Borgo di Colle Ameno
Born from an enlightenment project by Filippo Carlo Ghisilieri, The Colle Ameno village presents itself as a complex of red buildings; the initial idea was to create an autonomous ideal city, a center of culture and art, of scientific experimentation and artisan activities, a core of urban planning that included shops, a hospital, stables, warehouses, warehouses, a church, a factory of majolica, in addition of course to the main villa with the annexed structures. The Baroque oratory, dating back to 1700 and dedicated to Saint Anthony of Padua, is one of a kind; with a cruciform plan, the external façade, which included the hospital, is characterized by two entrance portals and a high bell gable under which a clock is painted. Inside, however, you can see paintings, frescoes, wooden altars and sculptures made by the masters Angelo Gabriello Piò and Mauro Aldrovandini. In 1944, during the Second World War, a prison and sorting camp was set up in the Borgo, here the Nazis collected civilians to be able to use them as labor, both for the construction of the Gothic Line and to be transferred to Germany. When the war was over, pits with the remains of 21 people were found. To remember the victims, the Hall of Memory was built, inside which documents and objects from the period are exhibited, which can be visited during guided tours. The village of Colle Ameno is still inhabited, the spaces intended for the artisan shops have been recovered. One of the original activities of the village can still be seen: the creation of the ancient white and blue ceramics of Colle Ameno with naturalistic decorations.
Hall of remembrance
During the Second World War, Colle Ameno was used by the German army as a support for the air forces, as a military hospital and as a prison camp and sorting center. Male civilians aged between 17 and 55 were rounded up and divided into three categories: the youngest and most physically fit were sent to labor camps in Germany, the older but still fit for work were used by the Germans to build fortifications and trenches and to lay mines along the Gothic line, the disabled or the sick were shot. Evidence indicates that the rooms on the ground floor of the central part of Villa Davia were used as a prison. On the walls of the building some civilians have written their name and surname with pieces of coal, sometimes the date and place of residence. Images, testimonies, artifacts are kept in the Aula della Memoria, a multimedia documentation and consultation centre and an educational path from the Fascist period to the present day.
The revival of the Colle Ameno village
The recovery of the Borgo, by the Municipality of Sasso Marconi, began in the 90s and until now has involved: the accommodation, some artisan shops, an inn, the original Villa Davia and part of the Ghisilieri, as well as spaces didactics and museums including the Hall of Memory. With the architectural recovery of Villa Davia and the opening of the new art spaces, the Municipality intends to restore Colle Ameno to its former glory, recreating the conditions existing in the 1700s, when the village was known for its cultural liveliness. The project involves the implementation of initiatives aimed at enhancing the village of Colle Ameno with a view to promotion and innovation, imagining Colle Ameno as a sort of 'ideal city' where, just like in the past, it is possible to see craftsmen and artists at work , visit exhibitions, carry out initiatives capable of giving the village a central role in the cultural life of the city, making it at the same time a place of interest for tourists and visitors.
Le Botteghe
Gli spazi d'arte
L'Osteria
Visitare il Borgo
Sala delle Decorazioni
Aula della Memoria
Via Porrettana 314, 40037 Sasso Marconi
Tel: 051 6758409 - Cel: 334 8334945
info@infosasso.it
