CASA SANLORENZO TAKES CENTRE STAGE FOR HOMO FABER IN CITTÀ 2026

Venice has always been a city shaped by making. Glass, mosaic, textiles, wood, metal, and stone have each contributed to its visual language, while generations of artisans have sustained techniques that remain closely connected to the city’s identity. This September, that culture of craftsmanship takes on an expanded contemporary dimension as Casa Sanlorenzo becomes a principal venue for Homo Faber in Città, the city-wide programme accompanying Homo Faber 2026: An Island of Light.

Running from 1 to 30 September 2026, Homo Faber 2026 is curated by the Michelangelo Foundation for Creativity and Craftsmanship under the artistic direction of Es Devlin. The main exhibition is staged at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini on San Giorgio Maggiore, where more than 500 artisans from over 70 countries are represented through more than 700 objects. Across Venice, meanwhile, Homo Faber in Città extends the conversation into galleries, historic spaces, workshops and cultural venues, encouraging visitors to encounter craftsmanship within the city itself rather than as something confined to a single exhibition.

Casa Sanlorenzo occupies a particularly fitting position within that wider programme. Overlooking the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute, the Venetian residence was created as the permanent cultural headquarters of Sanlorenzo Arts and opened in 2025 following a restoration led by Piero Lissoni and Lissoni & Partners. Set within a 1940s mansion, the approximately 1,000-square-metre residence combines preserved historical architecture with contemporary interventions and includes a 600-square-metre garden. Its interiors and outdoor areas provide a setting for exhibitions, artistic research and cultural programming, with Sanlorenzo’s contemporary art collection forming part of the space.

For Homo Faber in Città, the house becomes a meeting point between Venetian craft traditions and contemporary design. The official programme presents Casa Sanlorenzo as a key partner venue, hosting exhibitions that explore craftsmanship through different geographical and cultural perspectives. One is dedicated to master artisans from Venice and the Veneto and is curated by Artemest; another presents craftspeople from Luxembourg and is curated by De Mains de Maîtres Luxembourg.

Among the principal presentations is Ca’ Riflesso by Artemest, an immersive exhibition that approaches Italian craftsmanship through the setting of a private home. More than 40 Italian artisans contribute furniture, lighting, decorative pieces and artworks to an imagined residence conceived around the sensibility of a refined collector. Rather than presenting individual objects as isolated works, the exhibition places them within rooms and domestic relationships, allowing craftsmanship to be understood through atmosphere, material and use. Venetian and Veneto traditions occupy a central position within this narrative, reinforcing the connection between the exhibition and its surroundings.

This domestic setting is significant because it shifts attention towards the intimate dimension of making. Craftsmanship is not presented solely as an object of admiration but as something that enters everyday environments through the objects people live with, handle and preserve. Light, texture, proportion and material become part of a broader architectural composition, creating a dialogue between individual acts of making and the spaces they ultimately inhabit.

The wider Homo Faber programme takes a similarly human-centred approach. Its 2026 edition, An Island of Light, examines the relationship between light, materials and the human hand, with Es Devlin’s artistic direction shaping an exhibition that considers craftsmanship as an evolving cultural practice. The presence of Homo Faber throughout Venice reinforces that idea: the city itself becomes part of the experience, with visitors encouraged to move beyond San Giorgio Maggiore towards workshops, exhibitions and other locations where contemporary making can be encountered directly.

Casa Sanlorenzo is therefore more than a convenient setting for the programme. Its own conception is rooted in the belief that art, design and cultural exchange can exist within a permanent environment rather than only through temporary events. The restoration by Piero Lissoni preserves the character of the historic building while introducing a contemporary architectural vocabulary, including a bridge that creates a physical and symbolic connection between the house and its surroundings. The result is deliberately neither a museum nor a conventional private residence, but an evolving cultural space.

That approach reflects the broader development of Sanlorenzo itself. Founded in 1958 in Limite sull’Arno, near Florence, by shipwrights Gianfranco Cecchi and Giuliano Pecchia, Sanlorenzo began by building motorboats before developing into a specialist producer of made-to-measure yachts and superyachts. Giovanni Jannetti acquired the company in 1972, while its headquarters later moved to Viareggio and, in 1999, to Ameglia in Liguria. Under Massimo Perotti, who acquired the majority shareholding in 2005, the company expanded internationally while retaining an emphasis on limited production, customisation and Italian craftsmanship.

Design has long been central to that evolution. Sanlorenzo’s yachts have incorporated collaborations with figures including Piero Lissoni, Rodolfo Dordoni, Patricia Urquiola and Studio Christian Liaigre, reflecting an approach that treats architecture and interiors as integral to the character of each vessel. Its engagement with the arts developed into Sanlorenzo Arts, whose cultural activity began publicly with Art Basel Miami Beach in 2016 and subsequently grew through partnerships with institutions, galleries and international cultural events.

The year 2026 carries particular significance for that programme. Sanlorenzo Arts is celebrating its tenth anniversary with a year-long cultural calendar spanning art, design, craftsmanship, innovation and sustainability, while Casa Sanlorenzo is experiencing its first complete year of activity. The Venetian residence has consequently become an important physical expression of a cultural strategy that has developed beyond the world of yacht building into a sustained engagement with contemporary creativity.

Its role during Homo Faber is particularly coherent because the two organisations share an interest in the relationship between human skill and contemporary life. The Michelangelo Foundation describes Homo Faber as a cultural movement centred on creative artisans, supporting craftspeople internationally through education, its biennial exhibition and the Homo Faber Guide. The 2026 edition continues that mission by placing individual makers and their knowledge at the centre of a wider cultural experience.

For visitors to Venice, Casa Sanlorenzo will be open throughout September from 110 amto 7 pm, with last admission at6 pmm, and entry to its Homo Faber in Città programme is free. Ticket holders for Homo Faber 2026 with a valid ticket for the same day receive priority access. The city-wide programme also extends beyond Casa Sanlorenzo, with selected artisanal workshops across Venice, Murano and Burano opening their doors as part of the broader celebration.

Sanlorenzo’s official international network continues to support its presence beyond Italy through its Brand Representative system, with the current locator listing Sanlorenzo Gulf for the Dubai market alongside its wider EMEA network. For visitors and clients in the region, the company’s official representative directory remains the appropriate source for current local contact and service information.

Ultimately, Casa Sanlorenzo’s place within Homo Faber in Città feels less like an additional event than a natural extension of what the residence was created to do. Venice provides the historical setting, while the artisans, designers and contemporary practitioners provide its living vocabulary. In bringing them together, the programme suggests that craftsmanship is not preserved by leaving it untouched; it remains relevant when knowledge passes between generations, materials acquire new interpretations and the hand continues to have a meaningful place in contemporary culture.

At Casa Sanlorenzo this September, the relationship between craftsmanship, design and place becomes especially tangible. The house does not simply provide a backdrop for making. It becomes part of the conversation — a Venetian setting in which heritage is allowed to remain active, contemporary and unfinished.