therefore of operating costs.

THE TEACHING PROPOSAL
For students of all levels – from early childhood to high school – the educational proposal is also enriched. Depending on the age of the children, different routes have been developed: animated visits, based on play and emotion, for kindergartens and primary schools; discovery visits and thematic research groups for secondary schools. For example, workshops on the observation and analysis of osteological finds are planned for middle and high school students: an opportunity to discover the fascinating professions of anthropologists and archaeologists and to orient them towards future professions.

The various routes are also designed with a multidisciplinary approach, which allows the cultural heritage to be interpreted from several points of view, integrating knowledge learnt at school through experience in the field. At Torba, for example, there are beehives, which allow the youngest children to take part in activities that pollinate insects and honey. Older children can instead request a visit according to the CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) methodology, to learn specific terminology in English concerning the history and art of the monastery.

And again, thanks to funding from the Lombardy Region under the Culture 2024 Single Notice – UNESCO line, accessibility standards for the visit will be raised, with the design and creation of a visit itinerary that can be enjoyed independently or guided through the creation of visual-tactile and audio supports; the organisation of guided tours and workshops in LIS – Italian Sign Language for families and the translation into LIS with subtitles of the contents of the video-story on the history of the property, which will be available soon.

*articles in ITalian