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Visit nearly 400 historic Italian homes for free this weekend

The Local Italy
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Visit nearly 400 historic Italian homes for free this weekend
Casa Lajolo in Piedmont. Photo: Casa Lajolo/Facebook

Nearly 400 of Italy's most beautiful residences are open to visitors this weekend as part of efforts to share private heritage with the public.

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Sunday, May 27th is the National Day of the Italian Historic Houses Association and will see hundreds of period homes, castles, villas, manors, farmhouses and gardens waive entry fees for Italian and overseas visitors alike. 

Properties all over Italy are taking part, from the Naples palazzo where French painter Edgar Degas lived and worked to a Renaissance palace in Rome once given to King Henry VII as a gift, from a 19th-century Piedmontese villa surrounded by spectacular botanical gardens to a tower on an island in the Venetian Lagoon

All of the properties are privately owned and some are usually only accessible to invitees, hotel guests or researchers. 

The event is part of a Europe-wide Private Heritage Week, which aims to open up historic buildings not owned by the state or public trusts. It's also a chance to showcase the conservation efforts undertaken by private owners, who in Italy especially play an important role in preserving the country's cultural treasures. 

For full details of Sunday's programme, which includes special events, concerts and tours, see the Italian Historic Houses Association website

Here are just a few of the properties you can visit:

Castello del Poggio, Guardea, Umbria 

Photo: Marco Ludovisi/Facebook

Casa Lajolo, Piossasco, Piedmont


Photo: Casa Lajolo/Facebook

Castello di Roncade, Roncade, Veneto


Photo: Castello di Roncade/Facebook

Palazzo Grimaldi della Meridiana, Genoa, Liguria


Photo: Superchilum - CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia

Palazzo Isolani, Bologna, Emilia-Romagna

Palazzo Lupis, Grotteria, Calabria


Photo: Palazzo Lupis/Facebook

Palazzo Venezia, Naples, Campania


Photo: Armando Mancini/Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0

Palazzo Castro Grimaldi, Modica, Sicily


Photo: Michele Castro GrimaldiCC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia

 

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