2024 was an intense year full of challenges: from the inauguration of two new properties to the improvement of the visitor experience, and even the most demanding restoration projects, which are a prelude to the inaugurations of 2025, the year of FAI’s 50th anniversary.

In 2024, FAI opened two new properties: the Aula del Simonino in Trento and the Velarca on Lake Como. It also enhanced the visitor experience at its open properties, such as the opening of the info-point at Villa del Balbianello, the inauguration of the Maramai Gardens in San Fruttuoso, and the opening of the educational classrooms at the Monastery of Torba. As always, restoration efforts were combined with functional adjustments to allow the properties to be enjoyed and visited daily.

Thanks to public funding and the generous donations from private individuals, we were able to carry out six major restoration projects in 2024.

The most expensive and challenging intervention was the restoration of the gardens at Villa Rezzola, carried out thanks to the PNRR funds dedicated to parks and historic gardens, which was completed last December. We restored about 1.5 hectares of green areas around the villa, which will finally be open to the public starting next spring. Over 40 meters of pergolas and 18 stone and brick stairways were restored, 12 historic basins and fountains were reactivated, more than 8,000 flowers, shrubs, and trees were planted, and 18 photovoltaic panels were installed to provide energy to the electrical systems. To reopen to the public in the spring of 2025, many more interventions are still needed, both in the gardens and in the buildings. Starting with the entrance farmhouse, which needs to be consolidated and restored, equipped with all necessary services, and set up to welcome visitors, to the park, where we will need to complete the restoration of the stairways and dry-stone walls that contain the slopes and create proper lighting for the paths. Lastly, but not least, we will begin interventions on the villa itself to ensure its safety ahead of the reopening to the public, so visitors can once again enjoy the magnificent view of the Gulf of Poets from its terrace.

At Villa Gregoriana, the technological innovations funded by the Lazio Region included the cleaning of 6,000 square meters of rocky wall in the cavea, the installation of an elevator, and the creation of a new entrance path to ensure access for all. In 2025, the works will be completed with the installation of sensors for remote monitoring of landslide movements and a new, captivating lighting system.

All summer, work has been underway at Monte Fontana Secca to continue the restoration of the valley farmhouse and the reconstruction of the stable, projects started with funding from the PNRR, the Fondo Comuni Confinanti, and the contribution of Fondazione Same, with completion expected in 2025. The site will be fully self-sufficient in terms of energy and water, thanks to a custom-designed photovoltaic system and the restoration of the ancient “pose,” the watering ponds historically used by shepherds for livestock. Fontana Secca is finally regaining its original structure, and by 2026, it will be ready to host dairy activities again, as well as provide accommodation for students and scholars interested in the topic of mountain agriculture.

In 2025, the project to create new spaces in the Palazzo Baronale at Castello di Avio will also be completed: visitors will be able to enjoy new areas dedicated to educational activities and interpretation. This extensive project began in 2024 with the restoration of the Guard Tower and the consolidation of the walls of the Courtyard, funded by the Autonomous Province of Trento.

In the summer of 2025, the rooms on the ground floor of the Casino Mollo, located next to the Riserva dei Giganti on the Sila Plateau, will open to the public. The building, a historic residence of the Mollo family, has been partially restored to welcome visitors along the road leading to the Reserve. This is the first step towards the completion of the full restoration and functional adaptation project for the Casino, which also includes the restoration of the first floor and the exterior.

2024 was also a year rich in research, surveying, and design activities, carried out by FAI professionals in collaboration with specialized external consultants: from the technical-economic feasibility study for the restoration of the Convent of San Bernardino in Ivrea, to the initial project concepts for Casa Livio and Casa Crespi in Milan, as well as the knowledge site and archaeological excavations at the Case Montana and the Giardino della Kolymbethra.

Here, in 2025, the year of Agrigento as the Italian Capital of Culture, FAI is committed to carrying out numerous interventions to make the visit to this small earthly paradise in the heart of the Valley of the Temples even more engaging, attractive, and also unusual.

Finally, in April 2025, FAI will also inaugurate Podere Case Lovara, located in Punta Mesco within the Cinque Terre National Park, with its history of heroic agriculture. Overlooking the eastern Ligurian Sea and accessible only on foot via a magnificent panoramic trail, the FAI property (donated by Immobiliare Fiascherino in 2009) is at the heart of a project to recover a centuries-old agricultural world and promote the sustainable development of local resources.