Monumenti Aperti is the most important event in Sardinia dedicated to the promotion and enhancement of cultural heritage, with free visits.
The kermesse, organized by the Imago Mundi Association since 1999, annually involves more than seventy municipal administrations and over twenty thousand students of all ages who for two days become the guides of their territories and of the almost thousand monuments freely usable by the public at the end week between May, June and October.
There is also a delicious opportunity: to savor the local food and wine specialties along the proposed cultural and artistic itineraries, thanks to the “Gusta la Città” initiative. And there is also the union with literature with “The tales of open monuments”, for which original texts have been commissioned from writers, musicians and television authors.
To get to the second largest island in the Mediterranean you can use, as an alternative to the plane, the ferries to Sardinia: there are several sea routes that connect the Sardinian ports to those of the Italian peninsula, and it is also possible to travel with a vehicle to following.
Free visits to the cultural heritage of Sardinia with Monumenti Aperti
It was Cagliari that experienced the first edition of Monumenti Aperti: since 1997 it has been an event which, first in the capital and then in the rest of the island, would have significantly changed the methods of using and enhancing the cultural heritage, making it a mass practice, a party in which to participate in a choral, community way.
From Cagliari to Sardinia and from this to the rest of Italy, a crescendo of attention and above all participation, which mainly involves the world of schools, the true protagonist of the initiative curated and coordinated by the Imago Mundi OdV association.
Since that first edition, there have been over 4 million guided tours, conducted by 160,000 students and 60,000 volunteers who have told and preserved over 1,700 monuments in more than 160 municipalities, first in Sardinia alone, but over the years also in other Italian regions.
The program of the 27th edition (2023)
Sixty Sardinian municipalities will participate in the Monumenti Aperti 2023 event from 6 May to 4 June. This year, even more local authorities are joining the network for the first time, demonstrating the vibrancy of the show. The 2023 edition, entitled “Practices of wonder”, intends to encourage people of all ages to rediscover the joy of marveling at the beauty of our cultural heritage. More than 16,000 students and volunteers will manage and tell the stories of about 750 monuments made available by local administrations for free use by the public.
Below is the calendar of Sardinian dates, which will be completed in the autumn by the national tour of the event:
6/7 May: San Gavino Monreale, Iglesias, Sassari, Union of Municipalities of the lower Campidano (Nuraminis, Samatzai, San Sperate, Ussana, Villasor), Ozieri, Decimoputzu;
13/14 May: Arbus, Guspini, Carbonia, Alghero, Sestu, Lunamatrona (Sunday 14 only), Chiaramonti, Tissi, Ploaghe, Monastir, Serramanna, Ossi, Villanovafranca, Monserrato, Villaputzu;
20/21 May: Triei, Porto Torres, Oristano, Gavoi, Sanluri (Sunday 21 only), Sant’Antioco, Bosa;
27/28 May: Ovodda, Cagliari, Genuri, Tuili, Monteleone Rocca Doria, Dorgali, Ittiri, Thiesi, Settimo san Pietro, Siddi, Neoneli, Ardauli, Cuglieri, Gonnostramatza (only on Sunday 28);
3/4 June: Carloforte, Tertenia, Selargius, Padria, Stintino, Elmas, Pula, Villacidro, Terralba, Quartu Sant’Elena, Aritzo, Villasimius, Ballao and Sardara.
On the national front, the presence of the city of Ferrara, with its extraordinary artistic heritage, has been confirmed on the weekend of 21 and 22 October.
Many municipalities have already participated in the past, while others will join for the first time this year, reflecting the vitality of the event now in its 27th edition.
These are the municipal administrations that join for the first time:
- Triei, which will open the tomb of the giants of Osono and the church of Santi Cosma e Damiano with the precious seventeenth-century paintings of the Are brothers;
- Monteleone Rocca Doria, which will open the Church of Santo Stefano and the remains of the Castello dei Doria to the public;
- Ardauli, where students will talk about the seventeenth-century parish church dedicated to the Virgin of the Good Way, and the painted tomb of Mandras;
- Gonnostramatza, where the megalithic tomb of Bingia ‘e Monti and the altarpiece of Lorenzo Cavaro can be admired;
- Stintino, where the MUT – Museo della Tonnara and the House of the Madonna della Difesa Confraternity can be visited;
- Chiaramonti, where local students will talk about the Domus de Janas of Murrone and the Castle of Chiaramonti;
- Aritzo, with the stately home of the Devilla family and the Spanish prison “Sa Bovida”.
The theme of the campaign, ‘Practices of Wonder’, aims to help people rediscover the beauty of cultural heritage that they may have taken for granted. It encourages people to approach these sites with a sense of wonder and curiosity, as if discovering them for the first time. The campaign promotes the idea of rediscovering the wonders that surround us.
The event aims to create a space of discovery and knowledge, where visitors can reconnect with their memories and appreciate cultural heritage. Using a modern conceptual art manifesto, the campaign highlights the reduction of the distance between the monument and the viewer, with the aim of dispelling the mistrust created by the awe towards the heritage. With this campaign, people can reclaim their sense of wonder and appreciate the vestiges of the past as a root for the future.
With the special project “Gusta la Città” all food and beverage establishments are invited year after year to keep their business open on the days of the event. In particular, craft and typical products shops are involved, along with selected bars, restaurants, trattorias, pizzerias and ice cream parlors offering menus dedicated to the show.
So Massimiliano Messina, president of the Imago Mundi OdV association: “We start again, on time. The XXVII edition of Monumenti Aperti marks a new spring for our project, and not only because, like last year, the event returns to take place, for the most part, in its ‘appointed’ season, but also and above all because we want to mark the return of proximity to normality, after the difficult last few years, and a relaunch of MA’s prospects in the short and medium-long term. A sort of ‘re-birth’. The interest of the actors involved in the event – schools, associations, local authorities – is unchanged, even in 2023 there are new entries among the Municipalities, such as, for example, Aritzo and Stintino, important centers of attraction including tourism, the size is confirmed national, accompanied by continuous work to consolidate and strengthen it. And the path continues which – it is our greatest hope – will lead, through the Committee that supports it, to the birth of the Community Foundation of Open Monuments Heritage: the natural result of what has been done and implemented, also in terms of governance, in all these years, the tool, now of fundamental importance, to establish the project more and more with the involvement of the territories, communities and institutions and guarantee it life, resources and development. This year we wanted to merge the practice of wonder in the relationship between volunteers, the public and heritage into one image. It is a declaration of responsibility towards the role of the present in remembering the past to build the future already today. A stimulus to look closely at what we always look at as if it were distant but which isn’t really, it’s just little known or studied in depth”.
Also this year the medal of representation of the Presidency of the Italian Republic was awarded to the event, as has been the case since 2008.
Monumenti Aperti 2023 is created with the patronage of the Senate of the Republic and the Chamber of Deputies, with the patronage of the President of the Regional Council of Sardinia, with the contribution of the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Tourism, the Autonomous Region of Sardinia – Department of Cultural Heritage and Tourism Department, of the 60 adhering Municipalities and with the contribution of the Sardinia Foundation.
The main sponsor is Energit, the sponsor is Sardex-Pay, the technical sponsors are Graphic Arts Pisano, Fservice Media partner Radio X and Eja TV, in collaboration with BES – Best Events Sardinia.
Heart of Sardinia is a free app for iOS and Android, which has been promoting the island’s tourist heritage for five years. It will be the official app of the 2023 edition of Monumenti Aperti and a digital guide for all visitors, with a map of the monuments that can be visited and the possibility of saving itineraries in advance.
