FAI is proud to inaugurate a new multimedia space at Villa Necchi to tell the story of the environment in the heart of Milan. A new FAI project to promote good habits for the environment.
At Villa Necchi Campiglio, a FAI property in the centre of Milan, the Trust, in the presence of Mayor Giuseppe Sala and Councillor for the Environment and Green Areas Elena Grandi, recently inaugurated a new permanent multimedia space, open to the public free of charge, that complements and enriches the existing range of visitor activities.
THE ENVIRONMENT ACCORDING TO FAI
“Un ambiente per l’Ambiente” (an environment for the Environment) is an immersive video installation created in the original garage of the villa designed by the famous architect Piero Portaluppi that FAI is dedicating to telling the story of the environment in the heart of the city as the result of the inextricable interweaving of history and nature.
This is the Environment according to FAI: not uncontaminated nature, but the scenario of our history and our lives, for which we are all protagonists and responsible, as in the past, even more so today and for the future, increasingly burdened by the threat of the environmental crisis.
FAI‘s commitment to the environment, at a time in history dominated by the devastating effects of global warming, compounded by the current energy crisis, is reinforced and implemented in a path of ecological transition that involves all of its properties and activities, starting with a new cultural project that will spread from Villa Necchi to other of its 71 properties. FAI‘s aim is to tell the story of the environment and what FAI is doing to preserve and enhance it, to promote protection starting from knowledge, as is its mission, and to stimulate sensitivity, participation and civic spirit starting from the concrete example of small, great good deeds, good habits for the environment that are within FAI‘s reach, as they are for everyone.
WATER: A STORY TO BE TOLD AND A RESOURCE TO BE EXPLOITED
This is the first chapter of the FAI’s narrative that proceeds swiftly from the past to the present, because the main natural resource of Milan’s environment today is not lost, quite the contrary: water flows in the few stretches of canals that are still uncovered, among the places most loved and frequented by the Milanese, who in fact in 2011 voted in a referendum in favour of the reopening of the Navigli, which FAI hopes will become topical again thanks to this project. Above all, water in the city flows naturally just underground, plenty of it and unused: another untold story to be told and a resource to be utilized, because on this water Milan can build a future of ecological sustainability.
FAI has built the ecological sustainability of Villa Necchi on the use of groundwater, which is not drinkable but perfect for many daily functions: thanks to a well and a geothermal water heat pump. In fact, FAI saves 55% of drinking water and drastically reduces CO2 emissions; and there are many other small and great actions that it puts into practice here and in its properties throughout Italy. At Villa Necchi FAI tells the public: sustainable behaviour comprised of simple good habits are FAI’s, and indeed everyone’s duty to adopt and promote in order to help mitigate the crisis of our Environment and to restore balance to the relationship between Man and Nature, which was so fruitful in the past – as the history of Milan teaches us – and is now instead seriously compromised.
