8 February 2019
Labirinto della Masone
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 bamboo maze in the world. 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, church 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 the permanent show of a man, an artist, a dreamer, Franco Maria Ricci, who has taken about ten years to create this marvellous labyrinth.
Ricci, the publisher, impassioned art collector and bibliophile, dedicated ten years to developing this ingenious, visionary project on his property at Fontenallato (Parma): a monumental green maze.
The labyrinth, opened to the public in May 2015, has a star-shaped plan covering eight hectares of land, with thousands of bamboo plants of different species.
The Franco Maria Ricci Foundation, owner of the Labirinto, is responsible for preserving the books and art collections of its creator 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.
The path in the maze runs for about three kilometres towards an inner courtyard with a portico, church 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 the permanent show of a man, an artist, a dreamer, Franco Maria Ricci, who has taken about ten years to create this marvellous labyrinth.
Ricci, the publisher, impassioned art collector and bibliophile, dedicated ten years to developing this ingenious, visionary project on his property at Fontenallato (Parma): a monumental green maze.
The labyrinth, opened to the public in May 2015, has a star-shaped plan covering eight hectares of land, with thousands of bamboo plants of different species.
The Franco Maria Ricci Foundation, owner of the Labirinto, is responsible for preserving the books and art collections of its creator 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.
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Memory is the fourth dimension to any landscape- Janet Fitch - |
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