History
In the midst of the Emilian countryside, less than a ten-minute drive from Fidenza and fifteen from Parma, Franco Maria Ricci, publisher, designer and collector, has created the biggest maze in the world with bamboo hedges.
Stepping over the threshold leads into a timeless dimension, where the taste for art and beauty are united with a passion for nature.
The path in the maze runs for about three kilometres towards an inner courtyard with a portico, pyramid and two suites.
In the main body, next to the elegant bookshop full of rare and precious publications, is the museum area where temporary exhibitions of work by exceptional artists are held, alongside with the exposition of Franco Maria Ricci'art collection, a man, an artist, a dreamer, who has taken about ten years to create this marvellous labyrinth on his property at Fontanellato (Parma).
An ingenius, visionary project, with a star shaped plan covering eight hectares of land, with thousands of bamboo plants of 20 different species.
The Franco Maria Ricci Foundation, owner of the Labirinto, is responsible for preserving the books and art collections of its creator (around 500 works of art, from the 16th to the 20th century) and encouraging cultural activities and entertainment.
Ricci is also keen on promoting the use of bamboo – an exuberantly tough evergreen plant – to create delicate green screens as useful, though simple, disguises for the bleak industrial warehouses which often blight the Italian landscape.
