Snowdonia’s hidden ‘little Italy’ – a small woodland known as the ‘Little Italy’ of southern Eryri (Snowdonia) – has revealed more of its astonishing secrets with ‘Scores more replica buildings and structures… discovered as the overgrown site is cleared’.
image: for illustration – Hefin Owen from Wales, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
North Wales Live writes:
A mini Portmeirion hidden in vegetation has yielded more of its secrets as the site is cleared. Volunteers have been left bewildered by the sheer number of replica buildings scattered across a small woodland known as the ‘Little Italy’ of southern Eryri (Snowdonia). ‘Every time I pulled away more ivy, I thought, bloody hell, there’s another one,’ said Jonathan Fell, the site’s flamboyant curator. At the last count, around 200 ‘objects’ had been unearthed – not just buildings but statues, plaques and curios as well…
.. a few years ago, only around 30 structures were known. Everywhere there are iconic Italian buildings, from Florence’s Duomo to Venice’s Rialto Bridge. Among the new discoveries, there were a few surprises: a miniature English village, a cat cemetery and a Venetian canal….
Each new find has heightened the awe Jonathan has for the site’s creator, Mark Bourne and wife Muriel. He said their shrine to Italian architecture, on the outskirts of Corris, between Dolgellau and Machynlleth, is a monument to obsession, endurance and ingenuity…
… the site was placed in a trust prior to the Covid pandemic. Its trustee is Richard Withers, who persuaded family friend Jonathan Fell to co-ordinate the rescue of a place known locally ‘Mark’s Folly’ – because people in the village thought him ‘crazy’. Jonathan, now 64, previously worked as a designer and conservationist at Brighton’s Royal Pavilion…
Just as exciting were the ‘ghosts’ that were discovered. This is Jonathan’s term for tell-tale signs of the site’s working life and conditions…
… Besides replicas of Italian landmarks, more than a third of the site is comprised of Renaissance architecture of unknown provenance.
… Little Italy was not built to attract visitors but Mark Bourne rarely turned them away…
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