The Fondazione Archivio Vittorio Cini holds the private archive of Vittorio Cini (Ferrara, 20 February 1885 – Venice, 18 September 1977) – entrepreneur, patron and collector, a central figure in the economic, political, social and cultural history of twentieth-century Italy – together with archives of other family members, and undertakes initiatives to preserve and honour his memory.

Activities:

  • since 2006 – Arrangement, inventorying, cataloguing and management of the private archive of Vittorio Cini and his family, which has been placed under protection order;
  • since 2007 – Initiatives in memory of Vittorio Cini, Giorgio Cini, Lyda Borelli, Yana Alliata di Montereale, Ylda Guglielmi di Vulci and Mynna Ferraro, in Venice, Ferrara, Rome and elsewhere;
  • 2007 – 3 July, start of the Rotary Club Venezia series of conferences at the Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti, recalling Vittorio Cini, and, on 5 December, presentation of a posthumous Paul Harris Fellow award to his grandson Giovanni Alliata di Montereale;
  • since 2013 – Multimedia biography of Vittorio Cini (entrepreneur, patron, collector, the places, the works, the encounters): collection of various documentary material and creation of virtual tours of the places;
  • 2013 – 19 October, Incontro con Vittorio Cini (“Meeting Vittorio Cini”) – a study day at the Aula Magna of the Ateneo Veneto;
  • 2015 – Participation in Expo Venice Aquae, May–October 2015;
  • 2015 – Participation in the Festival del Medioevo in Gubbio, 30 September – 4 October 2015;
  • 2016 – Material for the Festival del Medioevo in Gubbio, alongside the exhibition Mindful Hands, 2016;
  • 2016 – Publication of a boxed CD set of symphonies for the Alfredo Casella festival in Turin (April).
  • 2016 – Collaboration on the exhibition Mindful Hands. I capolavori miniati della Fondazione Giorgio Cini;
  • 2016 – Collaboration on the catalogue La Galleria di Palazzo Cini;
  • 2016 – Collaboration on the catalogue Capolavori ritrovati della collezione di Vittorio Cini (Dipinti veneti);
  • 2017 – Curatorship of the exhibition Lyda Borelli e il primo divismo del cinema in Italia at the Ferrara Film Festival, 21–26 March;
  • 2017 – Contributions to the exhibition Lyda Borelli primadonna del Novecento, curated by Maria Ida Biggi – Galleria di Palazzo Cini a San Vio, 1 September to 15 November 2017 – and to the volume Il teatro di Lyda Borelli (Fratelli Alinari, Florence), edited by Maria Ida Biggi and Marianna Zannoni;



Videos


Completed, ongoing and forthcoming projects

Restoration work on significant works of art that he owned and on places associated with him, together with editorial publications and archival research.

  • Restoration (masonry work, new windows and wooden furnishings) and installation of a dehumidification system in the Council Hall of the Ateneo Veneto (of which Vittorio Cini was a resident member from 1936 and an honorary member from 1964), which has been named after him; creation of virtual tours of all the rooms.
  • Restoration of the two wooden main doors of the Chiesa dei Gesuati (of which Vittorio Cini was a parishioner for 60 years), together with the addition of polychrome leaded glass in the small door of the main entrance; restoration of the furniture and fittings of the parish archive; completion of the parish playground; creation of a virtual tour and website.
  • Completion of the restoration of the large panel painting by Lorenzo Costa (a Ferrarese painter), donated by Vittorio Cini to the Fondazione Giorgio Cini for its seat on the island of San Giorgio.
  • Restoration of the Jakesch piano at San Giorgio.
  • Restoration of the panel polyptych by Lorenzo di Niccolò (rear support structure and consolidation of the paint layer) at Palazzo Cini a San Vio.
  • Funding, from 1 January 2013, of the three-year “Lyda Borelli” scholarship, marking the 125th anniversary of her birth, aimed at building up a collection at the “Centro studi per la ricerca documentale sul Teatro e il Melodramma europeo” of the Fondazione Giorgio Cini, and subsequent publications and exhibitions.
  • Contribution to the restoration and in-depth analysis of the materials (archaeometric, fluorescence, etc.) of the masterpieces in the enamel collections at Palazzo Cini a San Vio, presented at conferences at the Louvre Museum in Paris and at the Fondazione Cini. Contribution to the publication of the volumes “I rami smaltati detti veneziani del Rinascimento italiano”.
  • Restoration of the precious Persian manuscript executed and illuminated between 1624 and 1625, containing the Khamsa (Quintet) of Ilyâs ibn Yûsuf Nizâmî-i Ganjavî, decorated by illuminators of the Shîrâz School (ms. inv. 2225/23), held at the Biblioteca della Nuova Manica Lunga of the Fondazione Giorgio Cini in Venice.
  • Work at the Galleria di Palazzo Cini a San Vio (donation of furnishings and loan of various works, updating of catalogues and informational publications).
  • Establishment of a small library in memory of Giorgio Cini at the seat of the Centro di Eccellenza della Compagnia della Vela on San Giorgio (shelving and expansion of the book collection).
  • Funding, from 1 January 2013, of the three-year “Lyda Borelli” scholarship, marking the 125th anniversary of her birth, aimed at building up a collection at the “Centro studi per la ricerca documentale sul Teatro e il Melodramma europeo” of the Fondazione Giorgio Cini, and subsequent publications and exhibitions.
  • Funding of a scholarship for the cataloguing of the Egisto Macchi Archive at the Istituto per la Musica of the Fondazione Giorgio Cini in 2016.
  • Funding of a scholarship for the continuation of research on Vittorio Cini as a collector at the Istituto di Storia dell’Arte of the Fondazione Giorgio Cini in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
  • Donation of a series of documents that belonged to Tammaro De Marinis, the great bibliophile, antiquarian and collector, commemorated with the conference “Multa renascentur” at the Fondazione Cini for the 50th anniversary of his death, on 14–15 October 2019.
  • Donation of six valuable sixteenth-century printed books (“cinquecentine”) formerly belonging to the Prince d’Essling, in 2019.
  • Publication of a large illustrated historical and artistic volume on the church and monastery of San Giorgio Maggiore.
  • Securing of funding for the resumption of prestigious publications of the Fondazione Giorgio Cini that had been interrupted for lack of funds.

The full programme of initiatives can also be viewed in the Events section of the menu, arranged by year.