The lesser-known FAI properties to visit in Italy

When people talk about little-known FAI places worth visiting, the mind runs straight to Villa del Balbianello on Lake Como or Villa Necchi in Milan. But the Fondo Ambiente Italiano, founded in 1975 on the model of Britain's National Trust, today protects some seventy properties, and many of the most surprising ones stay off to the side: country abbeys, frescoed castles, salt pans inhabited by flamingos. Here are the FAI properties worth seeking out, and what to see nearby.

Among abbeys and castles

The **Monastero di Torba** (Gornate Olona, in the province of Varese) was the FAI's very first property, donated by Giulia Maria Crespi in 1977. A late-Roman tower, a church with eighth-century frescoes, and even the ritual burial of a sixth-century horse: since 2011 it has been part of the UNESCO site "The Longobards in Italy." A few minutes away is Castelseprio, with its Byzantine frescoes, part of the same Longobard trail.

At the foot of Monviso, the **Castello della Manta** (province of Cuneo, donated to the FAI in 1985) holds one of the most complete late-Gothic painting cycles in Europe: the Heroes and Heroines inspired by the romance *Le chevalier errant*. From here you can easily reach the Sacra di San Michele above the Val di Susa and the Romanesque abbey of Vezzolano in the Monferrato.

Between Lecce and Brindisi, the **Abbazia di Santa Maria di Cerrate** is a Romanesque gem restored by the FAI after years of neglect, with a carved portico and Byzantine frescoes inside the church. It is open from February to October (daily in June and August) and in summer it hosts festivals of Griko culture. In the same Salento, the Crypt of the Crucifix in Ugento and the Byzantine hamlet of Apigliano are both worth a stop.

Nature and archaeology

At Assemini, on the outskirts of Cagliari, the **Saline Conti Vecchi** combine industrial archaeology and nature: you tour them by little train, among pink pools and flamingos, inside a 1930s plant that is still working. Heading inland, Phoenician and Nuragic Sardinia continues at Tharros, on the sea of the Sinis and at the Nuraghe Losa of Abbasanta.

In the heart of the Valley of the Temples at Agrigento, the **Giardino della Kolymbethra** is a historic citrus grove entrusted to the FAI, with trails through the ancient Greek hypogea dug to carry water. To the west, the stone of the temples takes centre stage again at the Cave di Cusa, where the columns of Selinunte remain half-finished.

At Assisi, behind the basilica, the **Bosco di San Francesco** is a walk of about two kilometres through woods, fields and along the Tescio stream, all the way to Michelangelo Pistoletto's *Third Paradise*. From there the Valnerina beckons: the Longobard abbey of San Pietro in Valle at Ferentillo is its natural continuation.

Villas, castles and coasts

In the Vallagarina, the **Castello di Avio** (Sabbionara d'Avio) was one of the first FAI properties, donated in 1977: in the Guards' House it preserves a rare cycle of fourteenth-century battle frescoes. Further north, in the Val di Non, the hermitage of San Romedio clings to a spire of rock.

On the Euganean Hills, at Luvigliano, the **Villa dei Vescovi** is one of the first Renaissance villas designed to converse with the landscape, opened by the FAI in 2011. Among the Verona vineyards, the Romanesque continues with the parish church of San Giorgio di Valpolicella.

At Tivoli, just outside Rome, the **Parco Villa Gregoriana** is a romantic garden entrusted to the FAI in 2002: paths among the waterfalls of the Aniene, caves and Roman ruins. Climbing up into the Tuscia, you come across the frescoes of the Last Judgement at Santa Maria Maggiore in Tuscania.

At the tip of the Sorrento peninsula, at Massa Lubrense, the **Baia di Ieranto** (donated to the FAI in 1986) can only be reached on foot, with a view of the Faraglioni of Capri. On the Salerno side, the cave-sanctuary of San Michele at Olevano sul Tusciano rewards walkers in just the same way. And one FAI property is already one of our destinations: the abbey of San Fruttuoso, reachable only by sea or on foot, set in a cove between Camogli and Portofino.

When to visit

Almost all these places follow the FAI calendar: the **FAI Spring Days** (March) and the **FAI Summer Evenings** (from mid-June to mid-September, with evening events) are the best occasions to visit. Hours and openings change with the season and some properties close in winter: it is worth checking the official site fondoambiente.it before setting off. The FAI membership card gives free entry to all of them.

Practical guides for Como

• Where to stay in Como
• What to see in Como in 2 days
• Where to eat in Como
• How to get to Como