Marco Magnifico Re-elected as FAI President for Another Five Years

Marco Magnifico will remain at the helm of the FAI – Italian Environment Fund – for another five years. The Foundation’s Board of Directors, which met on Wednesday, June 24, at the Cavallerizza on Via Carlo Foldi in Milan, unanimously decided to propose the renewal of his term as president, a proposal that Magnifico accepted, confirming his willingness to continue the work he began in December 2021. The decision was made concurrently with the approval of the 2025 Financial Statements and represents a choice aimed at ensuring continuity in governance during a phase considered strategic for the Foundation’s future. The Board of Directors deemed it appropriate to retain at the helm of the organization the individual who, in recent years, has guided the consolidation and further growth of the FAI, recognizing his commitment and vision in the protection and enhancement of Italy’s historical, artistic, and landscape heritage.

This reappointment comes at a particularly significant moment for the Italian Environment Fund: 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the Foundation’s founding, a milestone that represented not only an occasion for celebration but also a time to take stock of the work carried out and the results achieved over half a century of commitment to safeguarding the country’s cultural and natural heritage.

“I view this reappointment—for which I am grateful—as the beginning of a sort of epilogue to the story of the relationship that has now lasted 41 years between me and the FAI,” says Magnifico, “a long and varied period of activism, carried out with a deep, active, and constructive commitment to the ideas and principles that gave rise to the Foundation and that enable the progress of an institution that is today solid and credible, yet is also a cultural and civic movement that is open and shared by the best of Italian society. If its cultural and social dimension is its soul, it lives and imparts valuable lessons thanks to the structure we have built around it—a structure whose strength and vitality we have continually improved over the past 50 years. Looking to the future, I am convinced that much of the credibility the FAI enjoys can endure and grow over time only if the Foundation is able to ensure that its properties open to the public maintain their current levels of care for details, the character, the poetry, and the myriad expressions of the distinctive identity that each individual property represents within the body of heritage entrusted to us. And it is to this commitment that I would like to dedicate myself during this final stretch of my involvement with the FAI, fully aware that maintenance must never be approached with a backward-looking attitude, but rather by translating an extraordinarily complex centuries-old tradition—which, to be respected, must first and foremost be studied just as one studies a science. And now, let’s get to work!”

Marco Magnifico joined the FAI in 1985 and has been part of the Foundation’s history for over four decades. In fact, he has spent forty-one years within the organization, a journey that has seen him hold positions of increasing responsibility until becoming its chief institutional representative. Prior to his appointment as president on December 15, 2021, Magnifico had served as executive vice president for over eleven years. This role, which he held from January 2010 to October 2021, allowed him to closely monitor the Foundation’s main activities and contribute to shaping the strategies that have guided the FAI’s progressive development.

With his appointment as president, he succeeded Andrea Carandini, taking up the mantle from one of the most important figures in the organization’s recent history. Since then, he has continued the path of growth and consolidation already initiated by his predecessors, further strengthening the role of the Italian Environment Fund as a leading voice in civil society for the protection of the nation’s cultural and landscape heritage.

During his tenure, the Foundation has continued to expand its presence across the country and strengthen its relationships with citizens, volunteers, and supporters, reaffirming a mission that for fifty years has been dedicated to safeguarding Italy’s historical, artistic, and natural heritage through restoration, enhancement, management, and public awareness initiatives. The FAI’s 50th anniversary, celebrated in 2025, marked a particularly significant milestone in terms of the achievements attained. The Foundation was able to celebrate this milestone with a membership base of 320,000 members, a figure that attests to the steady growth of public support.

Alongside the members, the local network of volunteers continues to play a fundamental role, comprising over 18,000 people engaged in the numerous initiatives promoted by the FAI throughout Italy. This widespread presence is one of the organization’s defining characteristics and contributes to fostering a culture of heritage protection and enhancement.

Visitor figures also confirm the scale the Foundation has reached. In fact, during 2025, 1,200,000 visits were recorded at the 75 sites managed by the FAI—figures that reflect the public’s growing participation in the organization’s activities and interest in the sites that have been restored and enhanced over the years.

The year 2025 was also marked by the opening of five new sites, which further expanded the heritage managed by the Foundation. The following sites were inaugurated: Podere Lovara in Punta Mesco, Villa Rezzola in Lerici, Casino Mollo near the Giganti della Sila, Monte Fontana Secca and Col de Spadaròt in the Grappa Massif, and Case Montana at Kolymbethra in the Valley of the Temples.

During its 50th-anniversary year, the Foundation also received a significant honor from the city of Milan, where the Italian Environment Fund was founded. The Foundation was awarded the Grand Gold Medal as part of the Ambrogini awards, the highest civic honor conferred by the City of Milan. The awarding of the Grand Gold Medal served as further recognition of the role the FAI has played in the Italian cultural landscape and of the contribution it has made over fifty years of activity to the protection of heritage and the promotion of greater awareness regarding the importance of preserving common assets.

The Board of Directors’ decision to reappoint Marco Magnifico as head of the Foundation stems precisely from the desire to ensure stability and continuity during a phase considered strategic for the organization’s future. After guiding the FAI through its 50th anniversary and consolidating its role at the national level, the president will therefore continue to lead the Foundation for the next five years.

In explaining its decision, the Board expressed full confidence in Magnifico, recognizing the commitment and vision with which he has led the Foundation in recent years. It is precisely these qualities that motivated the proposal to extend his term, which was unanimously approved by the members of the Board of Directors.

Marco Magnifico Re-elected as FAI President for Another Five Years

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