High 20 Locations of the Coronary heart 2021
FAI is the National Trust of Italy, which was founded in 1975 by Fondo Ambiente Italiano on the model of the National Trust of England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It is a private non-profit organization and has over 190,000 members as of 2018. The aim is to protect elements of Italy’s physical heritage that might otherwise be lost.
- With 2,353,932 votes, the Italians showed their love for the country’s cultural and environmental heritage.
- The winner of the 2020 edition of “Places of the Heart” with 75,586 votes is the Cuneo-Ventimiglia-Nice railway line.
- The first three classified winners will be awarded after submitting an improvement project with prizes ranging from 30,000 to 50,000 euros.
On February 25, the winners of the 10th census of the Fondo Ambiente Italiano (FAI) were announced. With 2,353,932 votes, the Italians wanted to demonstrate their love for Italian cultural and environmental heritage: the best result ever for the FAI census and Destination Italy. This was a surprising participation in the fact that it was charged with meaning even in the year of the COVID-19 tragedy and tells of a coherent Italy that is vital and proud of its beauties and, despite everything, looks hopefully into the future.
Thanks to the commitment of a number of committees such as the Friends of the Train of Miracles, the Friends of the Cuneo Ventimiglia Nice Railway and the Amis du Train des Merveilles, the FAI can use funds to improve the 2020 edition winner of “Places of the Heart” with 75,586 votes is the Cuneo-Ventimiglia-Nice railway line.
This work, designed by Cavour, which consists of 96 kilometers of rails, 33 tunnels and 27 bridges and viaducts and touches 18 communities, was half destroyed by the Germans in 1943 and rebuilt in the 1970s. Today it requires extensive recovery plans, maintenance and improvement, also taking into account its tourist potential. This work “risked dismantling in 2013 and has unfortunately been interrupted since last October due to the Colle di Tenda landslide caused by the flood that isolated Val Roya.”
In second place, with 62,690 votes, is the Sammezzano Castle in Regello (Florence), a unique architectural jewel in Italy and the world. This building was already the winner of the 2016 census, but unfortunately this incredible place where Moorish art triumphs is a prisoner of a complex bureaucratic situation that has not yet allowed the castle and its 190 hectare park to resume after the abandonment shine.
In third place, with over 40,000 votes, is the Castle of Brescia, the protagonist of the city of Risorgimento, which has to be improved and maintained at the request of various associations and companies in the region. Fourth is Via delle Collegiate di Modica (RG), a path that ideally connects the Cathedral of San Giorgio and the churches of San Pietro and Santa Maria di Betlem.
In fifth place is the hospital and church of Ignazio Gardella, Alessandria, in sixth place the Rupestrian Church of San Nicolò Inferiore, Modica (RG), in seventh place the aqueduct bridge of Gravina in Puglia, which also received the Web Award The eighth is the Church of San Michele Arcangelo di Pegazzano (La Spezia), and in the ninth and tenth place are the Hermitage of Sant’Onofrio al Morrone, Sulmona (AQ) and the Museum of the Secrets of Campobasso.
In this edition, supported by Intesa San Paolo and carried out under the auspices of the President of the Republic and under the auspices of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, and Tourism and Cooperation of RAI, there are many places in Italy to visit, sometimes less known for the dynamism of tourism that citizens of each region have asked to improve.
These are all symbols of the history, culture and beauty of Italy, which, as can be read in detail on the FAI website, are dedicated to the initiative and need the love and support of the citizens who work too often for the rebirth of these forgotten places .
What next?
The first three classified winners will be awarded prizes between 30,000 and 50,000 euros (upon submission of an improvement project), while the FAI will take care of creating a video storytelling for the place that received the most votes from the Internet (the Gravina) Aqueduct bridge, also featured in the latest James Bond film, “No Time to Die,” where the prize is collected instead of the Sammezzano Castle which cannot collect any other prizes. The locations that received at least 2,000 votes can then participate in a call for improvement, while for all other reported assets (some of which can be found in the gallery as part of the full list on the Environment Fund’s website). The FAI will undertake to ensure that the institutions give due territorial attention to all those places that are part of the collective memory.
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