In the year marking 800 years since the death of San Francesco d'Assisi there is no place more evocative to visit than La Scarzuola.
Founded in 1218 by Saint Francis himself-who planted a laurel bush and roses and caused a spring of water to flow-La Scarzuola takes its name from the humble marsh plant (scarza) used by the Saint to build his shelter. Inside the apse of the church ''Sancte Marie loci fratrum minorum de Scarciolačii]'', a rare 13th-century fresco depicts Saint Francis in levitation.
Centuries later, La Scarzuola became the visionary universe of architect Tomaso Buzzi. Between 1958 and 1978, he created his surreal Ideal City beside the convent: a theatrical machine of seven symbolic theatres, culminating in the Acropolis-a mountain of archetypes, perspectives, stairways and mysteries. Inspired by the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, Buzzi's Neomanierist language gives shape to a dreamlike, labyrinthine and deeply symbolic world.
Sacred and profane. History and imagination. Silence and wonder.
La Scarzuola is not just a place-it is an initiatory path, a symbolic and alchemical journey that reveals itself to those who approach it with an open soul.
Founded in 1218 by Saint Francis himself-who planted a laurel bush and roses and caused a spring of water to flow-La Scarzuola takes its name from the humble marsh plant (scarza) used by the Saint to build his shelter. Inside the apse of the church ''Sancte Marie loci fratrum minorum de Scarciolačii]'', a rare 13th-century fresco depicts Saint Francis in levitation.
Centuries later, La Scarzuola became the visionary universe of architect Tomaso Buzzi. Between 1958 and 1978, he created his surreal Ideal City beside the convent: a theatrical machine of seven symbolic theatres, culminating in the Acropolis-a mountain of archetypes, perspectives, stairways and mysteries. Inspired by the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, Buzzi's Neomanierist language gives shape to a dreamlike, labyrinthine and deeply symbolic world.
Sacred and profane. History and imagination. Silence and wonder.
La Scarzuola is not just a place-it is an initiatory path, a symbolic and alchemical journey that reveals itself to those who approach it with an open soul.