The Castello area to the northwest of central Florence is home to a row of prestigious villas, the holiday homes for Tuscan nobility in times gone by. It’s the sunniest of spring days when we turn into Villa Le Brache, also known as Villa di Bellagio, and follow the viale del Poeta to reach the headquarters of the Soka Gakkai Italian Buddhist Institute, which has housed its cultural centre here since 1992.
With medieval origins, the 14th and 15th centuries saw loggias and towers expand the villa, which is entered from via Reginaldo Giuliani 546. The Tornabuoni coat of arms appears on an exterior wall and many other noted names passed through these halls, leaving behind elegant painted cycles like that depicting the stories of Jason and the Argonauts, only rediscovered during restoration work by volunteers carried out after 1986. Speaking with Daniele Santi, Erica Galligani and Alessja Trama, we’re here to learn more about the cultural centre’s activities and the group’s involvement in obtaining a Nobel Peace Prize in efforts to ban nuclear weapons.
A branch of Buddhism that follows the teachings of the 13th-century Japanese priest Nichiren Daishonin, the focus of the lay group is on cultivating peace through culture and education. With over 4,000 members in Florence, it’s the largest Soka Gakkai community in Italy in respect to percentage of inhabitants and has particularly strong links to the former president Daisaku Ikeda (Tokyo 1928–2023), the recipient of the Fiorino d’Oro, Sigillo della Pace (peace seal) and honorary citizenship of Florence.
A luxuriant garden features a large outdoor amphitheatre that serves as a location for talks and activities, with lofty cypress trees lining pathways to the villa that holds six main prayer rooms, administrative offices, a newsroom for the magazine Il Nuovo Rinascimento, a shop selling books and items for the practice of Buddhism, guest rooms, and a refreshment and resting area. Used for Buddhist practice, study courses and various conferences, it has staged large-scale cultural events and lectures on art, conflict resolution, respect for human rights and abolition of nuclear weapons, hosting many international figures. The space featured an exhibition by Oliviero Toscani titled We, on death row, featuring photographs of people sentenced to death in American jails, and in 2009, Villa di Bellagio welcomed Professor N. Radhakrishnan, president of the Indian Council of Gandhian Studies of the Gandhi Media Center.
A significant strand of the centre’s work focuses on raising awareness about nuclear weapons and promoting disarmament. One of its most visible initiatives is the Senzatomica campaign, launched in 2011. Driven largely by young people, the campaign aims to inform about the risks posed by nuclear arsenals and to encourage support for global treaties that seek to eliminate them. Senzatomica, an initiative of the Be the Hope Foundation, has been a partner of ICAN (International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons) since its founding and, in 2017, it participated, with other civil society representatives, in the negotiations for the drafting and adoption of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), the first treaty to ban nuclear weapons completely, which was approved by the UN General Assembly in 2017 and entered into force in 2021. In recognition of its role in the approval of the TPNW, ICAN was awarded the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize. The campaign’s main instrument is the exhibition Senzatomica: Transforming the Human Spirit for a World Free of Nuclear Weapons, which went on display in the Refectory of Santa Maria Novella in Florence in 2025 and has taken place in more than 80 Italian cities attracting over 460,000 visitors, making it one of the leading movements for nuclear disarmament in Italy.
Leaving the villa, we pass piazza Daisaku Ikeda, inaugurated on April 13, 2024, not by chance only a short distance from the site that focuses on cultural exchange, social issues and global challenges, and a testament to the recognition garnered in the Renaissance city.
