Italy’s most relaxed culture weekend is around the corner, when Fondo Ambiente Italiano quietly unlocks over 700 places you’d normally walk past. Picture lakeside villas, tucked‑away palazzi and little borghi with volunteers bringing the stories to life.
What are FAI Autumn Days 2025? Dates, how it works and who it’s for
FAI Autumn Days is the nationwide heritage weekend run by FAI – Fondo Ambiente Italiano, Italy’s National Trust. Marking FAI’s fiftieth year, the fourteenth edition opens over 700 places in 350 cities. Expect unique architectural gems, private palazzi, gardens and curious spots that are often off‑limits In 2025, it runs on Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th October, with extraordinary sites in around 360 cities taking part.
How it works
- Browse the official programme, then pick your city or region and check each listing for practical details and how to take part.
- Visits are typically led by volunteers and FAI Youth Groups. You support the Trust’s conservation work with a donation at each site.
- Types of places that open their doors include historic homes and palaces, churches, parks and gardens, industrial archaeology, military areas, institutional headquarters, art collections, theatres and villages.
Who it’s for
- Culture‑curious travellers and expats who enjoy getting inside private or little‑known places with a bit of living history.
- Families looking for low‑cost days out, as many visits are short, centrally located and led by engaging volunteers.
How to join in: FAI Autumn Days 2025 tickets, booking, and FAI membership
Here’s the simple way to get sorted for FAI Autumn Days 2025 without faff.
Booking and tickets
- The weekend runs on Saturday 11 and Sunday 12 October 2025; the full list of participating sites on the FAI Autumn Days official page: Giornate FAI d’Autunno. Pick your city/region, check opening hours, and see if reservations are required.
- Many places work on suggested donations at the door, and some use timed slots with limited capacity.
- Language is mostly Italian; some listings offer English summaries or printed sheets.
FAI membership: perks and how to join
- Membership isn’t required for Autumn Days, but it supports conservation and gives you the International FAI Card, which grants free entry to all FAI properties in Italy throughout the year. Autumn Days include many non‑FAI sites, so donations may still be suggested on the day.
Where to go: FAI Autumn Days 2025 highlights by region
Rome city centre
Rome’s Palazzo del Viminale, seat of the Interior Ministry, opens exceptionally on Sunday, 12th October by reservation.
Lombardy and Lake Como
A rich sweep of heritage here: frescoed town palazzi in Como, serene abbeys on the Milan plain, and bold 20th‑century icons alongside patrician villas on Lake Como.
- Recchi Room at Lambertenghi Palace (Lake Como): a frescoed salon in a 15th‑century palazzo, opened to glimpse Como’s patrician past.
- Mirasole, Opera (Milan): a medieval abbey‑farm complex with cloister and canals, showing rural monastic life on Milan’s doorstep.
- Oscar Niemeyer’s Mondadori Palace (Milan/Segrate): a modernist headquarters with a floating colonnade and reflecting lake.
- Moroni Palace (Bergamo): a baroque palazzo in the Città Alta with frescoed rooms and an Italianate garden stepping down the hillside.
Tuscany: Campiglia Marittima and the Etruscan Coast hilltowns
Think Etruscan echoes, medieval abbeys on the hills above Florence, WWII heritage in the Lucca valleys, and elegant villas tied to spa culture around Pistoia.
- Abbey of Fiesolana, Fiesole (Florence): a Romanesque‑Renaissance monastery with a peaceful cloister and layered stonework.
- The Gothic Line Bunker, Borgo a Mozzano (Lucca): a wartime bunker site on the old front line with compact exhibits on liberation.
- Villa Borghese, Monsummano Terme (Pistoia): a 19th‑century villa linked to the thermal heyday, opening refined rooms and garden views.
Calabria: parks, upland villages and small museums
Up in the Sila and across the Crotone and Catanzaro hinterlands, you’ll find rock‑hewn dwellings, quiet rural churches and intimate house‑museums.
- Verzino and the Rock Caves, Verzino (Crotone): a cluster of cave dwellings and hermit sites carved into the cliffs.
- Church of St. Nicholas, Scigliano (Cosenza): a hillside parish with baroque touches and devotional art rooted in village life.
- Villa Paparo, Badolato (Catanzaro): a noble residence opening its salons and family memorabilia in one of Calabria’s loveliest hill villages.
Umbria: palazzi, monasteries and garden corners
Soft‑spoken Umbrian towns promise cloisters, civic palaces and pocket gardens, with thoughtful contemporary collections tucked into historic settings.
- La Romita: Il Convento e la Scuola d’Arte, Terni: a former hermitage with cloister and chapels that now hosts an art school and retreats.
- Cappella Salus Infirmorum, Perugia: an intimate chapel dedicated to healing, notable for serene 20th‑century sacred art.
- Galleria d’Arte Contemporanea della Pro Civitate Christiana, Assisi (Perugia): a curated collection of modern religious art within a historic complex near the basilica.
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