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Labyrinth of the Masone by Franco Maria Ricci

The Labirinto della Masone is a cultural park built in Masone, a town near Fontanellato, in the province of Parma.

It extends for seven hectares and includes a labyrinth made up of bamboo of different species (the largest in the world of this genus) and spaces that house the art collection of Franco Maria Ricci and his publishing house, temporary exhibitions, conferences and presentations , concerts, a restaurant, a café and a deli.

 

The art collection

Adolfo Wildt, Vir Temporis Acti (1913)

The art collection, spread over five thousand square meters, was collected by Franco Maria Ricci in about fifty years of activity, it reflects his personal taste and is constantly expanding.

The works, including paintings, sculptures and art objects, are about five hundred. It starts from the 16th century, in particular there are works by Mannerist artists, among which Girolamo Mazzola Bedoli, Luca Cambiaso and Ludovico Carracci stand out. The seventeenth century is widely represented both in painting and in sculpture, with works by Valentin de Boulogne, Philippe de Champaigne, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Giambattista Foggini, Lorenzo Merlini. Ample space is dedicated to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, with paintings by Francesco Hayez, Giovanni Carnovali, pastels by Rosalba Carriera and Jean-Étienne Liotard, watercolors by Giuseppe Pietro Bagetti, marble sculptures from the neoclassical period depicting mainly characters linked to Napoleon (and Napoleon himself), by Antonio Canova, Lorenzo Bartolini, François Joseph Bosio and French terracottas. Particular attention is paid to artists originating in the Parma area or who have worked there, making an important artistic contribution, including Pietro Melchiorre Ferrari, Giuseppe Baldrghi and Jean Baptiste Boudard. Another main theme of the collection is that of the Vanitas, in which the works of Jacopo Ligozzi and Maurizio Bottoni stand out. As for the twentieth century, the sculptures by Adolfo Wildt and Demetre Chiparus, the paintings by Antonio Ligabue and Alberto Savinio and the tempera by Erté are noteworthy. Finally, there are also numerous art objects, including a wooden model of the Milan Cathedral and one of the Cathedral of Ulm, two narwhal teeth, and an altar in semiprecious stones and ebony.

The collection includes the original plates of the Codex Seraphinianus by Luigi Serafini, which was published in its original two-volume edition by Franco Maria Ricci publisher.

The exhibition does not follow a chronological order but proceeds by themes and associations and underlines the parallels between the choices of the publisher and those of the collector.

Cultural activities
The Labirinto della Masone is home to numerous cultural activities, including temporary exhibitions, conferences and concerts.

Map: Labyrinth of the Masone by Franco Maria Ricci