When I came to live in this house, built by the Marquis Ricci, it had been abandoned for years by the family that had inhabited it for generations. I was struck by the sobriety and harmony of its architecture: as you entered through the front door, you come across a view of the mount Conero in the distance, through a window at the end of a corridor that opens up on a big terrace. From the terrace you can look at the garden, surrounded by walls of the Sforza period, but by now overgrown, with fallen walls and terraces destroyed by time and neglect.Today the garden is a place of encounters and art for anybody who decides to stop in this house, inhabited, in its central part, by myself and my family. The cellars, once the only way to the garden, are today the centre of the Diversoinverso foundation, a succession of exhibition spaces and a small theatre from which one can access the garden. The storerooms have been transformed, in 2004, in harmonious living spaces, each with its own independent access, furnished with a mix of old pieces of furniture and family memorabilia. The garden, also probably from the 1600 hundreds, has regained its old charm: the great stone stairs, the rainwater collecting vessels on every terrace, the tall stone walls, the old roses, the age old mulberry trees, walnut trees, the bay-trees, the hazelnut trees. Over the boundary wall, the town walls with the door overlooking the sea.

Stefania Acquaticci, La Rosa Scarlatta

Years ago I happened to be, by chance, in Monterubbiano, where I had been called to join a conference on The Green Economy; what followed was a sequence of happy surprises. From the town of Longobard origins to the neo-classical cemetery by the architect Galli, to the San Rocco Park, right down to the magical place where we had our conference; La Rosa Scarlatta.This receptive structure is situated inside a beautiful palace in the historical centre, but hides, like a precious secret, a theatre built in the basement under stone vaulted ceilings. From the theatre you can get to the garden that descends in a sequence of steps down to touch the old city walls already entwined with the lush Piceni countryside.An atmosphere of serenity and deep culture in which our dreaming speeches about a society made to measure for man and more in touch with nature, met with the gentle faces of young Koreans, long term guests of La Rosa Scarlatta, which was also providing an opera singing school. The owners of the house would follow discretely that harmony, directing it like orchestra conductors. I am talking of Euro Teodori, composer, gentle man but a man of authority, known musician and really an orchestra conductor. Film actor during the Italian cinema neorealist season, but also a painter, poet and man of the theatre. A universal culture which he shares with his wife Stefania, a beautiful woman descendant from an old family from Treia, the Acquaticci.... whose history is tied to Dante and the Divine Comedy. But more of this further on....

La Rosa Scarlatta or...house of beauty, by Carlo Brunelli, from the blog ORIGINAL MARCHE, your Paradise Lost in the heart of Italy.

A house of the high bourgeoisie in a town of aristocratic atmosphere, from the brick houses to noticeable churches. Stefania Acquaticci, a woman of artistic sensitivity, has transformed some flats in her house, La Rosa Scarlatta, furnishing them with antique furniture and touches of modernity. Precious is the flowering garden that descends in leaps towards the valley. The view one enjoys goes from the sea to the Sibillini mountains....

Monterubbiano – Apartments in a period house by Auretta Monesi, Bell'Italia, August 2014