Two Thousand and Seventeen: a year that is worth thirty

The foundation is thirty years old

In the early Eighties the Benetton siblings, Luciano with Giuliana, Gilberto and Carlo, decided to start the Foundation named after them, whose current organisation has been in place since 1987. A project designed to last, to be kept alive with a continuous renewal effort, without forgetting the past while addressing current challenges and striving to think ahead. Therefore, Fondazione Benetton Studi Ricerche was set up thirty years ago with a group of scholars – Nico Luciani, Tobia Scarpa, Gaetano Cozzi – who were asked by signor Luciano to set up a wholly original cultural institution in the national arena, with its initial focus especially on Veneto history studies, and later more and more on landscape issues – the first International Carlo Scarpa Garden Prize was organised in 1990, and awarded to Sítio Santo Antônio da Bica by Roberto Burle Marx. The premises were then moved from piazza Crispi to the palazzi of via Cornarotta, more suitable for the increased scope of activities.

The year that is about to start is the thirtieth of uninterrupted and ever growing activity, and will therefore offer us a good opportunity to question ourselves on our achievements up to now and to raise our bet: keep the foundation – firmly rooted in the region – alive and relevant, yet with a mindset open to the world, and a 20-strong in-house work team in constant conversation with a scientific committee, external associates and public and private bodies. All that while being active in three sectors: landscape, history of games and cultural heritage, the three main areas covered by our work, around which the events marking the thirty years of activity will be organised next autumn.

Landscape will lead us to dealing with the transformations of places and communities in a framework of uncertainty and global changes, seeking a balance between a philological approach and practical experiences in the field. The history of games will continue focusing on the close relationship between the evolutionary process of ludicity over the centuries and our life today, to provide keys for adequately interpreting phenomena of huge significance such as gambling addiction. Our work in the field of cultural heritage will continue to be on a local scale, with activities such as the research on Treviso Urbs Picta, as well as nationally relevant, with the project dedicated to article 9 of the Italian Constitution, drawing on the experience gained in the field of cooperation between the public and private sectors, where corporate social responsibility can play an important role in the field of cultural heritage in Italy, in the interest of the public and community at various levels. A new year, with visible innovations also in the coordinated image of the Fondazione, and with the continuing wish never to settle.

Marco Tamaro, director