The non-profit cultural association Imago Mundi was founded in 1992 by a group of Cagliari’s university students interested in spreading cultural values and historical traditions in the city.

Starting from small university events, over time Imago Mundi has managed to organize Monumenti Aperti, a significant event that for over twenty years has been building its consensus among the citizens involved and the public administration.

The association, which was registered as a volunteer and non-profit organization in 2007, is composed of 11 volunteer partners, occasional volunteers, part-time workers and project collaborators, who all take part in the different initiatives organised.

Not only does the association promote community service projects through partnerships consolidated over the years, but it also leads well- built activities as regards post-secondary vocational training and supports anti-truancy policies by including students in its own projects. More specifically, the association is involved in two major collaborations, “La Rotta dei Fenici” (the European itinerary about Phoenician archaeological sites recognised by the Council of Europe) and the BES (association Best Event Sardinia); Imago Mundi is also part of the latter’s Governing Council.

Since October 2016, the association has been operating as a legal person under private law, and therefore obtained all of the faculties of a legal entity (deed no. 478, October, 13th 2016).

Since October 2017, Imago Mundi is an integral part of Europa Nostra’s network, the most important pan-European organisation for the promotion of Cultural Heritage. Find the official membership with Europa Nostra here.

Imago Mundi is also on Facebook

Activities in the past five years

  • Open Monuments 2018 – XXII Edition
  • European Heritage Days 2018 – September 22th and 23th, 2018. Imago Mundi extraordinarily participated in the European initiative with the project Shared routes in the city of Cagliari, which was divided into two different itineraries that involved the district of San Benedetto (where there was grass now there is a city) and the panoramic area of ​​Calamosca (towards the Sant’Ignazio fort)
  • Prize of the European Union of Cultural Heritage: Imago Mundi with his project Monumenti Aperti was one of 29 winners, coming from 17 countries that took part in the European program for creative Europe and have withdrawn the Europa Nostra Awards 2018, a recognition for the exceptional results achieved in the categories “Conservation, Research, exemplary Contributions and Education, Training and Awareness”. 
  • International Conference “Patrimonio culturale: comunità di storie. Modelli, esperienze e strumenti”.
  • Kayakaralis and Imago Mundi together in promoting the landscape: an adventurous weekend in Bosa. October 14th and 15th, 2017.
  • Confini (In)visibili – a photo exhibition by Pierluigi Dessì, realized by Raffaella Venturi, graphically designed by Alessandro Cortes and promoted by Imago Mundi, was set up in Spazio Ex ISOLA from July 21st to August 5th. The exhibition consisted of twelve landscape photographs and aimed to present the urban transformation in the city marginal areas in an unprejudiced way. The exhibition provided a lucid and poetic vision of what we usually do not consider worth looking at, something that is visible and invisible at the same time, which concerns our daily relationship with the places we live in. The display was included in the CagliariPaesaggio event.
  • Open Monuments 2017 – XXI Edition.
    Cultura senza barriere, an example of “Storie in trasformazione” – November 19    th, 2016. Imago Mundi’s vice president Massimiliano Messina described how the project Culture with No Barriers – Monumenti Aperti to All was born, but also how it developed and what its aims are. He was followed by the testimonies of two volunteers, Jihan Elgarouaz (Morocco) and Oumeyna Jemli (Tunis), who reported their direct experiences at the event.
  • European Heritage Days 2016 – September 24th and 25th, 2016. Imago Mundi extraordinarily opened the Spazio Santa Croce in Via Santa Croce 39/41 in Cagliari’s district of Castello, which was guarded by voluntary members of the non-profit organisation. The association also organized guided tours in two cultural assets, the basements of San Giovanni di Dio Hospital and San Saturnino’s basilica.
  • Open Monuments – XX Editions (1997-2016)
  • Monumenti di Pace – December 12th and 13th, 2015. The association organised nocturnal openings and guided tours throughout three suggestive places in the city. The itinerary, which started from where men and women, children and the elderly had marched in search of a refuge from the horrors of war, was developed in the name of peace.
  • Cagliari. The association promoted local production and the cultural identity of the territory. The association took part in the event Mercato nel Campo in Siena. December 5th and 6th, 2015.
  • “Sotto le ali del vento” – the association was the co-productive partner to the present novel, a story for adults and children and a guidebook on Cagliari. Written by Luigi Dal Cin; pictures by Pia Valentinis and Ignazio Fulghesu; printed by Lapis Edizioni, Rome, 2015.
  • Words of Beauty – II Editions (2014 – 2015). The didactic project, which consisted in describing the local cultural heritage, was carried out in Sardinian and Piedmontese schools inside the Monumenti Aperti’s network. A speech was given by Luigi Dal Cin, children’s writer and Premio Andersen winner in 2013, and by the company of the Teatro dallArmadio.
  • Ragazzi, quante storie! – November 28th, 2014. A creative workshop for secondary school students organised by Luigi Dal Cin for Pazza Idea, a project about books and reading, creativity, new languages, attention and involvement related to young children. It was developed in collaboration with the association Luna Scarlatta.
  • Umanista sarà lei – November 23rd, 2013. A meeting with the social media strategist @Iddio and Francesca Madrigali, journalist and blogger. The subject of the meeting was: “How and why in new business scenarios is there room for professionals graduated from Faculties of Humanities?” It was developed for Pazza Idea, a project about books and reading, creativity, new languages, attention and involvement related to young children, in collaboration with the association Luna Scarlatta.
  • Così è nata Cagliari, viaggio nella storia tra piazze e palazzi – November 12th, 2013. Projection of Sergio Orani’s documentary “Dolci ricordi di Cagliari”.
  • Un’Italia di Abi-TANTI – September 28th and 29th, 2012. A didactic and artistic project in collaboration with the Educational Department of “Castello di Rivoli, contemporary art museum” about the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Italian unification.
  • Art Lab 2012 – Fondazione Fitzcarraldo. Lecce, September 27th, 2012. Presentation of the project Monumenti Aperti.
  • ECHOE SUMMER SCHOOL – Hunedoara (Romania), from September 2nd to 8th, 2012. ECHOE project – UE Lifelong Education.
  • A mission in Argentina and Peru in the cities of Tucumàn, Buenos Aires (AR) and Lima (PE) on behalf of FILEF, whose task is to communicate with Sardinian clubs in Italy and especially abroad. The activity was characterised by numerous meetings at the Sardinian clubs in Argentina and at the Italian ones in Peru through specific conferences for the event presentation. February 2012.
  • Progetto PAC – Piccole Associazioni Crescono by Fondazione con il Sud (2011-2012) and the non- profit association Arcois.
  • Training seminar as part of the Aqueduct international conference “Acquisire Competenze Chiave attraverso l’Educazione al Patrimonio Culturale” – Bologna, October 2011. Workshops about pilot projects and case studies in Italy and Belgium.

Staff

Fabrizio Frongia is the founder and president of the non-profit association Imago Mundi, which has structured the Monumenti Aperti’s network since 1999. Mr. Frongia is an expert in planning and control of the public administration, as he is a cultural operator, a volunteer, the Ambassador of the Principality of Monaco for “Business Tourism” and the president of Consorzio CAMÙ, one of the most important cultural organizations in Sardinia. (full CV)

“Carbonia generated him”, Cagliari adopted him. Some might say that he is a journalist, extricating himself between culture and entertainment. Mr. Messina is among the first founders of the association Ipogeo and a contributor to the creation of Monumenti Aperti. Despite having published two collections of poems, he finds it difficult to define himself a poet. He also wrote the texts of a book dedicated to the sculptor Pinuccio Sciola (“I semi della pace nel cielo della poesia”). He loves music and the theatre, as he is “guilty” of having edited some dramaturgical elaborations for the stage. He enjoys playing the piano. (Full CV)

Being a professional cultural operator, Ms. Spissu both organizes temporal exhibitions and designs and coordinates Imago Mundi’s didactic activities and itineraries for adults and children on behalf of Consorzio Camù in the cultural centres Centri d’arte e Cultura EXMA, Ghetto and Castello San Michele. She has been one of Imago Mundi’s partners since 2004. Art has been her passion since she was a child, as her piano and jazz dance studies suggest. Classical dancer Roberto Bolle is her idol. Apart from art, she is also fond of mountains, especially the Dolomites. (full CV)

Mr. Sardi is a member of the evaluation board of the Conservatory of Sassari, consul of the Italian Touring Club and cultural association consultant. Mr. Sardi was formerly Director General at the Public Association, Transport and Planning Regional Departments, and taught Law and Cultural Heritage, Economy and Cultural Business Management and Planning and governance of Cultural Systems at the Universities of Cagliari and Sassari. (full CV)

Mr. Spissu has been member of the management board of the Istituzione Universitaria dei Concerti and the Teatro Lirico of Cagliari for almost nine years. Not only is he an honorary member of the association Spaziomusica. He is also a member of the Sardinian Istituto Gramsci. From 1996 to 1999, he has been the Head of Regional President Palomba’s Department. He was also the official contact person for Higher Education and school building interventions. At the moment, he is an official librarian and the director of the Sardinian Regional Government’s library. (full CV)

Professional agronomist, vocational storyteller, passionate propagator. Since the early 2000s, Ms. Sassu has studied how to safeguard rural environments by raising awareness among citizens. Ms. Sassu is an expert in environmental education and rural development processes, as she also works in the educational field, creating indoor and outdoor didactic itineraries for students and professionals. Working together with other architecture studios, she contributes to the planning of urban green areas. She is the didactic referent for both the Ecole Nationale de Formation Agronomique (ENFA) and the CFPPA in Toulouse for didactic internships in Sardinia. (full CV)

After having earned a scientific high school degree, Mr. Cabitza graduated in Cultural Heritage Studies (Archaeological course), forasmuch as he is passionate about archaeology and prehistory. He also has a Master’s degree in Europlanning. Since Mr. Cabitza did not want to focus completely on his university career, he also wrote articles for newspapers and magazines and became a freelance journalist. He participated in the National Civil Service program at EXMA, becoming a tourist guide. Today, he is still working in Cagliari urban centres and museum and deals with didactic project for adults and children.  (full CV)

Singer and author, she started her career in music with her first concert at the age of 16. During the past 25 years she performed in Italy and abroad singing for different musical projects and touching a wide range of genres such as pop music, world, contemporary, jazz and electronic. She graduated in Psychology and later on in Music and New Technologies. A three-years master in Counselling and Art-Therapies gave her a broader instrument for her parallel profession as a psychologist within several settings (school, university, community, spontaneous groups, individual). In 2017 she attained the Public Communicator certification. Until now she has gathered numerous working experiences among which stands out a seven-years collaboration as a speaker and content editor for a local radio named Radio X. Her personal motto is “I’m not what I do but in what I do there’s a lot of what I am”. Her basic idea in life is that referred to a great spiritual master according to whom “Truth is a pathless land”. (full CV)

Mr. Dessì is a graduand student in Communication Sciences, passionate about new technologies, expert in images, videos and web content management softwares. He has been a Monumenti Aperti volunteer since he was in school. He also participated in the realization of national initiatives in collaboration with EuroDesk Italy and during his internship at the Board of the Sardinian regional government’s Public Relations Office. (full CV)