paola candiani was born and raised in milan, where in 1981 she graduated in architecture from the politecnico di milano with full marks (100/100 cum laude), under prof. marco zanuso.

from her early university years she began collaborating with architectural studios such as paolo tilche, centro disegno ambientale, vittorio borachia and others, participating in numerous national and international architecture competitions and receiving several mentions.

at the same time, she collaborated with the literary magazine linea d’ombra and co-wrote with silvio soldini the screenplay for the film “l’aria serena dell’ovest”.

in 1999, after significant experience in design and construction management, she began collaborating with fai, acting as project manager for restoration and adaptive reuse projects including villa panza in varese, villa gregoriana in tivoli and other heritage sites.

in 2005 she became a director at fai, taking on the role of head of property management, and in 2010 head of the heritage area, later being appointed director of restoration and conservation, with responsibility for overseeing restoration and extraordinary maintenance projects across the 75 protected properties acquired by fai.