Since 1959 The Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center has hosted thousands of artists, policymakers, scholars, authors, practitioners, and scientists from all over the world enabling them time and space to work, to learn from each other, and to turn ideas into actions that change the world.
Bellagio Center Programs
-
The Bellagio Center Residency Program
The Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Residency Program offers academics, artists, thought leaders, policymakers, and practitioners a serene setting conducive to focused, goal-oriented work, and the unparalleled opportunity to establish new connections with fellow residents from a wide array of backgrounds, disciplines, and geographies. -
The Bellagio Center Conference Program
Bellagio conferences establish new connections across disciplines and geographies, encourage dynamic, small group interactions, and promote innovative and creative thinking—all in a serene setting conducive to focused, goal-oriented work.
The Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center is a 50 acre property located at the heart of Lake Como in Northern Italy. The Foundation’s proud history with the Bellagio Center began in 1959, when Ella Holbrook Walker, the American Principessa della Torre e Tasso donated the property to the Foundation “for the promotion of international understanding.” For over 60 years the Center has supported many meaningful advances through its residency and conference programs and is globally renowned for fostering cross-cultural and interdisciplinary exchange.
Each year the Bellagio residency program offers up to 100 best-in-class practitioners, scholars, writers, policy makers and artists from around the world month-long residencies to advance their work and engage with a globally diverse community of residents. Former residents include Nobel Laureates Joseph Stiglitz and Mohamed Yunus, renowned authors Maya Angelou and Michael Ondaatji, and international policy makers such as Mary Robinson and Montek Ahluwalia.
The Center also hosts approximately 55 week-long international convenings each year organized by a variety of institutions from around the world, including several which are directly funded by the Foundation. The Center’s prestige and its prime location enable gatherings that bring together decision makers from across sectors and Bellagio has served as the launching pad for landmark initiatives such as the Green Revolution for agriculture, the Forum for African Women Educationalists, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, and the field of impact investing.
Bellagio Program Updates
A collection of insights from organizers and participants of the Bellagio Center programs.
- FEATURE
Harnessing the Power of Our Network to Reimagine a Better Post-Covid World: Launching Bellagio Dialogues
This year is likely to go down as one of the most significant years of …
SEE MORE
Recent Updates

The Bellagio Center: Part of Italy’s COVID-19 Epicenter
In a normal spring, the sounds of ferry horns and motorboat engines would be rising up from Lake Como by now. Tourists strolling in groups by the water would be part of our view. Bellagio Center would be alive with scholars, policymakers and artists huddled in meetings, wandering through our gardens, or sharing dining room […]
More