FAI Autumn Days 2025: 28 hidden treasures open across Tuscany

On Saturday 11 and Sunday 12 October 2025, the Giornate FAI d’Autunno (FAI Autumn Days) return across Italy for their 14th edition. Organized by the FAI – Fondo per l’Ambiente Italiano ETS, this nationwide event invites the public to discover lesser-known artistic, historical, and natural sites, usually closed to visitors.

In Tuscany, this year’s edition features 28 places spread across the region’s nine provinces — a diverse and fascinating map that connects art, architecture, and landscape. Visitors can explore everything from medieval abbeys and Renaissance palaces to military buildings and modern landmarks, many of which are open only on these two days.

Taking part in the FAI Autumn Days means not only discovering these treasures but also supporting their preservation. Entrance is based on a free donation, and contributions go directly toward the Foundation’s mission to protect and promote Italy’s cultural and environmental heritage. Full details and bookings are available on the Giornate FAI website.

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Florence and surroundings

For the Florence area, the 2025 edition focuses on three exceptional locations — each telling a different story about the city’s artistic, spiritual, and modern identity: the Badia Fiesolana in Fiesole, Palazzo Pazzi-Quaratesi in the city center, and the RAI regional headquarters in Varlungo.

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Badia Fiesolana, Fiesole

Dating back to the 11th century, the Badia Fiesolana is one of the oldest religious complexes in the Florentine hills. Originally a Benedictine abbey and later managed by various religious orders, it was rebuilt in 1456 under Cosimo de’ Medici, who commissioned major works to restore and expand the monastery.

Its façade, with white and green marble decorations, reflects the geometric harmony typical of Tuscan Romanesque architecture. Inside, the simplicity of the single nave is enriched by Renaissance details that mark centuries of transformation.

Since 1976, the Badia has been home to the European University Institute (EUI), a hub for research and higher education within the European Union. Visitors during the FAI weekend will be able to enter normally restricted areas, explore cloisters and courtyards, and understand how this ancient monastery continues to serve as a place of study and dialogue among cultures.

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Palazzo Pazzi-Quaratesi, Florence

Located in Via del Proconsolo, this elegant Renaissance palace is a masterpiece of 15th-century Florentine architecture. Built for the powerful Pazzi family, it bears witness to one of the most turbulent chapters in Florence’s history — the Pazzi Conspiracy against the Medici, which unfolded just a few steps away in the Cathedral in 1478.

The building, later acquired by the Quaratesi family, preserves a harmonious façade with rusticated stone, arched windows, and a perfectly proportioned interior courtyard. Declared a national monument in 1901, it remains one of the best-preserved examples of civic architecture from the early Renaissance.

For the FAI Autumn Days, Palazzo Pazzi-Quaratesi opens its doors to visitors for guided tours through its courtyards, staircases, and decorated halls — a rare chance to explore the private spaces of a Florentine family that shaped the city’s political and cultural identity.

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RAI Regional Headquarters, Varlungo (Florence)

A very different type of heritage will be revealed at the RAI regional headquarters, an icon of 20th-century Italian modernism. Designed by architect Italo Gamberini between 1962 and 1968, the building is a striking example of the postwar vision that combined functionality with artistic ambition.

The complex includes numerous works of contemporary art, such as Le Onde della Radio by Quinto Martini, Volo di gabbiani by Sauro Cavallini, and a large stained glass window by Guido Polloni. Its geometric concrete structure and large internal spaces embody the aesthetic of a new media age, when television and radio were symbols of progress.

During the FAI weekend, visitors will have the opportunity to enter the studios, the so-called “room of sounds,” and other technical areas — spaces usually reserved for RAI professionals — to understand how broadcasting was (and still is) produced in Florence.

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Across Tuscany

Beyond Florence, the FAI Autumn Days 2025 will unfold across all nine Tuscan provinces, opening 28 remarkable sites to the public.

In Grosseto, visitors can explore the Savoia Cavalleria Regiment, the medieval borgo of Magliano in Toscana, and the hilltop hamlet of Pereta.

In Livorno, the highlights include Villa Mussio and the historic Cantine del Palio Marinaro, together with the old center of Campiglia Marittima.

The province of Lucca offers one of the richest itineraries, featuring Ghivizzano, the Church of Santa Caterina, the tiny Teatrino di Vetriano in Pescaglia, the borgo of Anchiano, the Gothic Line bunkers in Borgo a Mozzano, the Virtual Museum of Sculpture and Architecture in Pietrasanta, and the Pieve di Santa Maria Assunta in Villa Basilica.

In Massa-Carrara, visitors can discover Casa Piccianti in the mountain village of Antona.

In Pisa, openings include the Cloister of Santa Croce in Fossabanda, the Gardens of Sant’Anna, Palazzo Boyl, and the postwar garden in the Sant’Antonio district. 

Pistoia presents Villa Borghese in Monsummano Terme and three historic residences in the city center: Le Stanze, Palazzo Marchetti, and Palazzo Ganucci-Cancellieri.

In Prato, Villa San Leonardo al Palco will open its doors.

In the province of Siena features Villa Volte Alte, Torre e Casa Campatelli in San Gimignano, and the Ancient Hospital Monna Agnese, today part of a high school complex.

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