Arvedi Buschini Foundation

History and aims

The Foundation, set up in 1990 as an initiative of the Arvedi family, carries out activities for the development and support of the local community, among its aims the promotion of initiatives aimed at education, welfare and the valorisation of the local artistic and cultural heritage.

The Foundation was set up as a non-profit institution with a decree issued by the President of the Republic dated 9th February 1990 and is financed directly by the Arvedi family and the Group’s Cremonese companies.

It is also well to remember that in the 1980s Giovanni Arvedi intervened personally, with donations and support, for works of interest to the local community, such as the entrance to Cremona’s trade fair structure, the new organ and restoration work in the Cathedral.

In particular, at the end of the 1980s, in his capacity as President of the Association of Industrialists, Giovanni Arvedi managed to bring a branch of Milan Polytechnic to Cremona.

Activity

The main destinations of its generosity have concerned support for young people studying, with the awarding of grants to children of the Group’s employees – a practice which dates back to the Foundation’s earliest activities - support of musical activity in Cremona Cathedral and activities at the Violin Museum, among which, in particular, the Stradivari festival and the Tarquinio Merula International Organ Festival.

Other important work includes the renovation of the Oratory “For our Children” of the parish of Saint Peter and support to the parishes of Cavatigozzi, Crotta d’Adda and Sesto Cremonese. Of particular significance is the financial support destined for the construction of:

  • a building in Indonesia and one in the Philippines to receive young people in difficulty, followed by the Somascan fathers;
  • a health care clinic/dispensary managed by the sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in India to assist unmarried mothers;
  • the construction of the new Diocesan Museum. 


In the past years the Foundation has given its support to studies of the local economy and infrastructure commissioned by major research institutes and sponsored editions of a historical and artistic nature.

A non-profit organisation, the Arvedi-Buschini Foundation undertook the full restoration of the Church of Saints Margherita and Pelagia, one of the real masterpieces of the Cremonese Renaissance, and saw to the renovation of Palazzo dell’Arte, one of the masterpieces of the Neapolitan architect Carlo Cocchia, which now houses the Violin Museum and Giovanni Arvedi Auditorium, the latter built adopting the most modern acoustic techniques. The museum was inaugurated in September 2013 and displays the most important instruments by the classical master violinmakers of the Cremonese tradition, from Antonio Stradivari to various representatives of the Amati and Guarneri families. 

The commitment of Giovanni Arvedi to this project earned him the award in April 2013, with a decree by the President of the Republic, of a diploma for cultural and artistic merits from the Minister of Cultural Heritage.

 

Fondazione Giovanni Arvedi e Luciana Buschini
Piazza Lodi, 7
26100 Cremona