A treasure chest at the foot of the Sacred Convent of Assisiland of work and prayer. A small casket of inlaid wood, to be opened to reveal the ancient memories of the senses and lead us into a memorable alchemical experience.
This is not the plot of a book, nor that of a film. We are at the Borgo Antichi Orti di Assisia former Benedictine monastery where the monks, great connoisseurs and users of medicinal and aromatic herbs, made highly effective medicines and wrote, leaving them to memory, catalogues of all the herbs they cultivated and used: the Hortuli.
Thanks to a project initiated and implemented by Inter footballer Andrea Ranocchia, the Antichi Orti farm wanted to recover this heritage: monastic thought preserved and revisited in a renovated and unique location at the foot of Assisi.
In fact, the old monastery has now become an inn with residences (twelve The alchemical art of the monks becomes a new heritage to give to young people rooms connected to the 12 signs of the zodiac), a spagyric laboratory, a bio conservation park and the Hortuli, with an olive grove, medicinal plants and food and aromatic cultivars.
A tradition brought down to the present day, because if the Food & Beverage is so popular and in vogue, at the Antichi Orti the experiential journey teaches us that, just as the monks did, biodiversity must be preserved and that when cultivation follows astral cycles, each plant species gives its best virtues and consequent effects on our bodies.
Herb picking, day and night, with an explanation of the guiding planets from which they derive their characteristics, transforms the ancient Spagyria, the application of the alchemical art for the preparation of remedies obtained from the distillation and separation of the essential oilsalcohol and water.
And so we return to that treasure chest, called 'Memoirs Sensorum'essences enclosed in many small phials. This is one of the sensory 'games' that you can play at the Laboratorio Alchemico del Borgo. To each person his or her essence. There will always be one and only one that, according to our character and mood of that moment, will envelop our being the most. We will choose it and with that i Mixologist and Bartender They will make a 'signature recipe' for us, a drink made by mixing products and extracts prepared in-house using artisan-made 'in vitro' stills.
From the nose to the palate, in short, and then to the heart and soul; unique combinations that create that alchemy that makes sensations last, in the body but also in the memory. The plants and spices used are obviously the cultivars of the Borgowhich then, thanks to expert hands, give life to 'mixtures' that come into contact with our deepest senses, and so we understand why for ancient monks a drink has the magic to give us the profound cognitive power of our soul and spirit.
But the choice of drink can, in the bar lab, also be the child of a book. Obviously not just any book, but one of the seven volumes that recall the ancient art of monastic catalogues, seven menu books designed by botanical specialists, bound and hand-drawn subdivided by species: from aromatic herbs to spices, from wild herbs to edible flowers, from fruit to vegetables and legumes, ending with magical plants. I recommend you browse through them in the Herbarium, a fascinating larder where dozens and dozens of jars hold 98 species of herbs and spices, subdivided by their belonging to the elements Water, Earth, Fire and Air, just as they are cultivated in the Hortuli.
The magic will envelop you, you will choose from one of the books the plant, spice or herb that you feel most represents you and your drink will be made from that.
And if the Herbarium looks to the inn, it is because the fruits of the Hortuli are not only the protagonists of the essences and drinks in the bar laboratory, but also of the kitchen. A 'humble and precious' cuisine that at the table offers a reinterpretation of peasant and monastic traditions.
Ancient recipes reworked that, together with the art of spagyric, are meant to be a legacy to be preserved and a new memory and custom to be given to posterity, first and foremost to young people who today are in danger of forgetting the history that made us what we are.
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