we receive e we publish the following Press release spread by Intesa San Paolo.
Il Cortonantiquaria Arte Award 2026 is awarded to Galleries of Italy, the Intesa Sanpaolo museums, for their commitment to promoting art and culture and for their ability to build a concrete relationship with the local areas and their communities over time. The award will be received this evening in Cortona in Piazza Signorelli by Tito Nocentini, Regional Director for Tuscany and Umbria at Intesa Sanpaolo.
The award, part of the 62nd edition of Italy's oldest antiques fair, takes on a special significance given the now-established bond between Intesa Sanpaolo's Gallerie d'Italia and Cortona. Since 2018, Intesa Sanpaolo has been the Main Partner of Cortona On The Move., the international photography festival that since 2011 has made the city a point of reference for contemporary photography in Italy and on the international scene. Over the years, collaboration has accompanied the growth of the Festival through the creation of exhibition projects with important Italian and international photographers and the valorization of images from the exhibitions of Gallerie d'Italia in Turin and by the 'Intesa Sanpaolo Publifoto Archive.
The collaboration will be renewed in 2026, on the occasion of the sixteenth edition of the Festival, dedicated to the theme Beautiful Country, with Intesa Sanpaolo Main PartnerAmong this year's projects, Peninsula, created in partnership with Intesa Sanpaolo, Gallerie d'Italia, and Fondazione CR Firenze: a photographic commission entrusted to ten artists, called upon to engage with the physical and symbolic territories of the contemporary Italian landscape.
The project is hosted at Girifalco Fortress, one of Cortona's iconic locations and one of the Festival's historic venues. Intesa Sanpaolo has contributed to the enhancement of the Fortezza through Art Bonus, supporting restoration, maintenance and protection interventions in some spaces of the complex in 2024 and 2025.
The relationship with Cortona is part of Intesa Sanpaolo's broader focus on culture and the enhancement of local heritage. In Tuscany, this commitment is expressed, on the one hand, through the Bank's artistic and cultural heritage, which includes the Ivan Bruschi House Museum of Antiques in Arezzo , Gallery of Alberti Palace in Prato, on the other hand through a complex system of collaborations with the main cultural institutions of the region.
In Florence, Intesa Sanpaolo is a supporter of the Palazzo Strozzi Foundation and supports the Foundation through various forms of collaboration, including partnerships with major exhibitions and Art Bonus initiatives. In 2026, the Bank was the Main Partner of the exhibition Rothko in Florence, which attracted 301.730 visitors, becoming the most visited exhibition in the history of Palazzo Strozzi. The collaboration with CR Firenze Foundation and Villa Bardini, launched in 2023, for the production of photographic exhibitions.
In Pistoia, as part of an agreement with the Savings Bank Foundation of Pistoia and Pescia, Intesa Sanpaolo supports an art exhibition and festival every year The Pistoia Dialogues, in addition to contributing through the Art Bonus to the restoration and redevelopment project of the Alessandro Manzoni Theater. Pistoia Museums, an instrumental body of the Foundation, has been enhancing 520 works from the collections of the former Cassa di Risparmio di Pistoia e della Lucchesia, now belonging to Intesa Sanpaolo, entrusted on loan since 2019 in its premises.
These activities are accompanied by further partnerships and support for important Tuscan cultural institutions, including the Foundation of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Florentine Chamber Orchestra, the Florence City Library Foundation , Spadolini Foundation New Anthology, along with initiatives dedicated to training, youth, and inclusion. This commitment demonstrates Intesa Sanpaolo's desire to be an active participant in the communities in which it operates, providing resources and expertise and contributing to the protection of heritage and contemporary cultural production.
