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Casa degli Artisti ''Giacomo Vittone''
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What to see and to know about Casa degli Artisti "Giacomo Vittone" in Tenno, nearby Riva del Garda.
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The “Giacomo Vittone” Artists’ House in Tenno
The Artists’ House “Giacomo Vittone” stands in the medieval hamlet of Canale di Tenno (Trentino) and is today one of the region’s liveliest cultural hubs. Its story begins in the early 1960s, when amateur painter Giacomo Vittone, captivated by the light rising from Lake Garda to Lake Tenno, envisioned a residency for artists in these ancient rural houses. In 1967, thanks to Vittone and local friends, the building was converted into a public consortium supported by the municipalities of Riva del Garda, Tenno and Arco, and later named after its founder. For more than fifty years the House has hosted exhibitions, symposia, summer schools, artist residencies and exchanges with academies worldwide, helping to place the Tennese valley on the contemporary‑art map.
Inside the Artists’ House
True to its name, the Artists’ House blends living and working space. On the main floor, bright vaulted halls accommodate rotating shows, performances and lectures. A frescoed communal kitchen forms the convivial heart, where residents share meals and ideas around long wooden tables. The upper levels contain six cosy atelier‑bedrooms, each equipped with a work station, Wi‑Fi and a view of Lake Garda’s blue expanse.
The terraced garden descends toward a chestnut wood and frames a sweeping panorama from the Alto‑Garda plain to Mount Baldo. In summer it becomes an open‑air stage for chamber concerts, poetry readings, film nights and site‑specific installations. The facility also offers a small art‑history library and a materials library stocked with handmade papers, pigments and local earths for resident artists.
Studios and Workshops
The Artists’ House is both training centre and meeting point for anyone drawn to the visual arts. Each summer it hosts intensive workshops in raku ceramics, plein‑air watercolour, life drawing, fine‑art printing, cirmolo‑wood sculpture and copper‑plate etching.
Prestigious partnerships include lecturers from Rome’s National Culture Department, Venice’s International Graphics Centre and Milan’s Manzoni Foundation, plus Erasmus projects with European universities. Past residents hail from Brera Academy (Milan), Carrara (Bergamo), Cignaroli (Verona), Urbino, as well as Laval‑Québec, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Basel and Zürich. Courses culminate in a collective exhibition that spreads through the House and neighbouring cellars, dialoguing with Trentino’s rural architecture.
Further details: casartisti.it
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