Associazione culturale Casa Testori

Casa Testori is a cultural association and exhibition venue based in Novate Milanese, on the northern outskirts of Milan, Italy. It occupies the early-20th-century two-storey villa with an internal garden where the writer, playwright, painter, art critic, poet, director and actor Giovanni Testori was born. The house sits beside the family factory, facing the Ferrovie Nord railway tracks, with its entrance directly on the street rather than behind a separating garden — a detail the organisation presents as a symbol of its openness to the city. The association operates as a free exhibition space with a distinctly experimental vocation. It has become an institutional reference point in Milan for emerging artistic production, presenting young artists not only within its own rooms but also through public initiatives conceived and curated for municipalities and regions. Its programming spans contemporary art exhibitions, education projects, civil service volunteering, and site-specific interventions. Casa Testori is recognised by the Italian Ministry of Culture (MIC) as a Cultural Institute and is registered in the Provincial Register of Non-Profit Associations (L.R. 1/2008) of the Metropolitan City of Milan under number 446. It is currently chaired by Carlo Maria Pinardi. The organisation describes itself as an "hub culturale" — a cultural hub — combining exhibition-making, education, publishing and heritage stewardship around the figure and legacy of Giovanni Testori. Its educational work is guided by the word "casa" (home): Casa Testori is framed as a familiar place to return to, where visitors can experience themselves and their knowledge and acquire new skills through active, participatory experimentation. The layered creative force of Giovanni Testori — from literature to theatre, from essays to poetry to art — provides numerous starting points for a catalogue of proposals linked to the permanent collection, the library and the house itself. Recent and ongoing projects advertised on its website include "Cantiere per 'La Cattedrale'" (a worksite/exhibition project running into October 2026), "Positivity Cabin" in Carrara, "Ambient-Arti: suoni e immagini per il Parco della Balossa", participation in the Premio Rosa Camuna, a Universal Civil Service programme, and a donor wall under the banner "Saliamo Tutti". These activities illustrate a small but active cultural institution working across exhibition production, public art, education and civic engagement in Lombardy.

Casa Testori is rooted in the birthplace of Giovanni Testori, a figure described by the organisation as a writer, playwright, painter, art critic, poet, director and actor. The house itself is an early-20th-century two-storey villa in Novate Milanese, on the northern edge of Milan, built in the sober, rigorous style of a small Lombard industrial family of the early 1900s. It has more than twenty rooms across two floors connected by a central staircase, between a red-brick barrel-vaulted cellar and an evocative attic. A veranda and salon were added in the 1930s, giving the house what the association calls a "quizzo di fantasia" — a touch of imagination. The garden at the rear contains a large magnolia and roses, and opens towards the Testori factory. The house faces the Ferrovie Nord railway tracks beside the family factory, with its entrance directly on the street rather than behind a separating front garden; the organisation presents this as "a door open onto the city" and insists on the name "Casa Testori" rather than "Villa Testori". The association that now occupies and manages the house has developed into a cultural hub specialising in the production and promotion of contemporary art. It operates as a free exhibition space with a particular experimental vocation and has become an institutional reference point in Milan for the emergence of young artistic production. Its activities are not confined to the house: it also conceives and curates public initiatives for municipalities and regions. Casa Testori is recognised by the Italian Ministry of Culture (MIC) as a Cultural Institute. It is registered in the Provincial Register of Non-Profit Associations (L.R. 1/2008) of the Metropolitan City of Milan under number 446. It is currently chaired by Carlo Maria Pinardi. Its educational programming is built around the concept of "casa" (home) as a familiar place to return to, where participants can experience themselves and their knowledge and acquire new skills through active, participatory experimentation. The layered creative output of Giovanni Testori — spanning literature, theatre, essays, poetry and art — supplies themes for a catalogue of proposals connected to the permanent collection, the library and the house. In the mid-2020s the organisation's public programme included "Cantiere per 'La Cattedrale'", an exhibition/worksite project running from 22 June to 3 October 2026 and advertised as open until 23 October; "Positivity Cabin" in Carrara on 9–10 October 2026; "Ambient-Arti: suoni e immagini per il Parco della Balossa"; participation in the Premio Rosa Camuna; a Universal Civil Service volunteering programme; and a donor wall under the slogan "Saliamo Tutti". These activities reflect a small but active institution working across exhibition production, public art, education and civic engagement in Lombardy.

• Giovanni Testori is born in the house that later becomes Casa Testori

• Veranda and salon added to the early-20th-century villa

• Casa Testori is registered in the Provincial Register of Non-Profit Associations (L.R. 1/2008) of the Metropolitan City of Milan, no. 446

• Casa Testori is recognised by the Italian Ministry of Culture (MIC) as a Cultural Institute

• Carlo Maria Pinardi serves as president

• Cantiere per 'La Cattedrale' exhibition/worksite project runs from 22 June to 3 October 2026

• Positivity Cabin in Carrara, 9–10 October 2026

A free, experimental exhibition space and MIC-recognised cultural institute on the outskirts of Milan, focused on emerging contemporary art and the legacy of Giovanni Testori.

• Cantiere per 'La Cattedrale'

  A project running from 22 June to 3 October 2026, advertised as open until 23 October, centred on the theme of 'La Cattedrale'.

• Positivity Cabin

  An initiative in Carrara on 9–10 October 2026.

• Ambient-Arti: suoni e immagini per il Parco della Balossa

  A project combining sound and images for the Parco della Balossa.

• Permanent collection and library

  Casa Testori's permanent collection and library, used as resources for educational and cultural programming.

• Universal Civil Service programme

  A programme through which volunteers spend a year at Casa Testori.

1. 1Homepage - Casa Testoricasatestori.it
2. 2Chi siamo - Casa Testoricasatestori.it
3. 3Associazione culturale Casa Testori - Wikidatawikidata.org