The collaboration between Palazzo Maffei and Pastificio Rana, a project aimed at facilitating access to art and culture for students of all levels, is renewed for the fourth consecutive year. The initiative, launched in 2023 thanks to the collaboration between the Carlon and Rana families, aims to support schools and bring new generations closer to the artistic heritage through free visits and dedicated educational activities.
The project stems from the shared desire of Vanessa Carlon, director of Maffei Palace, and Gian Luca Rana, CEO of Pastificio Rana. Thanks to the collaboration between the museum and the company, the initiative has already given about 20 thousand students free access to the Veronese museum with personalized guided tours. In 2026 it is expected to reach nearly 30 thousand participants, with the involvement of new classes from schools all over Italy and even abroad. The museum is located in the historic building overlooking Piazza delle Erbe in the center of Verona, and houses more than 750 works belonging to the Carlon Collection. The exhibition offers a broad chronological span covering some four thousand years of art history, with works ranging from ancient Egyptian art to contemporary times and including works by numerous artists of international significance.
The partnership between Maffei Palace and Pastificio Rana was created with the aim of encouraging the enjoyment of cultural heritage and supporting an educational model based on direct experience. Through visiting the museum and confronting the works, students can come into contact with artistic languages belonging to different eras and contexts. Artistic expressions are presented as tools for historical and cultural knowledge, but also as opportunities for reflection, stimulation of critical thinking and confrontation with existential questions to which artists have given shape in their works.
Also for the current year, visiting classes, from kindergarten through secondary schools, will be able to take advantage of full free admission. Students are accompanied through the museum’s halls or involved in workshop activities by qualified staff, who offer differentiated paths based on the age and educational goals of the classes. Attention to cultural mediation represents one of the distinctive elements of the initiative: in addition to free admission, the project in fact provides structured accompaniment during the visit, with the intention of making the museum experience more accessible and understandable even for younger audiences.
According to the promoters, the initiative takes on particular importance in a phase marked by economic difficulties for many families and a general reduction in resources allocated to schools. In this context, the possibility of participating in free educational visits represents a concrete support for several institutions. In some cases, the outing to Maffei Palace is organized for the entire school, a solution that makes it possible to reduce transportation costs and that in recent years has transformed the museum visit into a permanent fixture on the school calendar. At the same time, there is an increase in requests from Italian and foreign schools that include Verona among the destinations of educational trips. In fact, the guided tours offered by the museum can also be conducted in languages, an element that encourages the participation of groups from abroad.
Meanwhile, the museum has expanded its educational offerings with new educational tours. Among the proposals are thematic itineraries that can also support preparation for high school exams, such as the route From the 1940s to 2025. Contemporary Looks. Also among the new features is Museo di ruolo, an activity designed for secondary schools that adopts the form of a live role-playing game. In this experience, a guide, in the role of narrator, invites students to identify with the artists in the collection, offers an alternative point of view on the works and encourages a more interactive mode of enjoyment.
“In recent years,” comments Vanessa Carlon, director of Maffei Palace, “one of our primary goals has been to bring young people closer to art and beauty in all ways, including by crossing different forms of expression (dance, theater, music) and proposing new keys to interpretation.By 2026 there will be almost 30,000 young people who will have entered Maffei Palace free of charge accompanied on paths of discovery and enjoyment, revealing different aspects of the context, fascination and power of art from time to time; and for many it will be the first time. Here, we hope to sow a seed that can then sprout, to give inspiration and alternatives to the younger ones and to so many kids who are increasingly closed in on themselves, accustomed to looking at the world through a cell phone. Bringing them to share the surprise, wonder and excitement that art can inspire can give them new perspectives and visions.”
“Renewing this collaboration is a source of genuine joy for me,” says Gian Luca Rana, CEO of Pastificio Rana. “Seeing thousands of students enter Maffei Palace, letting themselves be surprised, questioned and inspired by art, is a profound satisfaction that expresses all the value of a project that aims at sharing beauty. The extraordinary numbers achieved tell of a real need: that of culture as a tool for growth, for openness, for the formation of the person. I strongly believe that art is an educational necessity, capable of accompanying young people in their most important years, helping them to develop sensitivity, critical spirit and self-awareness. Knowing that so many young people are living this experience encourages us to continue, with even more conviction, to make culture accessible and alive for the new generations. As an entrepreneur, I can only feel proud, because I have always believed that supporting the education of young people means giving concrete shape to the future.”
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| Maffei Palace and Pastificio Rana: nearly 30 thousand students at the museum with free educational project |
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