La Casa Rotonda di Casserio

La Casa Rotonda (The Round House), where the Donetta Archives are housed, is located within the municipality of Corzoneso (now Acquarossa), in the hamlet called Casserio. The building, atypical of its kind, has a circular structure with an external diameter of 8.50 metres. It dates back to the late 1700s and is built on three floors, with plastered stone walls, wooden floors and a flagstone roof. It was originally built to house the Casserio elementary school.

Giuseppe Donetti, Canon of the Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio in Milan, originally from Corzoneso, in his will dated 30th October 1818 established a Legate to give the children of Casserio a school. In 1855 the Legate Administrator wrote: "...there was a beautiful round building, with a large and airy school, with a room of the same size as above for the teacher's residence...". Later the Casa Rotonda was closed due to lack of students and transformed into a home where Roberto Donetta spent the last years of his life.

Since May 2003, the Municipality has made this building available to the Foundation as the home of the Photographic Archive, with the aim of managing, preserving and promoting the "legacy" of Roberto Donetta. The possibility of using the Casa Rotonda as the permanent home of the Donetta Archives makes it possible to reconnect with the personal history of Roberto Donetta, as well as maintaining the historical ties between the Foundation, the Blenio Valley and the places immortalised by this pioneer of photography. For about ten years now, the Casa Rotonda has regularly hosted two photographic exhibitions a year: one in the spring / summer period (usually from May to September) and the other in autumn / winter (from October to April).