FAI Autumn Days 2025: this weekend you can discover 700 castles, gardens and palaces usually closed to the public

The 2025 FAI Autumn Days return on 11 and 12 October, the most awaited event for lovers of art and secret places. To celebrate 50 years of the Italian Environment Fund, over 700 exceptional sites in 350 cities will open their doors across Italy: usually inaccessible buildings, hidden gardens and spaces that tell centuries of history. A unique opportunity to rediscover our cultural and natural heritage, with a participatory and civic approach that makes each visit a gesture of protection.

From the Trevi Fountain to Villa Verdi: beauty behind the scenes

Among the most fascinating openings, the Trevi Fountain in Rome stands out, where – only for FAI members – it will be possible to enter the control rooms and closely observe the hydraulic system that moves one of the most iconic monuments in the world. Also in the capital, visitors will be able to access the majestic Palazzo del Viminale, headquarters of the Ministry of the Interior, a place usually reserved for professionals.

Moving to Emilia, the FAI offers a leap into the history of music with Villa Verdi in Villanova sull’Arda (Piacenza), the home that Maestro Giuseppe Verdi chose as a creative refuge and where he composed masterpieces such as Aida And Falstaff. Everything remained intact, as if time had stopped in the 19th century.

Modern architecture and underground places

There is no shortage of surprises in the North too: in Segrate (Milan) it will be possible to visit Palazzo Mondadori, a masterpiece by architect Oscar Niemeyer, a building suspended over the water that embodies the lightness of the modern. And for the first time, Villa Gherta will be open to the public, an Art Nouveau jewel waiting to be discovered in Trento.

Going south, the FAI opens the doors of the Cryptoporticus of the Bellini Garden in Catania, a nineteenth-century underground space that combines mystery and archaeological charm. And for those in Sardinia, the “behind the scenes” entrance to the Teatro Lirico of Cagliari is unmissable, with access to the scenography and stage costume workshops.

A journey between culture, memory and future

This 14th edition of the FAI Autumn Days will be, like every year, a celebration of Italy in its entirety: from Renaissance palaces to contemporary architecture, from basements to artists’ villas. In a historical moment in which frenzy risks making us forget the beauty that surrounds us, these events remind us how precious the link between culture, territory and community is. A way to rediscover beauty as a common good, capable of uniting, inspiring and restoring hope.

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