Rosazza

After losing his wife and daughter, senator Federico Rosazza, a spiritualist and freemason, set out to remake his tiny native village in the upper Valle Cervo. With the architect Giuseppe Maffei, believed to have mediumistic powers, he filled it with neo-medieval buildings loaded with esoteric and Masonic symbols. The result is a mountain village of mock ruins, battlements and coded details.

Highlights

• The castle (1883–1899), with fake ruins recalling the temples of Paestum
• The Chiesa-Tempio, with a chequerboard churchyard and starry painted ceiling
• The town hall by Maffei, with Ghibelline battlements and a white marble staircase
• The road to the Oropa sanctuary, with a 367-metre rock tunnel

Text adapted from Wikipedia (Rosazza (IT), Rosazza (EN)). Available under CC BY-SA 4.0.