“It’s an incredible juxtaposition of historical with contemporary,” marveled one visitor, surveying the teeming grounds of Villa Salviati, crowded with excited children, circus performers, and mixed groups of visitors touring the Archives and the Villa. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Indeed, the efforts of the Archives team to open up its prestigious site on the weekend of Europe Day was well taken advantage of, helped by the fine weather and a varied programme of activities. Around 4000 adults and 1000 children passed through the gates of Villa Salviati for the 10 May Open Day.
“I love the spirit of the day,” exclaimed Matteo Gerlini, a professor at the University of Siena who took advantage of the exceptional Saturday opening. “There are people of all ages, and children playing all over a place where usually there are none.” Gerlini also commented on the range of events. “It is a very balanced programme, from the historical reflections of the archivists to concerts, circus performances and contemporary art.”
As in previous years, the local Florentine delegation of the Fondo per l’Ambiente italiano (FAI) played a pivotal role in the success of the day. Their volunteers, along with local highschool student guides under their aegis, accompanied an estimated 800 people through the gardens and Renaissance Villa, handing them over to the HAEU archivists for rare public entry into the state-of-the-art archival deposits located beneath the Salviati complex.
The Villa’s Sala del Consiglio, usually a conference room, saw unprecedented crowds as hopeful listeners overflowed into the courtyard for the interactive concert by the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole’s ‘Piccolissimi musici’ and later for the refined renderings of classical pieces by the young professional musicians of the Orchestra Leopold.
A new activity, “Salviati Svelata”, encouraged visitors to roam all over the grounds collecting postcards—and the historical vantage points on the Villa—depicted on them.
Dieter Schlenker, Director of the Archives explained his long-standing commitment to include young people on the Open Day programme and to make the event especially attractive for children and families. “What we preserve at the Archives belongs to the future, so it seems right to involve young people in our Open Day, and to give them room to become protagonists themselves in the continued history of Europe and its memory housed in this Villa.”