Le ville e i giardini medicei rappresentano un vero e proprio microcosmo attorno a cui ruota la vita di corte. In questi luoghi i Medici prima, i Lorena e i Savoia poi si dedicarono alle proprie passioni: l’arte e il mecenatismo, la vita nella natura e la caccia, la convivialità a corte e la buona tavola. Per la ricchezza di arredi, motivi decorativi e tecniche artigianali custodiscono veri e propri tesori, testimonianze materiali delle arti minori del nostro territorio.
Stazione Utopia, in collaborazione con il Polo Museale della Toscana, propone una serie di attività ricreative e di formazione, laboratori e visite guidate finalizzate a far conoscere la storia e le opere conservate nelle ville e nei giardini, attraverso metodologie inclusive e una varietà di tematiche e approcci pensati per pubblici sempre più articolati e differenziati: dalle scuole, agli adulti, alle persone con bisogni educativi speciali.
A partire dalle potenzialità offerte dalle lavagne interattive, si propongono lezioni frontali in cui grazie a diversi supporti (video, interviste, immagini, rendering) si illustrano temi di ampia portata e vasto respiro.
In Florence, a new space dedicated to culture, education, and participation.
ROSA: a permanent laboratory for cultural and botanical heritage mediation, located in the evocative setting of the Rose Garden, is launched.
ROSA is an open space for encounter, research, and the collective production of knowledge, dedicated to enhancing historical-artistic, landscape, and environmental heritage through educational, participatory, and inclusive practices.
The new center will host cultural mediation activities for citizens, schools, universities, professionals, and visitors, including workshops, guided tours, lessons, seminars, conferences, and training programs. It will also serve as a site for the design and development of cultural and environmental cooperation projects under local, national, and European funding calls, thanks to a network of partners and collaborations in Italy and across Europe.
From June 2026, ROSA will permanently host a multidisciplinary team of professionals, including museum educators, researchers, cultural mediators, and administrative and secretarial staff, fostering dialogue between different fields of expertise and the experimentation of new approaches to audience engagement.
ROSA is a new cultural hub for the city, capable of hosting public events, temporary exhibitions, workshops, conferences, seminars, presentations, study meetings, and project sessions, helping to strengthen the role of the Rose Garden as a place of culture, nature, and active citizenship.
The name ROSA refers to the botanical identity of the site and, at the same time, evokes stories of care, knowledge, empowerment, and transformation. It suggests a space that builds connections between cultural and natural heritage, between research and community, between memory and the future—not merely a beautiful place to visit, but a place to inhabit, where culture, education, and the environment come together to generate new forms of participation and shared knowledge production.
Special thanks to LiMO, Linguaggi in Movimento, and the Società Toscana di Orticultura.
A project by Stazione Utopia, made possible through the allocation of spaces by the Municipality of Florence, Department of Heritage, Environment, and Culture.
INAUGURATION
Wednesday 17 June 2026, 5:30 PM
john louis,
black on white
John Louis, a young Nigerian artist, is self-taught in drawing, having learned while working as a barber in Awkuzu, in southern Nigeria. His artistic practice begins with photographs and develops through pencil drawing, with a careful use of chiaroscuro. His interest in the history of his country has led him to create a series of eight portraits dedicated to activists, musicians, and writers who took part in the resistance against colonialism in Nigeria.
*The exhibition can be visited by appointment.
17 JUNE, 6.30 PM, INAUGURATION
26 JUNE, 6.00 PM, amir TOUR
11 sePTEMBER, 6.00 PM, amir TOUR
26 sePTEMBER, 6.00 PM, amir TOUR
Until 8:00 PM, come and try screen printing with CoLLA! Bring your own T-shirt, tote bag, or whatever you like!
