I Walked Around the Largest Bamboo Maze in the World
A path of seven hectares in which to “enter and get lost, to fantasize and reflect”
For my birthday I went to the most giant bamboo maze in the world. It is part of the Great Italian Gardens and hosted Jorge Luis Borges. It is the “Labirinto della Masone” and is in Fontanellato, in the province of Parma. Makes a great idea for a spring and summer outing.
Bamboo plants, in total about 200 thousand, compose it. They are between 30 centimeters and 15 meters high. They belong to twenty different species.
They form “a path in which to go forward and get lost, to fantasize and reflect”.
If you want, you can also sleep in the rooms inside the Labyrinth. The visit is also ideal for children, dogs, and … wives.
The seven-hectare Labyrinth is the fruit of the imagination of Franco Maria Ricci. He is a visionary entrepreneur and publisher. He dreamed of building such a structure all his life. In the end, he did it. Bamboo turned out to be the best and cheapest plant. Also because it grows very fast.
The signs scattered along the route are very interesting. Captions in museums and galleries are often boring and full of technical details. That’s not the case. Here each text tells an aspect of the conception of the labyrinth in a curious way. There are ideas and stimuli at every step.
There is the Franco Maria Ricci’s large art collection in the complex. Currently, the exhibition “From above. Futurist Aeropainting ” makes protagonists the great painters exponents of Futurism.
They are aerial works of the early twentieth century, focused on the themes of speed and movement.
From 17 to 19 June there will be “LOST”, the festival at the Labirinto della Masone. The program includes 28 artists from 11 countries around the world.
There will be DJ sets, live performances, and sound installations.
