Take advantage of the Christmas holidays to visit our properties: from the Alps to Sardinia, an itinerary to discover traditional cribs, contemporary art and photography exhibitions and exceptional exhibitions such as Gio Ponti’s ‘Table Triumph’ at Villa Necchi Campiglio in Milan.

THE ENCHANTMENT OF CRIBS

From the Nativity scenes of the Neapolitan and Sicilian school to contemporary reinterpretations by artists such as Maria Lai, the nativity scenes in FAI properties are set up according to local customs (webpage in Italian).

At the Giardino della Kolymbethra (AG), for example, one can admire the evocative setting in a cave that was a rock sanctuary in the early Christian era, while at the Castello della Manta (CN) and at the Abbazia di Cerrate (LE) delicate papier-mâché statuettes embellish the rooms along the tour route. In addition, special guided tours and creative workshops delve into the various techniques and crafts related to the art of creating nativity scenes according to ancient popular traditions.

UNTIL 7 JANUARY AT THE ABBEY OF SAN FRUTTUOSO (CAMOGLI, GE)

The Gianni Berengo Gardin – San Fruttuoso di Camogli exhibition, set up in two rooms of the Abbey, presents twenty-eight black and white photographs taken by the famous photographer in 2020, at the age of ninety. The photos express – thanks to the play of contrasts typical of the author – all the meticulousness, passion, attention to detail and people that have always animated his work. After having dedicated a photographic project to Camogli in 2008, Gianni Berengo Gardin signed a new reportage on the Ligurian coast, which was realised during the period of the pandemic: the emergency and the extraordinary nature of those months made it possible to obtain particularly evocative images, which show the village of San Fruttuoso as a place of meditation in a situation of complete isolation.

UNTIL 7 JANUARY AT THE OLIVETTI SHOP, VENICE

Venice! Will I ever come back to Venice again? Danilo Donati’s sets for Fellini’s ‘Il Casanova’ (webpage in Italian) is the exhibition you can admire in the historic Negozio Olivetti in Piazza San Marco in Venice.

In addition to the Rome of La dolce vita (1960) and the Rimini of Amarcord (1973), Federico Fellini indissolubly linked his name and cinematic fantasies to Venice through Il Casanova (1976), considered one of his greatest masterpieces. The film also represents the culmination of the work of Danilo Donati, one of the most celebrated set and costume designers in Italian cinema.

The preparatory cartoons for Donati’s sets, exhibited for the first time in collaboration with the Massimo and Sonia Cirulli Foundation, take us back inside the Venice imagined by Fellini and Donati, made of suggestions, fantasies and oneiricism.

UNTIL 28 JANUARY AT VILLA NECCHI CAMPIGLIO, MILAN

Exceptionally displayed in the dining room of the 1930s design villa is the Centrotavola for the Foreign Ministry (webpage in Italian) designed by Gio Ponti and Tomaso Buzzi, and made in the Manifattura di Doccia in Sesto Fiorentino by Italo Griselli between 1927 and 1929.

The large Trionfo da tavola, which comes from the Richard Ginori Museum, is a true sculptural creation centred on the allegorical figure of Italy lying on a shell and surrounded by heraldic animals and other small porcelain elements in a composition of no less than 41 original elements that reinterprets a neoclassical object in Art Deco style.

UNTIL 25 FEBRUARY AT VILLA AND PANZA COLLECTION, VARESE

At Villa Panza, in the spaces of the Scuderie and Rimesse per le Carrozze, the personal exhibition Passageway by Wolfgang Laib (webpage in Italian), one of the international protagonists of contemporary art, is on display. The German artist is the protagonist of an exhibition project with four large installations made with organic and inorganic materials. Beeswax, pollen, rice, stone, paper and brass are the elements that give life to his works and represent the starting point for creations that transcend the visual and artistic experience, leading the spectator to a more intimate and meditative dimension.