Grizzana Morandi

"The most beautiful landscape in the world": this is how the painter Giorgio Morandi described the place that has always inspired him. He used to spend the summertime there, in his native home, today an house-museum that can be visited by reserving a guided tour. Just a few minutes away from there, you will find the fascinating Campiaro hayloft, which was painted by Morandi in one of his famous paintings, today hosted by the "Giorgio Morandi" Documentation Center and the archives of Count Cesare Mattei.

The area between the Monte Sole Historical Park and the Montovolo Park is dotted with medieval villages, including the splendid Borgo La Scola, where you will immediately feel as if you have plunged into the Middle Ages. In the village, most of the buildings, which date back to the 15th/16th centuries and are still almost intact, were built by the Comacini Masters from Como and Milan.

This place was founded as a military quarter to defend the monastic center of Montovolo, near which the legendary battles between the Frankish warriors - called Paladins - and the Lombards took place. Particularly interesting are the "Sculcula" house, which served as a military post, and the majestic cypress tree, a 25 meters high and over 700 years old tree, a true natural monument. Nearby there are two real architectural masterpieces: the Church of Santa Maria Assunta in Riola, which is the only work of the Finnish architect Alvar Aalto situated in Italy, whose sinuous forms symbolize the harmony with the surrounding landscape, and the marvelous Rocchetta Mattei, built in the 19th century by Count Cesare Mattei, an ante litteram scientist who dedicated his life to electromeopathy. The majesty and great allegorical power of the building is due to Mattei's brilliance. The inside is a labyrinth of towers, monumental staircases, party halls, and private rooms, where different styles are mixed in perfect and eclectic harmony: from neo-medieval to neo-Renaissance, from Moorish to Art Nouveau.

Not to be missed

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