
On Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 March, the 33rd edition of the FAI Spring Days returns, the most important event dedicated to the cultural and landscape heritage of our country organized by the FAI - Fondo Ambiente Italiano (Italian Environment Fund) - in 400 cities, thanks to the commitment and passion of thousands of volunteers active in all regions. A great event dedicated to art, culture and nature that this year coincides with the fiftieth anniversary of the birth of the FAI. An important milestone, which is celebrated with the opening of 750 special places, from north to south of the Peninsula, many of which are unusual and not accessible, or little known and valued, which can be visited thanks to a free contribution; at each visit it is possible to support the mission and activities of the Foundation with a donation.
In Rome and Lazio in general, you can visit places of great historical and artistic importance, such as Palazzo Farnese, built for Alessandro Farnese, the future Pope Paul III, starting in 1513, on which the greatest architects of the time worked, such as Michelangelo and Antonio da Sangallo, in which is preserved, on the vault of the Gallery on the main floor, one of the most wonderful fresco cycles in the entire history of art, the work of Annibale and Agostino Carracci. Another extraordinary opening also for the Palazzo del Collegio Romano, seat of the Ministry of Culture since 1975, built in 1551 by order of Ignatius of Loyola; on this occasion the entire Roman College can be visited, including the Sala Spadolini and the Biblioteca della Crociera. In a part of the Palace, occupied by the Ennio Quirino Visconti classical high school, also open, you can admire the Wunder Musaeum, where part of the cabinet of curiosities of the alchemist Athanasius Kircher is kept, and the Sala Pozzo, frescoed by Andrea Pozzo, author of the dome of Sant'Ignazio. The church will also be accessible, exceptionally, through a door of the Collegio Romano complex, reopened after several years. Another rarity that can be visited is the courtyard of Palazzo della Valle, the current headquarters of Confagricoltura, which was the home of Cardinal Andrea della Valle, a distinguished humanist and patron, who had it built around 1510 along the via papalis - today's Corso Vittorio Emanuele II - so called because it was once crossed by papal processions. The Palace is embellished with columns taken from buildings of ancient Rome.
Finally, among the many places visible in Lazio, there is Villa Mondragone, in Monte Porzio Catone, which belongs to the complex of the Tuscolane Villas and which today is the seat of conference and cultural activities of the University of Rome Tor Vergata, built in 1567 by the architect Martino Longhi the Elder and expanded between 1616 and 1618 by the Flemish architect Jan Van Santen (Giovanni Vasanzio), the brilliant creator of the Retirata, the splendid Giardino Grande, the Teatro delle Acque (Theater of the Waters) with the Fontana dei Draghi at its centre and the large quadrangular courtyard inspired by the cour d’honneur of the royal residences of France.
The list of open places and the ways to participate are available on the official website: www.giornatefai.it
Photo: Facebook official page
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