Monumenti Aperti turns 30: more than 800 sites can be visited in 18 Italian regions

From April 18 to November 8, 2026, Monumenti Aperti returns, an initiative dedicated to the enhancement and enjoyment of Italy’s cultural heritage that celebrates its 30th edition this year. The project will involve a total of more than 800 sites and monuments distributed in 85 municipalities in 18 regions, from Valle d’Aosta to Sicily, with the aim of making places that are often little known or normally closed to the public accessible for free.

The calendar for the 2026 edition is spread over several months and crosses the entire country. The program will start in April from Cagliari, the city where the initiative was born in 1997, and will continue in May with a particularly large presence in Sardinia, where more than 60 municipalities are involved. Also participating during the same period are Quiliano in Liguria, Pinerolo and Benevento. Visiting sites include, among others, the crypt of Saint-Léger in Aymavilles in Valle d’Aosta, one of the main religious properties in the upper valley, and several monumental sites in Palermo. In June the program will stop in Perugia.

After the summer break, the initiative will resume in September with appointments in Gravellona Toce, in the province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola. In October the calendar will cover Bellinzago Novarese and Turin, Ferrara, Latronico (Basilicata), Syracuse, Trieste, Cosenza, Montefano, Rome, Treviso and Venice, as well as several towns in Sardinia. The edition is scheduled to conclude in November with openings in Milan, Chieti, Bitonto and Campi Bisenzio.

Places that will be accessible during the event include the Marrucino Theater in Chieti, the Museum of Urban Art on Migration in Rome, the Palazzina Marfisa d’Este in Ferrara and Villa Rendano in Cosenza. In Cagliari, the Punic necropolis of Tuvixeddu, considered the largest in the Mediterranean, will also be open, while in Turin the Merchants’ Chapel will be open. The contexts involved also include the Pollino National Park, between Calabria and Basilicata, where the project connects natural landscape and contemporary art interventions.

Thirty years after its first edition, Monumenti Aperti maintains the original approach that was born in Cagliari from the initiative of five friends who aimed to make local heritage accessible and shared. Over time, the project has gradually expanded to involve numerous Italian municipalities, transforming an experience born locally into a nationwide cultural practice. The model is based on the direct participation of communities, who take an active role in the telling and transmission of cultural heritage.

The 30th edition comes with the slogan “Generation Open Monuments. A heritage of culture, ties, memory: a matter of love for our land.” The image chosen to accompany the project is the work In pocket only pieces of home by artist Maria Jole Serreli. Along with guided tours, several initiatives dedicated to accessibility, music and educational activities aimed at children and families are planned.

Among the planned programs is Culture without Barriers, which promotes access to heritage sites through dedicated routes and free services, including the involvement of people with disabilities in the role of volunteer guides. The project also includes mapping the accessibility levels of the monuments involved. Another section is Monuments in Music & Entertainment, which sees the participation of schools and local entities engaged in artistic and musical performances organized within the visitable sites, with the intention of integrating the visit with moments of cultural production.

The national coordination of the initiative is entrusted by the Cagliari-based OdV Imago Mundi. Since the first edition in 1997 to date, the project has recorded more than 4,241,000 guided tours, made possible thanks to the contribution of 175,700 students and 63,500 volunteers. Over the years, more than 2,863 monuments in 210 Italian municipalities have been narrated and opened to the public.

Over time Monumenti Aperti has received several awards. Since 2008 the initiative has been awarded the Medal of Representation of the Presidency of the Italian Republic. In 2018 it was awarded the European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards in the section dedicated to education, training and awareness. Other awards include a special mention from the National Exterminated Beauty Award in 2017 and the Culture Management Award from Federculture in 2006. The Imago Mundi organization joined the European Europa Nostra network in 2017 and since 2023 has been a member of the SIT Alumni Network of the European Investment Bank Institute, a network that brings together social entrepreneurs active in several European countries. Technical sponsors include Arti Grafiche Pisano and CTM SpA, while media partners of the initiative include HF4, Radio X and Eja TV.

“And we have reached the 30th edition,” says Imago Mundi OdV President Massimiliano Messina. “It almost doesn’t seem real. Those guys, those five friends, who started this wonderful adventure, as much as they were considered visionaries, could perhaps not have imagined it. It was a gamble, Open Monuments, which we can legitimately consider won. The prodromes more than thirty years ago, between 1993 and 1994, the intuition, the initial spark with the first edition in Cagliari in 1997, then, with continuity over time, the increasingly convinced evolution at the regional and national level. Years marked by ideals, passion, commitment, enthusiasm, perseverance, patience, a lot of perseverance. This is also why we wanted to dedicate the theme of the 30th to the ’Open Monuments Generation,’ because so many young people have grown up with and within our project, because we ourselves have become ’grown up. Even stronger today is the will to continue to ’be there’ and evolve.”

Monumenti Aperti turns 30: more than 800 sites can be visited in 18 Italian regions

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