Fondazione Vezza to open sculpture trail at medieval monastery site in 2027

A new contemporary art foundation will open in Monforte d'Alba, in Piedmont's Langhe wine region, in September 2027. Entrepreneur Sandra Vezza and her son Charley will launch Fondazione Vezza among the ruins of a medieval monastery, roughly 60 kilometres southeast of Turin.

Two large-scale, site-specific works will inaugurate the project next autumn. The US artist Kathleen Ryan and the Italian sculptor Alessandro Pessoli have been commissioned to create them. The works will anchor a trail developed over the next decade through woodland on Colle San Pietro hill, incorporating the ruins of the monastery of San Pietro, an early medieval complex first documented in 1014.

Flavio del Monte, formerly director of institutional relations at Milan's Massimo de Carlo gallery, will oversee the project. A project statement sets out the curatorial model: "Each year, one or more artists will be invited to engage with the site, its woodland, its paths, existing architecture and history. Over approximately ten years, the works will shape a route that will continue to grow and change without losing the site's original character."

The Vezzas will fund production of the works. Budget figures remain confidential. The foundation will own the pieces it produces, a spokesperson confirmed, adding: "Yes, they will be installed permanently onsite. The target audience is really everyone, the widest possible audience."

The site will be open to the public and free to enter — an unusual access model for a privately funded Italian art foundation, where paid admission is common.

What lies behind the Vezza family's design empire?

Sandra and Charley Vezza are established figures in Italian design. In 2012 they bought Gufram, the radical Italian design brand founded in the 1960s and known for its pop art-inspired furniture. In 2022 they founded the Italian Radical Design Group, a Barolo-based company established, according to its website, with "the specific aim of preserving and promoting historic Italian design brands".

That same year, the group acquired Memphis Milano, the post-modern design collective founded in the 1980s. Fondazione Vezza extends the family's holdings from design heritage into contemporary art commissioning.

The project statement frames the 2027 opening as a starting point rather than a finished product: "With its opening in 2027, the Foundation will begin a long-term exploration of the relationship between contemporary art, the landscape, and the Vezza family's vision, shaped by the artists invited to contribute to the site over time."

Institutional backers have already signed on. Project supporters include the Comune di Monforte, the Comune di Milano and Gagosian Gallery — the latter a signal that major international gallery networks will feed the commissioning pipeline.

Why it matters

The foundation enters a crowded European landscape of private sculpture parks, but its model differs on two counts: free entry and a rolling, decade-long commissioning rhythm tied to a single historic site. By 2037, if the plan holds, Colle San Pietro will hold a permanently installed trail of works accumulated one or two artists at a time — a slow-build collection in contrast to the single-inauguration model most private foundations favour.