Four dates for a trek in company, starting from Villa del Balbianello
FAI – Fondo per l’Ambiente Italiano ETS – has been defending Italy’s beauties for 50 years now, safeguarding and promoting the country’s history, nature and art heritage. It does so by investing in renovation and restoration work but also by means of a powerful popular engagement effort on the strength of our volunteers. FAI’s Spring and Autumn Days are its best known appointments, but there are lots of events throughout the year to give everyone – both members and non-members alike – the chance to find out more about Italian heritage and contribute to safeguarding it.
Trekking through history, nature and culture
A walking exploration of Lake Como’s art and nature heritage: Villa del Balbianello – a stylish 18th century manor house, one of Lake Como’s most picturesque, with its associations with literary figures and travellers, will be the starting point for a trek with nature guides on Saturday 6 and 20 September and 4 and 18 October. The first section is along the Greenway path to Chiesa di Sant’Andrea before continuing to the village of Molgisio and the chapels of Sacro Monte della Beata Vergine del Soccorso, a UNESCO heritage site. From here a panoramic footpath leads to a further two FAI sites, the medieval Soccorso or Del Barbarossa tower and Velarca, a houseboat designed by Milanese studio BBPR in 1959 and now restored to its former glories after lengthy restoration by FAI and returned to its original mooring at Ossuccio, a mini modern art masterpiece. The walk then continues in the direction of Chiesa di Sant’Agata, Carate, Campo and Villa Balbiano. On the return journey visitors can explore Villa del Balbianello and its astonishing garden which FAI conserves with the same obsessive attention to detail as its last owner, Guido Monzino.
At Imbersago (LC)
The Traghetto di Leonardo da Vinci ferry – which ranked 7th in the national I Luoghi del Cuore best-loved places classification, with over 31,000 votes. This is a historic ferry which once linked up the Duchy of Milan and the Republic of Venice and was designed by the Tuscan army in 1506-07. For centuries a vital goods and people carrier, it is now the only such boat still in working order in the world and continues to ply the lake’s waters for tourists and school groups.
A fifty-year-long mission
FAI-Fondo per l’Ambiente Italiano ETS’s fiftieth birthday is in 2025. Set up on 28 April 1975 at the behest of Giulia Maria Crespi, Renato Bazzoni, Alberto Predieri and Franco Russoli, FAI’s work safeguarding, conserving and promoting Italy’s history, art and nature heritage depends on the support of citizens, companies and institutions. It is a mission which takes practical shape in looking after special places – over 70 sites across Italy, 57 of which are open to the public and 17 currently being restored – and thousands of sites promoted in initiatives such as the FAI Spring and Autumn Days and I Luoghi del Cuore, best-loved places. With over 1.1 million visitors to its sites in 2024 FAI now has over 300,000 members and more than 16,000 volunteers. 24,000 places were visited on FAI days by 16 million Italians and over 4 million students took part, 550,000 of them as trainee volunteers. On the strength of over 13 million votes since 2003, the I Luoghi del Cuore census has led to 163 places benefiting from renovation and promotion work. www.fondoambienteitaliano.it
