In Umbria near Motegabbione in the province of Terni, stands the Scarzuola. A surreal and magical complex, built by the architect Tomaso Buzzi which, here he has achieved his "ideal city", made up of complex and spectacular environments. And which show all the creativity and imagination of the designer.
The Scarzuola from a Franciscan place to a magical place
It is said that in the place where the Scarzuola stands he has lived San Francesco d'Assisi. Over time a hermitage was built there, then a church with a convent as evidence of this mystical passage. In the 50s a whimsical and brilliant architect, defined by Federico Zeri "The most cultured of architects in Italy" in the twentieth century he buys the land and, in the thirty years that followed, designs and builds a surreal and fascinating complex. It is his place of refuge, the concretization of his thought and his inventiveness.
He designed the Scarzuola looking at great architectures of the past: Villa d'Este and Villa Adriana over all. But it was also inspired by the magnificence of the Acropolis of Athens and the fantastic gardens of Bomarzo. THEThe result is a scenographic complex, which has nothing to envy to sixteenth-century architecture, or even to the wonder of the Baroque and, which winks at the surreal drawings of Maurits Cornelius Escher.
Utopia realized
The architectural project, in fact, is a set of stages, theaters, labirinti, spirals, walkways. Buzzi realizing the Scarzuola has made every architect's dream come true: to design his own vision of architecture, his personal idea of the “ideal city”. An element that many theorized in the 500th century, but which the reality of the territories, the morphological characteristics and the interests of the Lords did not allow to materialize. Buzzi, on the other hand, gave voice to an important concept: what others think is impossible, the architect can do.
La Scarzuola is a game, an urban theater that condenses into a building complex. It is Utopia as in the intentions of Thomas More, it is the dream and the will to recreate an ideal world in which city planning and architecture coexist perfectly in a single element. Intentionally not completed, it is made up of seven organisms, which contain as many symbolic and theatrical scenes. All made with a very personal neo-mannerist style, enriched by stuccoes, reliefs, frames, staggered surfaces, statues.
La Scarzuola a visit not to be missed
It is a real architectural jewel, the metaphor of a journey inside oneself, to discover the mystical and esoteric aspects. Buzzi said that the Scarzuola “It's like a medicine: it can have serious side effects. " It's still "... at Scarzuola, when someone observes me that the new part, created by me, is not" Franciscan ", I reply: of course, because it represents the World in general and in particular my World - the one in which I had the fate of live and work - of Art, of Culture, of Worldliness, Elegance, Pleasures (including Vices, Wealth, and Powers, etc.) in which, however, I made room for oases of meditation, study, work, music and silence ... ".
An unmissable experience. A place that still lives thanks to the dedication of the grandson Marco Scolari. An attentive caretaker who shares his uncle's vision and who leads the visitor to discover the different souls of the house as in a journey. The complex can be visited upon reservation, by writing to the e-mail address [email protected]
