“Progetto Genesi” takes FAI into a new field, but one that is perfectly in line with the spirit of its cultural and educational mission: the opportunity to bring the social function of art to the attention of the public.

From 21 September to 8 December 2021, Villa e Collezione Panza, a FAI Property in Varese, will host Progetto Genesi, an atypical exhibition that departs from the poetics and vocation that Giuseppe Panza di Biumo imprinted on the place through his exceptional collection of American art, donated to FAI in 1996 together with the villa. For the first time, thanks to this exhibition, which will be stopping off at two other FAI properties – the Bosco di San Francesco in Assisi and Casa Noha in Matera – and in Agrigento – where a fourth FAI property, the Giardino della Kolymbethra, is located – FAI is addressing the issue of human rights, which are still being trampled on in so much of the world.

Progetto Genesi brings FAI into a new field, but one that is perfectly in line with the spirit of its cultural and educational mission. This exhibition, in fact, offers FAI the opportunity to bring to the attention of its public the social function of art, and of culture in general, as a powerful tool capable of speaking to everyone and of having an impact on society, in order to transform it, to improve it and to promote its progress.

The works of the artists in the Genesi collection denounce unacceptable violations and provoke reflections that refer to the greatest problems of humanity and existential issues, both personal and collective. The same themes, albeit in a less explicit form, also emerge from the history of the places where this exhibition will be held, demonstrating that cultural heritage must be protected not only for its historical and artistic value but also because it bears witness to and promotes values that are fundamental to the civilisation of yesterday, today and tomorrow.

The works of art collected by Giuseppe Panza di Biumo invite the public visiting Villa Panza in Varese on an introspective journey in an almost spiritual search for the self and the meaning of life, and in this they play a role that goes far beyond the aesthetic enjoyment of the perfection of form, light and colour. The Christian spirituality that emanates at every step along the paths in the Bosco di San Francesco in Assisi (owned by FAI since 2008), and in the small Benedictine church of Santa Croce, which will house a work from the Genesi collection, blends with the secular spirituality of Michelangelo Pistoletto’s Third Paradise, in a clearing in the same wood; a work of art (donated to FAI by the artist in 2011) that is a symbol of the urgent need to rediscover harmony with nature in order to guarantee a future for humanity. Casa Noha, a simple house in the heart of the Sassi di Matera (donated to FAI in 2004 by the Fodale and Latorre families), which will house another work from the Genesi collection, tells the story of a town that has suffered the violation of human rights in the heartbreaking poverty of its inhabitants, until its redemption in the 1950s, triggered precisely by a work of art: Carlo Levi’s book, Christ Stopped at Eboli, which for the first time brought to everyone’s attention that unacceptable condition of backwardness in the Italy of the economic boom. Lastly, Agrigento, which has been closely involved in the drama of the migrants who land on the island of Lampedusa, has been a beacon of civilisation in the Mediterranean since the 6th century B.C. and a centre of culture open to foreign influences, which can be seen in the architecture of its historic buildings as well as in the Mediterranean variety of species still cultivated today in the Giardino della Kolymbethra, entrusted to FAI in 2009 by the Region of Sicily: a masterpiece of history and nature, and the testimony of a welcoming and therefore flourishing humanity.

Progetto Genesi, therefore, offers FAI the opportunity to emphasise the relevance and universality of the social message that these places preserve and express in their properties.

Lastly, in addition to hosting the works of the Genesi collection in three of its properties, FAI takes the opportunity of this project to highlight the contribution of its volunteers engaged in the “FAI Ponte tra culture” initiative: Italian citizens of foreign origin who collaborate with FAI in its work of enhancing the value of cultural heritage, enriching its narrative by highlighting contacts and intertwining between different cultures. More than 40 podcasts, available to the public visiting the exhibition in all of its venues via their smartphones, collect their direct, personal and sometimes moving accounts of the works on show.