C‘And an Italy that doesn’t appear in tourist guidesthis precious heritage will open its doors on Sunday 24 May on the occasion of Historic Homes Day. Just one day and free for everyone. It’s the Italy of private villas, castles, noble palaces and secret gardenswhich preserve centuries of history, families, stories of love and power.
Historic Houses Day 2026: Italy as an open-air museum
Like every year, the annual event organized by ADSI, the Italian Historic Houses Association, returns on the penultimate Sunday of May. which brings together private owners of valuable properties bound by the State. The initiative, which has now reached its thirteenth edition, is based on the idea that the Italian private architectural heritage is so vast, from north to south, to actually constitute the largest museum in the country.
Not a museum with ticket office and cloakroom, but a widespread museum, made up of living places, often still inhabited, where time seems to have stopped in a different way from any other place.
Not just Tuscany: the map of beauty
Tuscanyis absolutely queen as the presence of this immense heritage. Not surprisingly, this year it is the region that leads the ranking with 84 openingsa number that alone tells how full of history and architecture that land is. But it would be a mistake to stop there.
Puglia, Abruzzo and Lazio all three present themselves with 43 houses that can be visited each, followed by the grouping Piedmont and Valle d’Aosta with 37 places open, and since Veneto with 34. Going down the peninsula, Campania offers 25 openings and Calabria, often unjustly forgotten in cultural circuits, as many as 23.
The historic homes open on Sunday 24th: a journey into hidden Italy. (ADSI)
Quality over quantity
Then there are the regions that surprise for quality rather than quantity: Basilicata with 12 sites, Trentino-Alto Adige with 11, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Liguria and Umbria with 9 each. And then there are the islands. Sicily participate with 10 openings and Sardinia makes its entrance with two new entries of absolute interest: Villa Carboni and Palazzo Amat di San Filippo, both in Cagliari.
Historic homes not to be missed
Among the new features of this edition there is: Cocozza Palace in Montanara, in the Caserta areathe historic residence where Pier Paolo Pasolini filmed some scenes of his Decameron. Casa Torre opens in Florence which today houses the Consulate of the Sultanate of Oman: a place that tells how certain historic homes have gone through unimaginable transformations.
In Sicily, in Catania, the Paternò del Toscano Park is worth a visita rare example of historic architecture immersed in a landscaped park of great value, one of those places where you completely forget you are in the city.
In Sicily, in Catania, the Parco Paternò del Toscano is worth a visit, a rare example of historic architecture immersed in a landscape park of great value. (ADSI)
A pact for the future
Meanwhile, behind Sunday’s celebration, ADSI is also thinking about the future of all this heritage. Just recently, a memorandum of understanding was signed in Rome between ADSI and ANCI, the National Association of Italian Municipalities, which aims to make historic homes a concrete lever for the sustainable development of territorieswith particular attention to the villages and internal areas suffering from depopulation. In essence, we would like to integrate villas, castles and historic buildings into local tourist and cultural plansbuilding itineraries that connect these residences to civic museums, artisan workshops and the food and wine excellences of the area.
Helping private individuals preserve an unmissable heritage
At the same time, the pact should push the Municipalities to adopt more favorable tax policies for those who often take charge of the conservation of these restricted assets at their own expense and with great sacrifice. Many of these homes, in fact, they belong to private families who look after themrestore and maintain them with their own resources, taking on a responsibility that is, in fact, public. The State, in fact, binds them by imposing their conservation and limiting their possible transformations, but does not always offer the adequate economic tools to do so.
Historic Houses Day: guardians of the future
The theme chosen for the 2026 edition is “Custodians of the future. A living heritage for a shared value“, a formula that says a lot about how the way of thinking about these places is changing. No longer just monuments to be preserved as in a glass case, but living spaces to be made usable, to be connected to the communities that surround themto be transformed into economic and social resources for the territories.
It is an important change of perspective: a historic residence, although once owned by a single family, it is a piece of a country’s collective identity. On Sunday, for those lucky enough to cross one of these thresholds, all this will finally be tangible. The complete list of open homes and all the information to organize the visit are available on the official ADSI website.
