From June 5 to September 29, 2025, the gardens of Villa Medici host the fourth edition of the Festival des Cabanes, an invitation to rethink habitat, space, landscape and our relationship with the world.
In the Villa Medici quadrati, framed by centuries-old box and laurel trees, huts are springing up like ideas: light, imaginary, reversible forms made of wood, cane, steel or reused materials. Five teams of architects and designers from France, Italy, South Africa and the UK come together for a sensitive exploration of non-invasive architecture, at the crossroads of art, craft and environmental commitment.
The Festival des Cabanes was born in 2022. In four editions, it has established itself as a summer manifesto, a creative gesture in the public space of the garden. Each hut becomes a pause for thought, a space for awakening, an architecture of gentle resistance.
A PANORAMA OF VIEWS AND RESONANCES
This year's projects range from Campo & Diploma 20 and artist Roger Ballen's dreamlike cloister, which asks: Who lives there? to Atelier Mare's eulogy of the Provence cane. The Huttopia Foundation proposes a modular cabin inspired by the prefabricated houses of the 1950s, while Associates Architecture dialogues with the historic pine trees and Roman panorama. Finally, MBL architects have designed a shaded reading pavilion in conjunction with Librairie 7L, with whom they have redesigned the villa's bookshop for the occasion.
In resonance, the exceptional exhibition of Panorama de Rome vu depuis la terrasse de San Pietro in Montorio, a pioneering work of sensitive cartography painted in 1779 by Louis Le Masson, invites itself as a masterly counter-field with its four-metre horizon.
A HISTORY OF THE VILLA MÉDICIS: BETWEEN TRADITION AND INVENTION
Behind the ochre walls of the Villa Medici lies a history spanning three centuries. Founded in 1666 by Louis XIV, the Académie de France in Rome found its definitive home on Mount Pincio in 1803. From this promontory overlooking the Eternal City, resident artists and researchers explore creation in all its dimensions.
A place of transmission and innovation, Villa Medici today hosts long-term residencies, exhibitions, concerts, screenings and installations for a wide audience. Its 7-hectare park, ornate salons and sublime views make it an exceptional playground for thinking about the world differently.
Under the direction of Sam Stourdzé, the Académie de France in Rome pursues its mission of welcoming, disseminating and preserving heritage, while opening its doors to new forms of creation and dialogue between disciplines.
