Address: Str. Masone 121, 43012, Fontanellato (PR)
Contacts: +39 0521 827081
Fascinated by the reflections of Jorge Luis Borges, in 2015 publisher Franco Maria Ricci inaugurated in the countryside between Parma and Fidenza the largest existing labyrinth in the world, eight hectares in size in which three kilometers of meandering paths made with bamboo hedges wind through.
“I first dreamed of building a Labyrinth about thirty years ago, during the period when, on several occasions, I had as a guest in my country house near Parma a friend, as well as a very important collaborator of the publishing house I had founded: the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges.” This is how Franco Maria Ricci, owner of the Masone estate near Fontanellato, recalled the genesis of his creation: the large labyrinth with a stellar perimeter, made up of 200,000 bamboo plants belonging to different species, between 30 centimeters and 15 meters tall, immersed in a landscape with a purely agricultural vocation. In the planimetric design, with its classic four-field shape interconnected around a central square with forks and bifurcations, the sources of inspiration are evident: the eight-pointed star shape (reduced to seven due to the inclusion of the Museum building on the west side) recalls the ideal city of Sforzinda, described by Filarete in his Treatise on Architecture (c. 1464), and the nine-pointed layout of the fortress-city of Palmanova, in Friuli, planned by the Venetians in 1593. The labyrinth is joined by exhibition and service architecture designed by Pier Carlo Bontempi of Parma.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: www.gardenrouteitalia.it
