There are venues where you feel good, venues where you immediately realize you’re in the right place.
It’s thanks to the spaces, the materials choice, the objects. But it’s also thanks to people.
At La Mugletta, in the heart of the Euganean Hills Regional Park, you feel a positive energy.
Ulla and Eberhard are ready to open the doors of their beautiful house and let you into their world, little at a time.
They welcome you into this perfectly recognizable and discreet design haven, respectful of the Euganean Hills nature.
They show you their space and they tell you about the forest animals, with such a bright light in the eyes that you’d spend hours talking to them, in front of a glass of local wine… or a good German beer.
You come in and you smell the perfume of wood.
In some way, you feel part of the natural environment, in this house that has one side close to the woods and the other side protruded outwards, with a large terrace open to the hills.
The autumn colours surround the house.
The foggy all around invites you to stay, to enjoy a true relaxation, the fireplace lit, the absolute silence … increasingly rare, ever more precious.
The heart of the building is the large living room, which acts as a kitchen and as a living and lunch area.
Tables, chairs and sofa are moved depending on the occasion.
Everything is technology, from the steam oven to the home automation systems.
But the atmosphere remains warm, as the warmth of so many projects, commitment and confidence in the contribution that everyone can give to a better reality.
What Ulla and Eberhard aspire to is a world in which barriers can be dismantled.
The long glass wall that surrounds the center of the house can be easily scrolled, so that you can create a unique beautiful environment between the inside and the outside.
It’s not just an architectural gimmick, it’s the metaphor of their project, it’s their real goal: create a space for inclusion, where even those who struggle to be integrated can feel part of the place.
So the all project acquires new energy, a sense of beauty that is not an end in itself, but it wants to do good, it wants to merge, to integrate.
On the lower floor, a beautiful discovery: the ceramic lab where Ulla dedicates herself to her creations, of which the house is pleasantly enriched.
And there’s the contact with the earth, the garden, the forest, the hills all around. Animals, hens, donkeys. Silence.
La Mugletta is an invitation to take time to go back to simplicity, to share a feeling of care and protection, to grow together by integrating family, creativity, but also skills and disability.
Euganean HILLS what to see – a one day journey to visit the best of the euganean hills
In autumn, when the trees start losing their leaves, an abbey is visible among the branches of La Mugletta’s great terrace.
It’s the largest Benedictine convent in Italy: Praglia Abbey.
The monastery, surrounded by vineyards, is built around four communicating cloisters, where the St Benedict’s principle “Ora et labora” still resonates.
In its ancient library, more than 50,000 old manuscripts of rare value are kept, making the abbey famous for its important books restoring activity.
The work in the monastery also includes the cultivation of medical plants, to produce moisturizers, herbal teas and honey.
But the flagship is the Abbey’s cellar, where excellent wines from the Euganean Hills are produced.
The vineyards make the landscape suggestive, with the perfect lines of rows and the colors changing as the seasons flow.
Autumn is an ideal time to discover the best Italian wine regions, and just like the Langhe, even the less known Euganean Hills will bring you pleasant discoveries.
> The best of Langhe Wine Region > Autumn in Italy is: Langhe, truffle and wine
Euganean HILLS what to see – a one day journey to visit the best of the euganean hills
So let yourself follow your instinct and go through the roads connecting the many villages of the Hills.
Enjoy the landscape, the churches, the small villages.
Make some stops at local producers, who grow 13 varieties of D.O.C. wines and a particular fruity-tasting oil.
Discover the simple flavors of traditional local recipes, in agritourisms or in the most refined restaurants.
The best local producers are part of the famous Wine Route of the Euganean Hills, a valuable tool to be consulted before traveling to these areas.
Visit also the Euganean Hills antique villas, a reminder of the splendor of the past.
Villa Beatrice d’Este, a former convent now home of a natural science museum, with a quiet environment and a wide-ranging overview.
Or Villa Barbarigo Valsanzibio, with its beautiful garden and the famous maze.
Euganean HILLS what to see – a one day journey to visit the best of the euganean hills
The villages, whether in the hills or near the sea, are always attractive.
> Italian sea villages: The most beautiful villages in the Riviera di Ponente Ligure, Italy
And in the Euganean Hills area, there is a special village, which in 2017 was declared the second most beautiful village in Italy.
It’s Arquà Petrarca, the medieval town where the poet Francesco Petrarca spent the last years of his life.
Arrive at the lowest part of the village, where you find the church and the Petrarca’s tomb.
The road leading up to the top of Arquà is a very nice place to drink or eat something typical.
Then proceed along the short and steep way to the tallest part of the village and wander around till the house of Francesco Petrarca.
At this point, you’d easily understand the town’s symbol: the jujubes, which here grow in abundance even in private gardens.
From these small fruits, which look like olives and taste like apples, you get exquisite jams and the famous jujube broth, the area’s typical liquor.
The Praglia Abbey, Este castle, Monselice rock, the villas, gardens, villages, …
The Euganean Hills are not only synonymous with thermal care, but a land to be discovered, with its picturesque landscapes, passionate producers and a lot of history to tell.
| Thanks to Ulla and Eberhard for the kind welcome at La Mugletta |
| Cover photo: for La Mugletta ph. Chap Achen | Post photos: for La Mugletta ph. Antony Wilder – Praglia Abbey – Valsanzibio Garden – ph. Arquà Petrarca: The Style Lovers |
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