Fondazione Castello di Padernello (Padernello Castle Foundation) is a non-profit organisation founded in 2005.
Its mission consists in the recovery, promotion and enhancement of Castello di Padernello through cultural and social initiatives aimed at making the castle and its surrounding hamlet a vital and cultural point of reference for the territory.

In addition to the restoration of several areas of the castle, since its inception the Foundation has committed itself to organizing activities and initiatives that would foster the discovery of the estate and the promotion of the territory, such as plays, concerts, exhibitions and conferences, guided tours of the estate and workshops for kids and teenagers, as well as Slow Food’s “Mercati della Terra” (Earth Markets).

Thanks to these initiatives, the Castle is actively animated for over 200 days a year, welcoming an average 40.000 visitors. The Foundation, through the combination of restoration, enhancement and cultural activities, makes sure that the estate is open all week, except Mondays, for eleven months a year.

In recent years, they devised an educational programme aimed at spreading and promoting the history, artistic-architectural features and legends enshrined in the Castle through workshops and themed itineraries, including family-friendly options.

In 2015 the Foundation launched a development plan designed to expand and consolidate the estate’s potential, hiring more personnel and allocating the necessary resources to fund new purposes for the manor house, devising and planning cultural activities, and optimizing communication and promotional aspects.

Since 2017 the Foundation sponsors “Verso il Borgo”, a five-year project aimed at reviving the whole rural hamlet of Padernello, signed in collaboration with Associazione Artigiani di Brescia e Provincia (Craftsmen Association of the Province of Brescia), and with the involvement of trade associations from Crema and Lodi.
With this project, the Castle seeks to extend its own experience to the hamlet’s farmsteads, in order for them to be recovered and returned to productivity, both in terms of their agricultural vocation and through the introduction of craft activities.

The project further evolved with the proposed introduction of craft workshops and classrooms dedicated to highly specialized training courses.

Finally, with the purchase and restoration of two-thirds of the Cascina Bassa building, they were able to open workshops, a craft brewery and commercial activities, such as a winery specialized in Brescian wines.