Venice Biennale

The Pavilions of the Biennale are mainly located immersed in the Napoleonic Gardens which are public gardens in Venice, located in the Castello district.

The Venice Biennale was born as a culture company in 1895 with the organization of the first Biennale of Art in the world, in order to stimulate artistic activity and the art market in the city of Venice and in the unified Italian state. , still has the aim of promoting new artistic trends and organizes international events in the contemporary arts.

The initiative was created by a group of Venetian intellectuals headed by the mayor of the time, Riccardo Selvatico who, with a resolution of the municipal administration of Venice on April 19, 1893, proposed to "establish a biennial national artistic exhibition".

The biennial frequency of the events linked to the Place of the Giardini di Sant Elena in Venice give the name to the events (with the exception of the Film Festival born in 1932 on an annual basis). Thanks to the Venice Biennale, in the cultural sector, the Italian term "biennale" (used in the national idiom in almost all parts of the world) has acquired a wider meaning and has become by definition synonymous with a major international event recurring regardless from cadence.

In 1930 the Biennale became an autonomous state body mainly dedicated to the promotion of new European artistic trends. In that same year, the Contemporary Music Exhibition was held for the first time, followed two years later, in 1932, by the most important and famous International Film Festival in Venice. In 1934, however, it was the turn of the theatrical one.