On Thursday, April 9, Iuav University of Venice inaugurated the restoration of the former Convent of Le Terese (ex Convento delle Terese), the university headquarters, during a ceremony attended by Rector Benno Albrecht, Mayor of Venice Luigi Brugnaro, Veneto Regional Minister Valeria Mantovan, MEP Elena Donazzan, and VSF President Renato Brunetta, former Iuav professor.
In his address, Brunetta described the inauguration of Le Terese as a single dot within a broader design for the city's transformation, rooted in the ability to connect universities, institutions, businesses, and cultural organizations within a shared vision for the future.
This ongoing process, as the President noted, can be seen as a new Renaissance for Venice: a dynamic that weaves together culture, major infrastructure, the productive sector, and education, using human capital development as a crucial lever.
The Venice City Campus project fits directly into this framework, aiming to strengthen the city's role as an international hub for education, cultural production, and talent attraction.
"Iuav is not just a university in the city, but for the city; together with local institutions, the productive system, and cultural actors, it contributes to restoring Venice's function as a world-city."
Brunetta also emphasized that the future of Venice hinges on the capacity to keep urbs and civitas united: on one hand, the care, restoration, and enhancement of physical spaces and historic heritage; on the other, the vibrant presence of people, knowledge, research, education, and new functions that give purpose and perspective to those spaces.
In this sense, the restoration and redevelopment of the former Convent of Le Terese stands as a concrete example of integrating historic-architectural preservation with tech-driven environmental sustainability solutions. The project combined conservation, innovation, and the energy transition, transforming the complex into an efficient, low-environmental-impact contemporary infrastructure that now offers new spaces for faculty and students.
