AGRILIFE BLOG

UNA CITTA� IDEALE..LA SCARZUOLA.

Any day and at any time of the year can be the occasion to do a walk and discover a very special place: La Scarzuola.

You arrive at the slopes of Montegabbione, a small village in hilltop position on the border between Umbria and Tuscany; then you follow the signs towards a narrow country road that enters between the woods for about kms.2 till you reach a gate.

Here there are two possibilities: to have a reservation for a guided tour with a minimum of 8 persons; to have not a reservation for a guided tour and then "hope" to be added to another group.

To avoid a waste of time, it is suggested to book in advance a guided tour, particularly for groups.

There is an entrance ticket to be paid and pets are not allowed: the dogs of the property, "the guardians", don�t accept other pets.

Originally this place� was a convent founded in 1218 by Saint Francis from Assisi; here he planted a laurel bush and a roses bush, then he gave forth a spring of water.

The name "Scarzuola" comes from a plant called "scarza" that was used by Saint Francis to built a hut.

In 1956 Tommaso Buzzi an architect from Milan bought the whole complex which was abandoned and began to restore it.

Near the Franciscan convent he designed and built an "ideal city", composed of several original buildings, with 7 theatres and an� Acropolis with the reproduction of the Parthenon, of the Coliseum and of the Pantheon.

The result is a mixture of the sacred and the profane with several symbols and esoteric references presented in a personalized� and uncommon way by Marco Solani, guide and nephew of the architect.

The guided tour discovers, step by step, an amazing place, rich of combinations and mythological, geometric, astronomical references, in a special atmosphere between the magical and the indefinite.

The eye cannot grap all the details and it is not easy to store the meaning of the elements.

Each corner in La Scarzuola has a different light and a different perspective : the only constant element is the tufa, the orange volcanic stone, used to built the whole complex and typical of this area.

The Nature is dominant on this unusual and extraordinary place; here the architect Buzzi worked with care in the garden and perfectly placed Mother Nature between the buildings: the� tub with water lilies surrounded by monsters faces; the cypress trees that seem to protect the property like bastions or like the columns of a Gothic cathedral that connects earth and sky.

It seems that between the walls of this "ideal town" there is no time: nor one that delimits the day, nor what it defines an era.

All is there, it is a world unto itself: on one side there is the physical immobility of these original buildings; on the other side there is the swirl of emotions produced by their symbolic meaning.

Visit this unusual, extraordinary and original complex means to experience a direct strong emotion and then� continue for a long time to feel a sense of wonder.

TO BOOK A GUIDED TOUR: 0763.837463

INFO: www.lascarzuola.com�� info@lascarzuola.com