Monte Verità, the community that pursued the utopia of a better world

Dice Sergio Risaliti, director of the Museo Novecento: “Today that terms such as ‘vegetarian’, ‘pacifism’, ‘sustainability’ are categorical imperatives in the evolution of our civilization, Monte Verità becomes a reference again for those who are not satisfied with the political inertia and the increasingly disastrous cynicism of the global economy ».

Vegan nutrition, sunbathing and nudism

The basic rules for being welcomed as a guest on Monte Verità were to follow avegan nutrition, practice theeliotherapy (the sun’s energy was believed to strengthen bodies and souls) and the nudism. And then it had to be done gymnastics, dance e meditation: on display we see examples of veggy menu proposed in the community, advertising brochures, projects by bio-sustainable architecture.

Like all dreams, Monte Verità did not last long: the founding fathers, already in 1920, dispersed some in Spain and some in Brazil, and the hill that we still see today was bought by Baron Eduard von der Heydt who commissioned the construction of the hotel in Bauhaus style which in the first instance welcomed the masters themselves of the famous Weimar school of design. Interesting, but a whole other story compared to the pure, crazy utopia of the beginnings.

Today, when you go up the mountain, you feel that something special it really happened from the parts of Ascona: the magic of the natural landscape remains, the photos we propose remain and the charm of a utopia that – like all others – is still waiting to be realized. Who knows where, who knows when, who knows if.