Annual Report 2011 - Fai

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Our most fascinating stories Walking amidst the olive trees of the “Terzo Paradiso” (Third Paradise) by Michelangelo Pistoletto at Bosco di San Francesco, Assisi (Perugia). © A. Angelucci THREE “PRESENTS” FOR THE FUTURE At times, there are some stories that are more fascinating than others. Perhaps due to the circumstances in which they come into being, or due to the emotions that they can elicit, or simply because they are perfect for that precise moment in time. The three stories collected in this section belong to this latter category. These three stories are about a love for Italy’s artistic and natural heritage, a passion for one’s work, the courage to choose a different road than that followed by everyone else, and the strength to believe in timeless values that are robust enough to resist whatever any economic or civil crisis may throw at them. These are the stories of three “presents” that we wanted to give to everyone in order to send out a clear, indelible message, which is that even – and, indeed, more than ever – in difficult times, the Trust is “by your side” and we are committed to exerting a unified and evergreater influence if all those who believe in the resources of Italian “culture” will continue to support us and to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with us. They are stories that, more than any other form of discourse, are able to express what it means to work day in, day out, to give our past a future. 16 Annual Report 2011 Annual Report 2011 17
The Negozio Olivetti in Piazza San Marco in Venice Tobia Scarpa The Villa dei Vescovi, Luvigliano di Torreglia (Padua) Pierpaolo Olcese © M. Introini FAI - Negozio Olivetti, Venice FAI - Villa dei Vescovi, Luvigliano di Torreglia (Padua) © M.E. Smith © M. Bianchi Tobia Scarpa is an Italian artist with a longstanding, brilliant career: his work, which ranges from architecture to design to restoration projects, has often been exhibited in the leading international museums and he has made a vital contribution to the reputation of Italian design around the world. ITALY REDISCOVERS AN ICON OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY Having sunk into oblivion for years, the Negozio Olivetti in Piazza San Marco in Venice has regained all of its former lustre. After having taken care of its restoration, insurance group Assicurazioni Generali – the Showroom’s owners – entrusted its management to FAI, which re-opened it to the public in April 2011. Visitors from far and wide were, therefore, given the opportunity to get re-acquainted with this masterpiece by architect Carlo Scarpa, which is one of the most important examples of 20th-century architecture in Italy. The Negozio Olivetti is one of just a few works by my father to which I contributed during the design and construction phases. I saw it come to life, I saw the original plans, I saw the importance it gradually acquired, like all of Dad’s works, which always generated a great deal of interest. When I saw it again after the restoration, the most striking thing for me was that I was seeing a “new” building. I remember well when the Showroom had just been completed first time around: it was new, glossy, all the parts were perfectly finished, everything was perfect. Now everything is once again in its rightful place, and thanks to the restoration – which is quite incredible in terms of everything being exactly as it should be – the original colours have been reinstated. It really is a very important intervention if you look at it critically, it’s all about safeguarding and conserving the objects that we love, which represent us and which we want to remain very much alive. Visiting the Showroom today, we can experience once more the extraordinary way in which my father managed to bring together the past and the present, retaining a real sense of harmony in the process. Violence had no place in his works, and he jettisoned certain aspects of the heritage of modernity in the elegance of the passages – aspects that the ancients, in contrast, always respected. He was used to staging major exhibitions in Venice, each one more extraordinary than the last. But they were temporary works, destined to remain no more than memories. The Showroom, however, was a “solid” work, one that would last through the years and that was, at the same time, very much a oneoff. This is the great value that visitors today can discover by coming to visit it. A WONDERFUL TESTAMENT TO GREAT CIVIL ARCHITECTURE In June 2011, FAI re-opened the Villa dei Vescovi in Luvigliano (near Padua) to the public. This delightful villa was built on an embankment of the Euganean Hills and was donated to the Trust by Maria Teresa Olcese Valoti and by her son Pierpaolo Olcese as a gesture of love towards Vittorio Olcese (Maria Teresa’s husband and Pier Paolo’s father). After a prolonged restoration process, another prestigious example of great Italian civil architecture was thus given a new lease of life, allowing visitors to admire once again the dignified geometric enclosure, the frescoes depicting Roman heroes and idealised landscapes set against backdrops of green volcanic hillsides, and the loggias caressed by gentle breezes. The Villa dei Vescovi was purchased by my father, Vittorio Olcese, in response to a proposal by Neri Pozza and the Ente Ville Venete, in order to save a building of tremendous importance in terms of the architectural history of the region, which had by then been abandoned for many years. The Villa, owned by the Curia of Padua, had served variously as a barracks, an asylum and a nursing home; its loggias had been closed over and its frescoes covered up. Vittorio restored it with the idea that, one day, it could become a public property. The donation of the Villa to FAI by my mother, Maria Teresa, and I was nothing more than the follow through of a project that began in the 1960s and was completed with another rebirth, and it is also an homage to two of the great names of Italian culture – friends Vittorio Olcese and Giulia Maria Mozzoni Crespi, FAI’s Honorary President – who shared in a great deal of the recent history of the Villa. The son of Vittorio Olcese, a prominent figure in the Milanese industrial and political worlds, Pierpaolo chose together with his mother Maria Teresa Olcese Valoti to donate the Villa dei Vescovi to FAI in memory of his father, who passed away in 1999, thus turning this fine example of Italian civil architecture into a public property. 18 Annual Report 2011 Annual Report 2011 19
Page 1 and 2: Annual Report 2011
Page 3 and 4: About Us FAI - Villa dei Vescovi, L
Page 5 and 6: Properties regularly open to the pu
Page 7 and 8: © Giorgio Majno © Giorgio Majno I
Page 9: Management Overview Angelo Maramai,
Page 13 and 14: Our threefold mission © A. Angeluc
Page 15 and 16: 1. Protecting and enhancing Restora
Page 17 and 18: 1. Protecting and enhancing Restora
Page 19 and 20: 1. Protecting and enhancing Conserv
Page 21 and 22: 1. Protecting and enhancing Opening
Page 23 and 24: FAI - Giardino della Kolymbetra, Va
Page 25 and 26: 2. Educating and raising awareness
Page 27 and 28: Our mission is a major team effort
Page 29 and 30: Raising and managing funds The supp
Page 31 and 32: Corporate Golden Donor Companies th
Page 33 and 34: Communication Getting the substance
Page 35 and 36: People The role played by personal
Page 37 and 38: Financial Statements - Balance Shee
Page 39 and 40: Financial Statements - Operating Se
Page 41 and 42: Notes to the financial statements S
Page 47 and 48: Schedule A Work carried out on prop
Page 49 and 50: A heartfelt thanks to all those who
Page 51: Cover: FAI - Bosco di San Francesco

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