N(u)ove strade per Brera

The project N(u)ove strade per Brera, conceived by Cristina Moretti of Alfabeti d’Arte for Pinacoteca di Brera, with the contribution of Alice Bocca, was created with the aim of encouraging the enjoyment of the museum’s heritage in the peripheral areas of the city while enhancing its cultural and natural heritage.

Activities began last May and will continue until the end of 2022. This is a project that, through a network of institutions, connects City Hall 9 to the museum, designed as a reference point for an entire community.
A relationship realized by actively involving different audiences (schools, families, young people, the elderly) and privileging, in particular, users who find it difficult to fit into the social fabric of the neighborhood and to benefit from the city’s cultural resources, in tune with the policy of inclusiveness and welcoming of the Brera Art Gallery and the institutions participating in the project.

Villa Clerici, OrtoComuneNiguarda, Biblioteca Villa Litta Modignani, and Biblioteca Cassina Anna are some of the entities that accepted the invitation of the Pinacoteca, making the initiative possible.

Three neighborhoods are involved: Niguarda, Affori and Bruzzano, agricultural municipalities until the early twentieth century that were profoundly transformed by industrial development and massive building growth; neighborhoods that preserve a rich historical, cultural and artistic heritage to be enhanced and a strong attention to the idea of community that is being reaffirmed also thanks to the work of the institutions and associations present in the area.

In this first phase of the activity they have participated or will participate in the initiative in the coming weeks with the OrtoCondivisoNiguarda, a class from elementary school A. Locatelli of Municipio 9 with their parents, children from the Psycho-pedagogical Center of the Casa di Redenzione Sociale Onlus and elementary school children enrolled in the Summer Camps organized by the Diapason Cooperative.
The proposals included in the project involve users in the enhancement of the participating institutions in relation to the Art Gallery and its history, through interactive itineraries, workshops and exhibitions that are differentiated into two thematic and methodological lines.

Tribute to Manzoni – Manifestations of Esteem of Contemporaries on the Occasion of the Death of the Great Writer
The Cittadella degli Archivi, Pinacoteca di Brera and Alfabeti d’Arte, present the exhibition “Homage to Manzoni – Manifestations of Esteem by Contemporaries on the Occasion of the Death of the Great Writer.”
An event celebrating Alessandro Manzoni through historical accounts and archival documents, commemorating the 150th anniversary of the first performance of Verdi’s Requiem Mass in his honor. An initiative, part of the “N(U)ove Strade per Brera” project, which combines historical memory and inclusiveness in an original way, actively involving diverse audiences.

The presented exhibition is the result of an archival seminar and a visit to the Brera Art Gallery, organized for guests of Diapason Cooperative Cad-Csa. During this project, participants explored the research and selection of historical documents for the first time, learning the basics of archivistics and understanding the importance of preserving historical memory. The research also focused on Umberto Boccioni, a painter featured in the museum’s collection with four works. The “N(u)ove Strade per Brera” project, begun in 2022 and curated by Alfabeti d’Arte, aims to make the Pinacoteca’s cultural heritage more accessible to Milan’s suburbs, actively involving various social groups (schools, families, young people, the elderly) with particular attention to people who find it difficult to integrate socially and access cultural resources. The initiative is in line with the inclusion policies of the Pinacoteca di Brera and the other institutions involved.

Green line
Beauty, sustainable agriculture, biodiversity
An itinerary on the territory, built with the participation of citizens, leads to the discovery of an important green space of the City Hall: the OrtoComuneNiguarda placed in relation with the works of the Braidense Collection.
In particular, participants in the project, at the end of the meetings scheduled in the Pinacoteca, at the Brera Botanical Garden and at the OrtoComuneNiguarda, will be asked to create works of different types made, with different techniques (painting, sculpture, photography…) that illustrate the reality of the Shared Garden freely inspired by the works in the Pinacoteca.
In addition, in keeping with the Garden’s action in favor of sustainable agriculture and biodiversity, starting in September, an interactive pathway will be proposed, to which everyone will be able to contribute, on the wild edible plants found in the GardenCondivisoNiguarda and represented in the paintings in the Pinacoteca. This path will be proposed on an interactive panel, created on the occasion of the initiative, placed inside the garden: a green thread that connects reality and painted image and suggests themes for reflection, promoting the sharing and participation of citizens of all ages.
In addition, with OrtoComuneNiguarda, it is planned to participate in the Festival of Biodiversity edition 2022 the important event that since 2007 has been promoting, among the general public, the culture of biodiversity in sustainable development with the intention of increasing people’s sensitivity to this issue and awareness of its importance at the global level.

Blu line
Beauty, wisdom, spiritual experience
Three routes, created with the help of citizens, that will contribute to the discovery and enhancement of three important historical institutions in City Hall 9: Villa Clerici, Villa Litta and Cassina Anna. Places with close contacts with the Pinacoteca and the Accademia di Brera as with the history and life of the Collection that at present keep alive the link with citizens through socially engaged communities.
Villa Clerici once housed a coterie of artists and a place with a social character of help and listening for people in difficulty (prisoners…) currently maintains its functions of artistic garrison, with the Gallery of Contemporary Sacred Art, and social.
Villa Litta Modignani in the past enlivened by a salon of intellectuals including Alessandro Manzoni, Count Ercole Silva and artists such as Francesco Hayez whose works can be admired in the Pinacoteca, today it is the prestigious home of a municipal library.
Cassina Anna, once an entrepreneurial reality devoted to the agricultural development of the area, is now home to the Bruzzano municipal library, which responds to the demands of the younger public.
In particular, in addition to the beauty and interest of the sites, participants will be able to discover at the Gallery of Contemporary Sacred Art, at Villa Clerici, a copy of a painting exhibited in Brera by Pompeo Batoni, Madonna and Child with Saints Joseph and Zachariah, Elizabeth and John. This is one of the earliest paintings exhibited in the Pinacoteca of which it is possible that students from the Academy made a copy with some compositional and dimensional changes. This painting will also be an opportunity for the people involved, in collaboration with the Pinacoteca’s educational services, to try writing a caption for the work.

A final video will tell the story of the project and feature citizen input.