BOTTEGA CINI

• Bottega Cini stands as a place of dialogue between culture and business, not only Venetian: the Fondazione Archivio Vittorio Cini, Franco Maria Ricci Editore and Museyoum, each an excellence in its own field, come together with the aim of creating a new kind of Museum Shop, a Renaissance-style bottega reinterpreted for today. Its rooms host the fine publications of Franco Maria Ricci Editore, the historic Parma publishing house renowned for its care for every detail and typographic elegance, the workshop of the glass-bead artisan (Impiraressa) Marisa Convento, and the Vittorio Cini and Marco Polo exhibitions by Museyoum, alongside other excellences of the area such as the artisan paper mill Toscolano 1381 and the oarlocks (forcole) of Saverio Pastor.

THE PALAZZO CINI GALLERY AT SAN VIO

Bottega Cini began its activity in an emblematic location, at the heart of Dorsoduro’s Miglio dell’Arte (Art Mile) in Venice: facing Palazzo Cini, which for 60 years, until his death on 18 September 1977, was the home of Count and Senator Vittorio Cini, the great entrepreneur, patron and collector who had moved there from his native Ferrara. For 35 years the Palazzo has displayed, across its two main floors (besides temporary exhibitions), a significant part of his art collections, thanks to the donation to the Fondazione Giorgio Cini of the building and its contents by one of his daughters, Princess Yana Cini Alliata di Montereale, and to numerous loans from other heirs. Bottega Cini therefore aims above all to develop important synergies with the Fondazione Cini for the further enhancement of Palazzo Cini (which already counts Assicurazioni Generali as main sponsor) and of the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, in the spirit of its Founder and to celebrate his legacy.
In the summer and autumn season of 2020 the Fondazione Cini’s Institute of Art History presented, on the Gallery’s second floor, the temporary exhibition “Piranesi Roma Basilico“, comparing numerous eighteenth-century views of Rome (held in the Fondazione Cini’s collections) with early twenty-first-century photographs commissioned by the Fondazione, by two great masters.
Bottega Cini accompanies the initiative with the production and sale of dedicated objects and publications.

FONDAZIONE ARCHIVIO VITTORIO CINI

It holds the private documentary heritage of the great entrepreneur, patron and collector, and of other members of his family. Vittorio Cini (Ferrara, 20 February 1885 – Venice, 18 September 1977) was one of the leading figures in the economic, political, social and cultural history of the twentieth century, in Italy and beyond, leaving an important mark above all on Venice and the Veneto. A first inventory of the Archive is being published, catalogued and made available for consultation, alongside an extensive body of printed material and websites and his multimedia biography: a complete collection of documentary materials of various kinds (paper, photographic, audio and video), together with numerous virtual tours of the places of his life.
The Fondazione (currently being established, and supported by his grandson Giovanni Alliata di Montereale) undertakes cultural initiatives of various kinds, developed over the years, to perpetuate and honour his memory. It has promoted the restoration of significant works of art (paintings, books, objects) that he owned, and the recovery of places linked to his life, as well as publications, historical and archival research, scholarships, donations, conferences and meetings with figures from the world of culture, concerts, exhibitions, religious ceremonies and events dedicated to him, also in collaboration with other institutions.
Starting in 2017, the 40th anniversary of Vittorio Cini’s death, and again in 2018 and 2019, the Fondazione Archivio promoted and took part in around 50 initiatives.

FRANCO MARIA RICCI EDITORE

Founded in 1965 by the young bibliophile Franco Maria Ricci, the FMR publishing house is known worldwide for its art books, meticulously curated in both content and graphic elegance. Ricci’s editorial vision took shape with the series “I Segni dell’Uomo” (“Signs of Man”), marked by black-and-gold covers and an essential neoclassical design. Its volumes featured great authors such as Italo Calvino, Roland Barthes, Umberto Eco and Cesare Zavattini, accompanied by rich and distinctive imagery. This series was followed by “Quadreria” (“Picture Gallery”), whose wide, pale-blue pages illustrated wonderful works of art, precious miniatures and hidden beauties.

After a visit to Jorge Luis Borges in Argentina, between 1975 and 1985 Ricci published the “Biblioteca di Babele” (“Library of Babel”), not a traditional literary series but a selection of works presented by a “great reader” (Borges himself) to future generations.

In 1982 FMR was born, “the most beautiful magazine in the world”, loved, among many others, by Jacqueline Kennedy and Federico Fellini. The magazine presents art in a new light, not merely teaching the history of art but refining its readers’ taste and gaze.

The publishing house’s recent series and publications follow the same direction set by its founder, combining mastery, curiosity, quality and graphic refinement.

Inside Bottega Cini you will find a selection of the finest publications still available, from the historic series to the most recent releases.

MUSEYOUM Srl I.S.

Is an innovative, socially-oriented startup founded in 2017, bringing together the twenty-year experience of Stefano Bergonzini and Riccardo Ricci, professionals active in the fields of museum culture, artificial intelligence, virtual reality and audience-interaction technologies.
After numerous projects carried out in the world’s leading museums, from Paris to Shanghai, from Milan and Venice to Tokyo, and after making their technologies available to major multinationals and Italian industries, the two founders structured their collaboration into this new venture. Shortly after its creation, Museyoum built the first artificial intelligence specialised in art and was invited to San Francisco, California, to present it as part of StartUp Grind (2017). A few months later Museyoum developed a system able to tell the story of art in a way tailored to each visitor, winning the national Cultural Innovation programme promoted by Fondazione Cariplo.
In 2018 it created a format of touring interactive exhibitions designed to engage families and groups of visitors in exciting, accessible experiences in different cities. The aim is to promote the great names of Italian art, and the related museums and places, in Italy and across Europe. This project won the European ArtLab contest (March 2018). In the same period Museyoum launched the “Sala dei Ferraresi” project for the Fondazione Archivio Vittorio Cini (Venice), curated a room of the exhibition “Raffaello e l’eco del mito” for the Accademia Carrara in Bergamo, and presented curators and museum directors with the opportunities offered by new technologies at the Salone Internazionale dei Musei in Ferrara.
In early October 2018, Museyoum was invited to present its technologies at the European event dedicated to museums held in Frankfurt alongside the book fair (THE ARTS+ Frankfurt Book Fair 2018).

THE RAPHAEL AND MANTEGNA EXHIBITIONS