This is the story of two stories: the stories of Elisa and Massimiliano.

Massimiliano is 20 years old, originally from Carbonia, in Sardinia, Italy, but a few years ago he moved to Cagliari to study at University. He wants to become a journalist.

Elisa, on the other hand, is 8 years old and lives with her mother and father in a beautiful house in a small neighborhood on the outskirts of the city of Cagliari, also in Sardinia.

But if you read Elisa’s and Massimiliano’s stories carefully, you will realize that in these two stories there is also a third story, a story that begins with "H". It is a History, a story that was not written by a writer and narrated by a narrator. History was written by peoples, monuments, traditions, values, communities and was narrated by archaeologists, art historians, archivists, ethnologists and paleographers, but also by science communicators, tourist guides, or simple citizens. It is the History of the city of Cagliari, of its material and immaterial Heritage.

How these three stories intertwine with each other is the plot of our story, the story of a project called Monumenti Aperti (Open Monuments).

Massimiliano - 24 June 1993

That summer evening in 1993, Massimiliano decided to finish studying early and together with his friends Giuseppe, Massimo, Vito and Armando he went out to "get some fresh air", as the people of Cagliari used to say, to the steps of the church of Sant 'Anna in the Marina district.

The five boys, while looking at the crowded square and waiting for a breath of wind to come from the sea to cool off from the summer heat, reflected on the beauties of the city of Cagliari:

<<Did you go to visit the cathedral? The one in Piazza Palazzo?>>, said Vito.

<<I do. I also saw the Archaeological Museum. Interesting!>>, replied Armando, indicating an imaginary point behind him, to the north, at the top of the stairs. <<Sure, but if I had to choose, I'd rather explore a dungeon. You know, there is one that intrigues me a lot in the Stampace district, near the Church of Sant'Efisio >>, he continued, << I think it is the Crypt of Santa Restituta >>.

The boys knew well that Cagliari held an incredible heritage of towers, churches, ancient buildings, underground passages and monuments of extraordinary importance, yet closed to the public for who knows how long. Among their peers, no one had ever climbed one of the city towers, no one had ever admired the sumptuous rooms of the Viceregal Palace. Very few people had entered the basement of the Crypt of Santa Restituta. The last to see those spaces, sixty years earlier, were the citizens terrified by the rain of bombs that English and American planes had dropped on the city in 1943, during the Second World War.

<<Let's open it! Why not? Let's open the Crypt of Santa Restituta and let the people of Cagliari know about it!>>, Massimiliano said to his friends, getting up from the step of the Sant'Anna staircase.

Elisa - 15 February 2009

During the journey to school, Elisa observed the landscape from the window absentmindedly. The cars going in the opposite direction, the buildings of different shapes and sizes, the green flowerbeds colored by the white and pink flowers of the oleanders passed by like the images in the advertisements of the morning programs that the little girl always watched with a sleepy expression, while she had breakfast. .

Halfway through the journey, however, the little girl's gaze was caught by something on top of a low hill. It was a bright, beautiful, large, majestic building. She narrowed her eyelids to focus on the image and observed three tall white towers, on which the sun reflected, creating sparks of light. Having gotten used to the yellow glare, she then noticed some large white, crumbling walls and some narrow black windows halfway up, some small slits. It was a castle, yes a castle!

Elisa turned to her father, who was quickly glancing left and right, intent on navigating the morning traffic.

<<Dad, what is that?>>, Elisa said as she scratched her hand. The father adjusted the rear-view mirror and took a quick look at the little girl, without losing sight of the road, <<Did you say something darling?>>. Elisa frowned in annoyance, <<Dad, I asked you what that is!>>. Dad looked quickly out the window, <<It's a castle>>, she replied.

Elisa got up from the car seat to take a better look, <<Who built it? >>, she said, <<Does a princess live there?>>. <<I really don't know!>>, the father replied inattentively.

Massimiliano - 23 April 1996

Massimiliano, Vito, Armando, Massimo and Giuseppe got busy. The five of them founded a cultural association and presented themselves to the parish priest of the church of Santa Restituta asking for permission to open the crypt, to clean it of years of neglect and start their project.

For two years, between 1994 and 1996, together with a group of teens, all young students, they told the people of Cagliari the story of the crypt, an ancient monument, dedicated to the cult of the martyr Restituta and finally used as an anti-aircraft shelter in those dramatic months of bombings on Cagliari during the Second World War. Ten thousand visitors crowded the site for 126 consecutive Sundays, curious to learn about that famous yet never-visited monument. And then came the keys of the churches of Speranza, San Lorenzo and San Pietro, also unknown to the population, and other wonderful city spaces. For two whole years, Massimiliano and his friends discovered, opened, arranged and removed the dusty patina of abandonment from the monuments, experiencing those spaces together with the entire community of Cagliari.

And at that point, the five of them asked themselves, <<Why not dream even bigger?>>.

Right from the Crypt of Santa Restituta, with a press conference in the spring of 1996, the five students launched a challenge to the city and its citizens:

“Let's reopen all the closed monuments, let's show them, let's tell their stories. Let us not resign ourselves to a fate of neglect, let us not let the loss of memory cloud our communities. Let's join forces with volunteers and associations and take back that incredible cultural heritage inherited from the people of Cagliari.”

The challenge was accepted. The five had the support of the Municipality of Cagliari, thanks to which they would have obtained permits to welcome the public to 36 city monuments that had never been opened before. Among the organizations present at the press conference there was also "Imago Mundi", which participated in the project in 1997 and has been the coordinator of the national network of the project since 1998.

In the Crypt of Santa Restituta, in that spring of 1996, Open Monuments was born.

Elisa - 18 February 2009

Elisa felt disappointed that morning, but at the same time intrigued. While at school the teacher was giving a lesson on the ancient Egyptians, her head wandered. Elisa's mind flew to the top of that hill seen from the car window, to those white walls and the high towers, then through the black slits she entered the rooms of the Castle to visit the large throne room, which she imagined full of ladies and knights and full of tapestries and banners.

<<Why?>>, he asked himself, <<Why I can learn what is inside a pyramid in Egypt, what is in the acropolis of Athens in Greece, what is found in the galleries of the Colosseum in Rome, but I cannot know and understand the history of the castle near my house?>>.

During the third hour of lesson, the teacher arrived in class with a surprise. Someone had sent a letter to all the students in the school:

Dear Students, Dear Teachers,

This year too we invite you to participate in an important cultural volunteering project: Open Monuments. Thanks to the support of the Municipality of Cagliari, the project will see students from schools of all levels engaged in learning about our city and its wonders, involving you in the valorization of the archaeological, historical, environmental and artistic assets of our community.

It will therefore be you, the students, who "adopt" the city monuments, open them to the public and tell about them to your fellow citizens, helping them to rediscover what they no longer see, to marvel anew, and to reinvest collective memory.

Massimiliano Messina

Imago Mundi Cultural Association

Elisa didn’t fully understood the full meaning of that letter full of difficult words, but in any case she had sensed that she could live a new experience together with her classmates. And so it was.

In the following days Elisa began a journey of studying and learning local history, focusing in particular on a monument chosen by her teacher: a castle that was located on top of a low hill near the school, with large white walls and three high towers with black windows. It was precisely the castle that she had fantasized about so much and that she observed every day from the car window, along the way to school. That building that had always intimidated and surprised her, that inspired in her admiration and reverence, enchantment and trepidation, that she always looked at as if it were distant, wasn't really distant, it was just not well known.

Elisa discovered many new things. She discovered that the castle was dedicated to San Michele and that in 1400 AD. it was inhabited by a countess, not a princess. She also discovered her name: Violante Carroz. Delving into Violante's story, she was fascinated by a strong woman, who faced so many battles, and undertook long journeys to the Spanish court and throughout Europe. She was a powerful, cultured woman who knew how to face her sentimental choices with extreme freedom, but who unfortunately was almost always accompanied by her misfortune: she lost her children and her husband.

But Elisa's work was not limited to just research on books. Together with her class, she went to visit the Castle of San Michele and she was very shocked when she discovered that the inside of the castle was not at all as she had imagined it. Instead of tapestries, medieval ladies and knights, Elisa found paintings, works and installations of contemporary art. Instead of the throne room, she found a conference room, and where there should have been animal stables, she found an area for educational workshops. How come? After being used as a radio station for the Italian Air Force, the Castle of San Michele was abandoned for a long time. Thanks to the valorisation work carried out a few years earlier for the Open Monuments project, by a group of 5 boys among which there was indeed Massimiliano who had sent the letter to his teacher, the citizens of Cagliari rediscovered its value and the Municipal Administration decided to restore it and transform it into a Center of Art and Culture.

Massimiliano - 10/11 May 1997

On that weekend in May, the first edition of Cagliari "Open Monuments" was held. There were 36 museums, palaces, archaeological sites and cultural spaces visited by over 15 thousand people, welcomed by 600 volunteers who offered free guided tours to citizens, tourists and the simply curious.

The dream of Massimiliano, Vito, Armando, Massimo and Giuseppe had come true: the doors of the monuments of Cagliari were finally open to everyone.

Massimiliano was very impressed to see queues of dozens, or rather hundreds of people, forming outside the monuments, museums and sites, orderly and patiently waiting their turn to visit, anxiously waiting to be able to rediscover the treasures of their city.

Not without satisfaction, he admired the smiling faces of two of his fellow citizens, two elderly people who contemplated the frescoes of the Viceregal Palace and grasped their aesthetic and symbolic meaning, expertly instructed by three young primary school guides.

During his walk he also happened upon the Crypt of Santa Restituta, where the project was born, and this time he was able to listen to a middle-aged man who emotionally shared with two fifteen-year-old guides the story of the city under the rain of bombs. A personal experience of his which, Massimiliano hoped, would remain imprinted in the memory of the two young people, in the hope of a peaceful future and an unrepeatable past.

Elisa - 23 May 2009

Finally the big day had arrived. After a long journey of study, inspections and general rehearsals, Elisa and her classmates faced the final outcome of the project: the Open Monuments weekend.

Expectations were high, but mixed with a slight apprehension. After weeks of preparations and study on the history of the Castle of San Michele, its events and the characters who had inhabited it many centuries ago, a palpable tension remained in the air. Elisa found herself reflecting on what awaited her: would she be able to fully grasp the historical importance of the Castle? Would she have been able to completely immerse herself in the atmosphere of that place, to perceive the emotions that have spanned the centuries? Or perhaps, she wondered, were his expectations of her too high? She wondered whether she would be able to remember every detail, every nuance of meaning, or whether she would feel overwhelmed by the breadth of historical and artistic knowledge she had acquired.

There were also more practical fears: what if time wasn't on her side? What if the monument had been too crowded, making it difficult to fully appreciate it? What if there were logistical problems that would ruin the experience?

But these worries were quickly supplanted by mounting emotion. Finally, she had the opportunity to live the memorable experience for which she had studied so much in her books, to accompany her fellow citizens through the passages of the history of the Castle of San Michele.

That weekend Elisa and her classmates introduced the Castle to 847 visitors, to whom they told about the construction of the building, the organization of its internal and external spaces, the events of Violante the "unlucky countess", but also the military strategies in defense of the fortress, up to its use as a radio station, the decades of abandonment and the rebirth of the Castle of San Michele as a Municipal Center of Art and Culture.

At the end of the two days Elisa certainly felt tired, but also happy. She had been able to get to know a place from its history that was magical and unknown to her, and indeed, she had become the protagonist of that same story.

Massimiliano - March 2024

28 years have passed since that first edition of Monumenti Aperti. Today that simple and small idea, to open a monument and with a voluntary action, to give guided tours to citizens, has spread to the entire island of Sardinia and has also crossed the sea reaching Abruzzo, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Emilia Romagna, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Lazio, Liguria, Lombardy, Puglia, Sicily, Tuscany, Umbria and Veneto.

At present, Open Monuments has involved 175 municipal administrations in the rediscovery of their material and immaterial heritage, and in 2023 alone there were 15 thousand volunteers from schools and associations, who, involved by the "Imago Mundi" Volunteer Organization, opened and made 800 monuments accessible to an audience of 172 thousand people. Massimiliano and his friends were just kids in 1993, and they would never have imagined that the dream they had fantasized about that summer evening would turn into reality.

And what about Elisa? Elisa is not a fictional character. She does really exists. She volunteered in the Open Monuments project from primary schools to university. Today she is 25 years old and has become an art historian.

The social impact we are most proud of is the one that changes the lives of our volunteers and the citizens of the future. Like Elisa. And there are many others like her.

For example Federico participated in Open Monuments for 4 editions and is now studying to become an archaeologist and not only that, he has chosen to do a year of Universal Civil Service in the Open Monuments project. Luisa, on the other hand, is a young architect, she certainly has not undertaken a career in the specific field of Cultural Heritage, but we are sure that when she designs a cross vault, she will remember her career as a volunteer at the Cathedral of Cagliari. There is also Marco, who today has two children who he takes every evening to play in the large green park surrounding the San Michele hill. When his daughter points to the White Castle at the top of the hill, asking if a princess lived in that castle, Marco will know exactly what to answer.

Open Monuments is an example of how passion, civic commitment and education about cultural heritage can become a project with significant social impacts. In the experience of Elisa, a little girl who, intrigued by a monument, immerses herself in researching the history of her local heritage, the project works alongside the school in combating educational poverty, a social problem that limits access to learning and opportunities of development, negatively impacting the UN Sustainable Development Goals, in particular on quality education, sustainable cities and communities, and dignified economic growth (SDG's 4, 8, 11). Open Monuments places Cultural Heritage education as a central objective, developing the key competence frameworks for lifelong learning, identified by the Council of Europe.

At the same time, Massimiliano's story highlights how a simple idea can transform into a tangible reality, involving institutions and communities in the valorisation of material and immaterial heritage, transforming it into a vital center of culture and knowledge.

Open Monuments is an encouragement for the protection and enhancement of cultural heritage, as a common opportunity for the commitment of schools, associations and local institutions. An educational path aimed at opening up and sharing cultural heritage, with free guided tours conducted by students and volunteers. This approach aligns with the Council of Europe Framework Convention on the value of cultural heritage for society, promoting the active participation of communities in decision-making and in the valorisation of their heritage.

The project brings a strong European dimension to the territories, with strong social and economic impacts, recognized with the Europa Nostra Award 2018. Open Monuments not only promotes knowledge of local history, but strengthens the sense of belonging to the European community, contributing to the transmission of its shared values and proposing itself, involving of thousands of volunteers and the use of hundreds of monuments every year, as an engine of personal growth and community development.