Six months of guided tours and events to rediscover the Cascine Park and its architecture.
“The Cascine Park – Urban space, architecture and plant heritage” it’s a program of events – organized and promoted by the Fondazione Architetti Firenze, and in particular by the architects Caterina Bini, Cinzia Gandolfi and Antonella Bonini, together with the Alinari Foundation for Photography and the support of PARC Performing Arts Research Centre – which starting from Wednesday 3 July for six months will bring the green heart of Florence to life by investigating the urban design, buildings and monuments have always been elements inseparable from the botanical context, with the aim of allowing citizens to fully understand and relive the complexity of the Park, both from an environmental point of view, as the largest public green area in Florence, and from a historical-cultural perspective.
“Shifting the spotlight on the Cascine – the Fondazione Architetti Firenze underlines – through a process of rediscovery of all its historical, naturalistic, architectural and cultural values means not only increasing in citizens a sense of belonging towards this place, but also raising public awareness and the competent administrations on the need to protect and at the same time make the park and its connections with the city fully accessible”.
The first appointment is scheduled for Wednesday, July 3, at 4.45 pm, with the first itinerary that will develop with a walk in the western part of the park, which preserves even more evident naturalistic aspects, to retrace its history through the story of the many functions that have followed one another over the centuries and that have left us testimonies through the organization of green spaces and the creation of artifacts. Nine stages that make up the route, to discover the points of greatest interest in this part of the park: PARC – Performing Arts Research Centre, The Royal Palace, The Quercione meadow, The oak and the Air War School, The Barco where the Mugnone torrent crosses the Fosso Macinante, In the woods, The Eight Viottole, The Amphitheater and the Cornacchie Meadow, The Indian monument. The itinerary will end, for those who wish, with an aperitif at the PARC bistro.
Alongside the itineraries, the Fondazione Architetti Firenze will promote a event and two photographic exhibitions in November 2024: at the event on the theme “Popular festivals and folkloristic events in the Cascine park”, will be combined with a first exhibition, in collaboration with the Alinari Foundation for Photography, which will see theexhibition of images that historically retrace the moments of “leisure” and related to free time that the Florentines experienced inside the Cascine.
In parallel one second exhibition “Le Cascine, metamorphosis and conservation – the unexpected and the invisible” will collect the best shots selected through a call, open and accessible until autumn 2024, raimed at all those who want to explore, with a creative eye and sensitivity, the Cascine Park. The best photos will be awarded during the event.
All further information is available on the OAF-FAF website in the Projects section and at the following link: architettifirenze.it/progetti/il-parco-delle-cascine-itinerari-eventi-mostre
This, in detail, is the schedule of the next events:
2nd ITINERARY | September 24, 2024
The Cascine towards the east, from Piazzale del Re to P.zza Vittorio Veneto
The transformation of the Cascine from a farm to a park desired by Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo up to the most recent urban developments. The itinerary also offers the opportunity to visit interesting reinforced concrete structures: the Sferisterio, the Velodrome, the Tennis Club.
3rd ITINERARY | October 21, 2024
The Air War School
Designed by the architect Raffaello Fagnoni, it is an example of rationalist architecture that has been excellently preserved, both externally and internally, with much of the original furnishings.
EVENT + EXHIBITION | November 2024, Palazzina Reale di Firenze SMN
Popular festivals and folkloristic events in the Cascine park
An event to remember the main festive events and the countless activities that the Cascine have been the object of over time also through historical archive documentation and that linked to personal memories that citizens and professionals will want to share.
EXHIBITION | November 2024, Royal Palace of Florence SMN
Le Cascine: Metamorphosis and Conservation – The Unexpected and the Invisible
An exhibition that documents the results of the photography competition aimed at citizens and professionals who want to explore with a creative eye and sensitivity what is unexpected and what is not always visible to everyone. The best works will be awarded during the event.
