UMBRAGROUP patron of the Santa Caterina Auditorium

This morning, at the Santa Caterina Auditorium, was officially presented the restoration and modernization project to which the structure has been subjected, thanks to the contribution of UMBRAGROUP as part of the Art Bonus program. In fact, thanks to the national program promoted by the Ministry of Culture, the multinational company headquartered in Foligno, has proposed itself as patron of the Auditorium. Speakers at this morning's press conference were the Mayor of Foligno, Stefano Zuccarini, Beatrice Baldaccini, UMBRAGROUP Chief People & Brand Officer, and the Councilor for Culture and Environmental Policy Decio Barili.

"For the entire Municipality of Foligno it is a great satisfaction to see the re-opening of the Santa Caterina Auditorium," says Stefano Zuccarini, Mayor of Foligno, "a space that lends itself to a wide variety of uses, and thanks to UMBRAGROUP today we can put it at the service of the community. We hope that this is only the first successful project that has emerged from the synergy between institutions and the private sphere, and that may inspire other realities to take an example from UMBRAGROUP's attention and care for the community".

"We are immensely grateful to the Municipality of Foligno for supporting us in the implementation of the Art Bonus program, it is a pleasure to touch upon the important results that can be achieved when institutions and private entities work toward a single goal. - comments Beatrice Baldaccini, Chief People & Brand Officer of UMBRAGROUP - As early as our 50th anniversary celebration in 2022, we believed in this Auditorium by presenting it to our main customers as a place of special cultural and historical significance. Now it is important to continue to take care of what we have accomplished today, maintaining it as a valuable asset for the community."

UMBRAGROUP business idea is linked to what we refer to as an economy of us, with the goal of giving back to this community which has been home to our parent company for over 50 years, an asset dedicated to everyone”. 

"This space is really a special place and thanks to UMBRAGROUP it was possible to make it return to its former glory, without forgetting, that it can accommodate up to 180 people making it a space that can perfectly inscribe itself in the cultural framework of the municipality. - concludes Decio Barili, Councillor for Culture and Environmental Policy of Foligno - The national Art Bonus program, in fact, represents a valuable opportunity for private realities to create important synergies with institutions, and UMBRAGROUP has been a pioneer, counting itself as the first company in the Municipality to join this important national project. We hope that this is just the first concrete sign from a private company in support of our historical and artistic heritage."

Historical background of Santa Caterina Auditorium:

Santa Caterina Auditorium, was built around the 13th century as a church dedicated to the worship of Saint Caterina and attached to the monastery of the Poor Clares, cloistered nuns of the second Franciscan order. Of the entire monastic complex, only the church remains. The church is structured in a single nave and is characterized by an elongated rectangular plan with a gabled roof. Due to the worship needs of the nuns who lived in the monastery, it was necessary to divide the space of the church into two distinct parts: on one hand the part intended for public celebrations and on the other hand,  the part intended for the cloistered nuns known, precisely, as the nuns' choir. Inside the church are parts of frescoes dating from the 1300s, 1400s and 1500s in Foligno, some attributed to the school of Dono Doni. On its exterior, a cladding of white and pink Subasio (mount of 650 mt. close to Foligno) stone can be appreciated, while the Gothic facade is embellished by a pointed arch portal bordered by two small columns supporting a capital and a circular rose window, of which we preserve only the outer crown. St. Catherine's Monastery was inhabited by the nuns until 1869, when they were relocated, and in 1878, however, the facade of the church was declared a monumental property. Throughout the course of the 20th century the monastery changed its use several times, which led to the progressive, as well as inevitable, degradation of the entire monastic complex. The recovery of the church began only in the 1990s, and following the earthquake of '97, both the rebuilding of the roof and the securing of the facade were financed.