Gaudì’s Park Güell of Salento-Italian Wikipedia user Florixc, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The heart of Salento also beats for art. A few kilometers from Lecce, in a northerly direction, one can find oneself displaced by an unimaginable reality.
Guagnano can be reached along the ancient consular road which leads from Lecce leads to Tarentum. You are in the countryside of the ancient Terra d’Otranto, in timeless settings that capture thesoul. Here the renowned Salice Salentino wine is produced and the prevalent vine is the Negroamaro. If you are in the area you can combine tastings and art.
You can’t miss the wonderful park of southern Italy if you love magical places
Lovers of good wine and inspiration must make a stop in this land capable of preserving the traditions and fight against abandonment. They earn how Barcelona has its Gaudì, a painter called Vincenzo Maria Brunetti. In Puglia we don’t find a park but a house-museum that houses the eccentric art of Vincent, also known outside the confines of Salento.
Estruscreativity and beauty they dominate this farmhouse located along a cycling route. It is a place that seems secret however unimaginable. If you are looking for aoasis little frequented and little known in Salento, this is the right place. Remain amazed it is almost a practice when you arrive in front of the Hermitage of Vincent.
What is in Vincent’s Hermitage
The landlord is the fulcrum of this experience. He welcomes visitors and walks them through his life and artistic inspiration. The time dedicated to this meeting is carefree and free, dedicated to opening the mind and of senses to welcome everything that the place offers.
The visit to Guagnano’s Güell is almost a psycho-social experiment. You enter with your own truth and you leave lightly. You can go back to being a child and observe without the weight of everyday reality, like in the trips in distant places that project you into another dimension.
The words that can best describe this experience are amazement and lightness. There folly of the artist is also expressed in front of you, because Vincenzo Maria Brunetti is a free soul. He dances, paints, talks, gets excited with those who decide to discover a new perspective on life.
Mosaics, paintings and works bordering on the surreal
The mosaics that decorate the house-museum are not the work of Vincent but of another native artist, Orodè Deoro. Allegoriesbiblical and sacred references, works by other little-known artists swirl around the visitor, abstracting him from the reality. It is possible to purchase some works. Those that the artist offers for sale are on the upper floor of the cottage. The visit is free and without reservation, so you can’t miss Vincent’s Park.
After this immersion in a parallel reality, all that remains is to get drunk with the tasting of a good wine. In the area you can delight in visiting the Cosimo Taurino farm, the Cantele winery, the Marano estate or the Ermes cellars. Salento, art, madness and Negroamaro are the winning ingredients for a day unforgettable.
