A micro citadel of the arts will be born in the center of Florence

Seven artist residences with shared premises and workshop/atelier in the heart of Florence, just a few steps from Santa Maria Novella and connected to the Museo Novecento. A sort of micro citadel of the arts where young creatives will be able to live, ideate and exchange experiences in close contact with the city. The construction site will end in February 2023: the residences will be built in Via Palazzuolo, at the back of the museum, at a cost of 900 thousand euros, and are part of the project for the regeneration and revitalization of the area. The design of the works is by the City’s Fine Arts Service while the execution is entrusted to Cooperativa archeologia.

“Before the pandemic, I had the opportunity to visit the citadel of the arts in Paris: a kind of ’condominium’ of more than three hundred residences where more than a thousand artists of all disciplines and from ninety countries involved in the world pass through each year,” said Florence Mayor Dario Nardella. "This is the largest artist residency in the world, with a cultural program that is also outward-looking. A truly fascinating project that we are now recreating in a smaller form in Florence as well. And our intention is to also host artists who use new digital languages through crypto art and Nft. It will be the first case in Italy and among the first in Europe."

The project involves the creation of a multifunctional space with seven rooms complete with bathrooms, shared kitchen and living space, and a workshop. Thanks to the large tergal courtyard, the laboratory will be connected to the Museo Novecento, and in this way visitors will be able to see the work done by the artists.

“Thanks to these residences, the urban regeneration project of Via Palazzuolo continues,” the mayor adds. “The area will no longer be associated with degradation, but will be completely reborn with projects related to culture. A few steps from here we have Piazza Santa Maria Novella and the Novecento Museum, and the San Paolino complex has been recovered. With this additional project, Via Palazzuolo will be connected to the museum and Piazza Santa Maria Novella and through art will revitalize the entire area.”

“In a few square meters,” explains Museo Novecento director Sergio Risaliti, “between the basilica of Santa Maria Novella and the Museo Novecento we take a journey through art from the Middle Ages to the experiments of young contemporary artists. Today we have laid the foundation stone of a little gem, since it is really a rarity to have art residencies inside a museum, and maybe a young artist will be able to collaborate with us in upcoming exhibitions. The project will then be completed with ateliers for artists in Santa Maria Novella and a new exhibition space that will serve as a ’gym’ for them. The museum thus becomes a place for the training and growth of artistic talent, an important step that sees this project flank the exhibition spaces and multidisciplinary projects that we normally carry out: after two years of Covid we are satisfied with how the Museo Novecento has become a point of reference in the panorama not only nationally.”

A micro citadel of the arts will be born in the center of Florence

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