Foundation

Kindergarten has been the exhibition space of the Rolla Foundation since 2010. The former nursery school in Bruzella hosts photographic exhibitions supported and curated by the foundation. The photographs are from the private collection of Rosella and Philip Rolla who have decided to share their interest and passion for the photographic medium.

The historic town of Bruzella, in the Valle di Muggio, about 10 km from Chiasso and 26 km from Lugano, is now part of the new Breggia community (Mendrisio). At an elevation of 600 metres on a terraced hillside the kindergarten is situated on the first floor of the former Town Hall, in front of the San Siro parish church.

 

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Current exhibition
Began with Rauschenberg
08.11.2025 - 08.02.2026
Began with Rauschenberg
08.11.2025 - 08.02.2026

The exhibition has been extended until 29 March 2026

On the occasion of the centenary of Robert Rauschenberg's birth and the Foundation's twenty-fifth exhibition, during its fifteenth year of activity, we will eight works from the collection.

Philip and Rosella Rolla introduce this choice as follows:

1997, we visited the Rauschenberg Retrospective at the Guggenheim NY. We were taken by what we saw and desired an original work of his.  By luck we met a friendly and honest dealer with an expertise in Rauschenberg who came up with a work which was everything we desired and at the limit of what we could afford. The work (Untitled, 1980) became part of our family, it was our first Rauschenberg, our first work together, and it had a soul.  Along the way we acquired other Rauschenberg works and they all became family members.
On the occasion of the centennial of Robert Rauschenberg's birth we present these works with no pretences other than as a loved part of our story.

The catalog includes a text by Marco Franciolli.

Upcoming events:
Sunday March 8, open from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Sunday March 22, 5:00 p.m.
Concert by Claudio Farinone in tribute to Ralph Towner.
Free admission, limited seating by reservation at contact@rolla.info

Free entry 

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News
Claudio Farinone in concert

Sunday March 22 at 5 p.m., concert by Claudio Farinone in tribute to Ralph Towner.

Two months after the death of the great American musician, Claudio Farinone will perform a selection of compositions on guitar and baritone guitar that recount his artistic career.

Claudio Farinone, classical guitarist and composer, after graduating from the Conservatory, numerous masterclasses, seminars …

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Become a Friend of the Rolla Foundation

Inspired by events organized by other institutions and by friends who visited us, after more than fifteen years of exhibitions at the Rolla.info – kindergarten space, Rosella and Philip Rolla decided to open the doors of their home through exclusive initiatives dedicated to Friends of the Rolla Foundation. Friends will be able to support our activities and initiatives and …

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From our library: Along the Canadian Border by Robert Adams

For more than 50 years, Robert Adams (born 1937) has made black and white photographs documenting the imprint of human development on the Western landscape. In Along the Canadian Border, Adams obliquely addresses our fraught current moment, alluding to the distance between brutal political forces and policies and the resilient beauty of the natural world. Turning his camera to …

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From our library: Border Soudscapes by Pino Musi

“A universal algebra permeates the “beyond-urban” worlds with which Musi dialogues, listening to places that have not yet learned to speak, stammering peripheral cages governed by the ceaseless tone and discreet rhythm of a silent gray scale. Musi continues to listen until a frequency appears from beyond the urban field to pierce the mathematical order of space. The result is …

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From our Library: Photo Works by Vincenzo Castella

This volume presents an overview of Vincenzo Castella's entire photographic work from 1975 to the 2000s. Through about 150 images, the book recounts the unique experience of this author who is now recognized as one of the leading interpreters of international photography. The journey begins on the Country Highways of the Southern United States, where Castella undertook personal research on …

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From our library: Hidden Mother by Linda Fregni Nagler

The Hidden Mother is comprised of 1,002 photographs (from daguerreotypes and tintypes to cartes de visite and cabinet cards), all examples of a now redundant practice: to cloak or hide a parent within the background of a child’s portrait, a common procedure from the advent of photography up until the 1920s, when exposure times were relative slow, and a hidden …

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