CITTÀ DI BELLINZONA

The Bellinzona fortress has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000. The Bellinzona fortified complex, comprising three castles with their surrounding walls and a great wall, is an extraordinary example of a late medieval defensive structure, located at a key strategic point for crossing the Alps. "Dream of a fortress unique in Europe" is the slogan chosen to accompany the fortress in an ongoing process of content renewal. As for the Villa dei Cedri, which houses the museum, the exhibition tells the story of modern life between the ^19th and ^20th centuries. Situated in the south-east of the municipality of Bellinzona, in an area known as "the Nice of Bellinzona" due to its particularly sunny location, it is surrounded by a park of century-old trees overlooking the square of the former church of San Biagio. The building is the result of a Palladian transformation, circa 1920, of the original neoclassical building dating from 1860. A museum of modern and contemporary art since 1985, Villa dei Cedri hosts two to three temporary exhibitions a year, focusing on art from the ^19th to ^21st centuries, with a particular emphasis on works on paper. Nature is also a theme strongly anchored in the identity of the Villa dei Cedri museum, not least because of its location, once surrounded by farmland and now immersed in the greenery of a historic park.