Barbara Catalani
She is an Architect. She studied at the University of Florence. She attended the postgraduate school in History of Art in Siena and with the ScuolaNormaleSuperiore of Pisa where she obtained a master’s degree in Management and Communication of Cultural Heritage. She began his career in the field of design thank’s to the partneship with Pittimmagine in Florence. She oversaw the design of some important exhibitions in Tuscany and New York. Since 2000 she has been involved in the enhancement of dismissed industrial areas from which the first conference for the enhancement of the Ex Ilva area of Follonica in 1997. In 2007 she won the ideas competition for the preparation of the new Museum of Iron and Cast Iron in Follonica( today MAGMA) of which she is the creator and designer. Inaugurated in June 2013, it received the “Business Meets Art” Award in 2014 and the DASA 2015 award as the best European museum on the subject of work. In 2016 it was selected among the 20 finalists of The Best in Heritage award, in the city of Dubrovnik. From 2004 to 2006 she held positions for the Superintendence for Architectural Heritage and Landscape for Siena and Grosseto concerning the cataloging of contemporary architectural heritage, contributing to the drafting of the first guide on contemporary heritage and to the first International Conference of Contemporary Architecture Studies in Tuscan landscape. Her work in the field of industrial regeneration and archeology has led her to forge relationships with the most significant contemporary realities and to participate in numerous national debates. Since 2014 she has been councilor for cultural policies and urban regeneration of the city of Follonica, dealing with the project for the enhancement of the area and Ilva. She is a founding member of the first national cultural-based urban regeneration network Lo StatodeiLuoghi.
