San Giorgio in Venice is much more than an island: extraordinarily beautiful and located in the most panoramic place of the city, right in front of the San Marco basin, San Giorgio means a Benedictine monastery that has over a thousand years of life, the majestic Basilica of San Giorgio Maggiore, designed by Andrea Palladio, with all inside there are works by Tintoretto, Carpaccio, Ricci, a towering bell tower and other outstanding monuments. A long and complex history. A conclave was even celebrated here.
But for 70 years this magical and silent island has meant above all Giorgio Cini Foundation, that is, a real internationally recognized cultural institution, something unique in Italy, a sort of “extraterritorial space”, a “free port”, “meeting point of different civilizations”, as its president proudly defined it , Giovanni Bazolion the occasion of the conclusion of the celebrations for the anniversary of the Venetian Center.
It was in fact 1951when, after 150 years of dramatic decline of its structures and of the monastic complex due to the Napoleonic intervention that had reduced the island to a military garrison, the count Vittorio Cini, wanted to create the Foundation, in memory of his son Giorgio, a thirty-year-old expert due to a plane crash.
The institution is, by its statute, a center of art and culture created to promote the restoration of the extraordinary monumental complex, the humanist and historical studies on the city, the dialogue between cultures. In 70 years, the Foundation has also favored the development of educational, social, cultural and artistic institutions in Venice. An intervention of great impact for the city and for the education of entire generations, combined with the creation of a cultural and artistic reality of excellence, hosting personalities, events, reviews and symposiums worldwide. It has also been the site of international summits such as i G7 held in 1980 and 1987.
Over the years, institutes and research centers have sprung updirected by illustrious scholars, dedicated to Theater and Melodrama, to the History of Venice, to the History of Art, to Ancient Music, to Antonio Vivaldi, to Contemporary Music, to Comparative Music Studies, to Comparative Civilization and Spirituality, to Glass Studies and digitization in the ARCHiVe center.
Today, thanks to the restorations, Cini has given new life and visibility to the entire monumental complex that counts the Palladian cloister and cenacle, the Borges labyrinth, recently reopened to the public, the Bosco dei Cipressi as well as the rich library, an art gallery, a musical theater overlooking the lagoon and a new permanent exhibition space “The rooms of glass”, which hosts dedicated exhibitions. In the park of the island, moreover, the foundation houses the Vatican Chapelsthe first Pavilion of the Holy See at the Venice Biennale: a space of about one and a half hectares that houses ten chapels created by ten international architects, an initiative strongly desired by Cardinal Ravasi.
Always inspired by the aphorism of Gustav Mahler, “tradition is not a cult of ashes but a custody of fire “, today the Cini Foundation feeds its commitment to conservation and protection with research and the restitution of its priceless heritage also through digital innovation. A constant work to make all its collections accessible also online, expanding its libraries and promoting conferences, seminars, specialist training opportunities as well as large art exhibitions and concerts, always open to the public.
On the occasion of the celebrations for the seventieth anniversary, the Foundation produced the volume The Giorgio Cini foundation. Seventy years of history, edited by Pasquale Gagliardi and Egidio Ivetic.