In 2027 Alba Will Be the Italian Capital of Contemporary Art From the first Biennale delle Langhe to the new Fondazione Vezza, which will open in a woodland among vineyards and the ruins of a thousand-year-old monastery

In 2027, Alba will be Italy's Capital of Contemporary Art. The Piedmontese city won the title with Le fabbriche del vento (The Wind Factories), a project inspired by Alba-born artist Pinot Gallizio that will bring exhibitions, new works, and the first edition of the Biennale delle Langhe to the area. A year in which contemporary art will step outside traditional exhibition spaces to engage the landscape and cultural realities of the Langhe. Right among these vineyards, in Monforte d'Alba, there is a hill that shelters a woodland and the ruins of an ancient monastery documented as far back as 1014. It is here, on Colle San Pietro, that the Fondazione Vezza is taking shape — a new project dedicated to contemporary art that will open to the public in September 2027. The driving force behind it is Sandra and Charley Vezza, who have chosen to transform this place into a space where artworks are discovered by walking among the trees, along paths immersed in nature.

A woodland among the Barolo vineyards

The project, directed by Flavio Del Monte, will take shape gradually, respecting the identity of the landscape. The woodland lies in an area surrounded by Barolo vineyards, in a territory recognised by UNESCO as part of the Piedmont Wine Landscapes. Unlike the surrounding hills, shaped over centuries by agricultural activity, Colle San Pietro has preserved vegetation that developed according to natural dynamics. Among the trees stand the remains of the ancient Monastery of San Pietro. The Foundation will not be a traditional exhibition space, but an outdoor route destined to change over time. Each year, one or more Italian and international artists will be invited to get to know the site, study its history and vegetation, and conceive interventions designed specifically for this context. The works will gradually become part of the landscape, giving rise over the course of approximately ten years to an artistic itinerary winding through woodland, pathways, and historical remains.

The first works will arrive in 2027

The route will be inaugurated by Kathleen Ryan, an American artist born in 1984, and Alessandro Pessoli, born in Cervia in 1963. Their works will be presented in September 2027, during the year in which Alba and the Langhe territory will be at the centre of a programme dedicated to contemporary art. The new Foundation will help enrich this cultural season with a project designed to keep growing in the years that follow. Ahead of the opening, Colle San Pietro has been the subject of botanical, archaeological, and architectural studies to determine how to make the woodland accessible without compromising its character. The monastery ruins will also undergo restoration and consolidation work entrusted to architect Salvatore Simonetti and the firm Simonetti Architettura, already engaged in the restoration of the Castelli di Cannero on Lake Maggiore.

The Fondazione Vezza will thus be born as a place to move through, rather than to visit along a fixed route. Visitors will be able to stroll among the trees, pause before a work of art, and return in another season, when the landscape will have changed. The first works will be presented in 2027, but the project will continue to grow in the years ahead, adding new artistic interventions to a hill that carries with it over a thousand years of history.