Lizori and OntoArt

Even though centuries have passed, with alternating historical and cultural periods, contended between Spoleto and Terni, Lizori is still a Panic and privileged place, symbolising humanistic conviviality and positive society.
While cruising along the road that leads from Spoleto to Assisi, close to the Clitunno springs, you’ll notice a small village on the mountain. Your curiosity will lead to know more about that place. So, seize the day and walk on the village, along the only road that leads to Lizori, in its medieval ancient walls.
No doubt all places have their own atmosphere and charm, elements of inspiration for artists, but Lizori has something different, intimate and sweet. It has a personality that suddenly shows, and if you are lucky enough to visit it, you will find a surprising candour which rejoices your soul. A group of Italian journalists defined Lizori a place to live and breathe wonderful scents.

The school of a Leader

Undoubtely, being a leader today is one of the main characteristics of individuality, and that is also a huge goal. The word leader has many meanings, and it often implies a lack of correspondence between the meaning and the subject who represents it.
After being a successful therapist for years, at the beginning of the 80s Meneghetti decided to develop the field of leadership according to the ontopsychological school (see the book “The psychology of a leader”).
According to Antonio Meneghetti, “whatever his field of action may be – financial, economical, political, entrepreneurial, medical, etc., a leader is a providence of the spirit in the world, and as such he can help people. He is the one who, through his own successful egoism, achieves social good for everybody. In so doing, he creates wealth and helps thousands of people, being a stimulus for society and helping progress”.
These are the bases on which Professor Antonio Meneghetti created a school for the training of leaders who operate in many social fields (politics, economics, art, etc) through the authentication of the intellectual and creative potential.
The best way of training is the Residence, i.e. a residential stage which lasts a few days, with theoretical and practical lessons, on contact with a clean nature.
Of course, Lizori is the perfect habitat to host people coming from all over the world.
Together with a natural and hospitable landscape, the halls and rooms of Lizori retain an atmosphere of sand and stone, making them ideal venues for hosting post degree courses and other activities.

The Amphitheatre and the Casale

Due to the “acropolic” structure of the place (which recalls Athens and its classic art), the outdoor spaces are used for many social, cultural and artistic activities that revolve around Professor Antonio Meneghetti. The amphitheatre is surrounded by a wonderful iron sculpture, as if to help flying in the valley below. It hosts many outdoors activities, such as concerts and conferences, in all seasons. The Casale is an old house, totally rebuilt with state – of – the – art techniques. It is usually used when the weather doesn’t allow for any outdoor activity. This structure is equipped to show films and it is also equipped for simultaneous translation, which is necessary for all the international activities attended by people from all over the world (especially Russia, Brazil and China).

Antonio Meneghetti interview

Professor Antonio Meneghetti, why have you chosen Lizori?

“If the architecture of a place is such because it‘s mental order, then it is clear that I found it rewarding to rebuild this wonderful place belonging to the past for the human being of the third millennium. In Lizori, everyone can discover himself as part of life”.

Have you ever been in Lizori?

Lizori is a small village in the Italian region called Umbria, layed on a green hill that faces Spoleto's valley.

Walking by the streets of Lizori, several sculptures can be observed. These handmade objects have been realized by the components of OntoArte, the artistic expression of Ontopsicologia (Ontopsychology). Lizori itself can be considered the main masterpiece of OntoArte of Professor Antonio Meneghetti.

LET’S BUILD CIVILIZATION

“The Ontology of Architecture.” What does this mean? We are at the OntoArte gallery in Trevi, where the seminar is being held, and the immediacy of the artwork on display – the functional aspect of the white panel painted black and red – conceals true poetics: a mental architecture called Ontopsychology. During the conference, the words of Prof. Meneghetti, the leader of the OntoArte movement, expressed another important theme that was revealed by his works. The serene critique of denunciatory art in favour of art that praises beauty is backed by philosophical and sociological explanations. It is a perspective of creative intuition that sees, recognizes and elevates the local criterion of formal beauty. “Consumerism places us in a culturally impossible situation,” he explains. “Banks, local capitalists and politicians try to give work to everyone in order to avoid social tension. Mass democracy has replaced the patronage of the ancients. We are in the throes of serial production and consumerism is ruining consumers.” Lizori comes to mind, a place where, along the streets and alleys, in place of house numbers we find the homeowners’ names painted on ceramic tiles. It is a hamlet in which one can easily see paintings and sculptures, and observe how nature and construction have emerged to nourish the particular presence that is evident in the air, a presence known as genius loci. He notes, “It is a place where nature formalizes its way of being and encountering in order to become the contemporaneity of the universal spirit and the historical function that has been identified.” The seminar brochure notes: “One cannot be a collaborator of civilization without knowing the ontological criterion.” In short, it is a true modus operandi. It will be interesting to use the ontology of architecture as a starting point for building civilization. Along these lines, one of the comments at the conference is inspiring. “Within OntoArte we find the restoration of simplicity, spontaneity and aesthetic sensitivity. If we were to base things on the criterion of beauty rather than that of conformity (right or wrong, good or bad), the world would be a better place.”

Ontopsychology
Ontopsicologica Editrice
Antonio Meneghetti

THE ONTOLOGY OF ARCHITECTURE

The “Ontology of Architecture” event, promoted by the International OntoArte School Association at the art gallery of Torre Matigge of Trevi and sponsored by the Region of Umbria, the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, the Order of Architects, Planners, Landscape Architects and Conservationists of the Province of Perugia, and the Lizori Civic Committee, ended on 15 July 2007 and was an enormous success. The event was held during two full-immersion weekends, in which a series of educational experiences allowed participants to examine the dynamic architecture of Prof. Antonio Meneghetti, who has been in the international scientific limelight for many years. The event included conferences, live planning sessions assisted by technicians open to dialogue, historic/architectural documentaries of projects ranging from individual design objects to architecture and urban planning, critical reports on the Bauhaus and the issues that the great names in architecture have always investigated, and slides about Antonio Meneghetti’s international production, culminating in the author’s closing conference examining the basic rules on which architecture is based. During the conference, Meneghetti noted, “I would like to form a worldwide group of architects based on the concept of OntoArte,1 i.e. capable of bringing the technique of draughtsmanship and formalization into the heart of truth, life and everything that has to do with health: in other words, a group capable of bringing rationality within man’s ontic In-itself.” He went on to explain that “the ontic In-itself is the genome. It is like the intelligent universe that plans human beings, the being as a person, society and cosmos. One cannot build a civilization for mankind if one is not first aware of the criterion, the element and the basic plan of what man is.” In fact, humans are not born from chaos but from causality and will, and if they form part of this ‘insight design’ of how the eternal nature of things has planned them and loves, protects, maintains and develops them, then – as scholars, technical experts and thus architects – they can become collaborators of civilization, beauty, order, ethics and everything that is encompassed by the human existence. In essence, if one does not know nature’s plan, by the same token one cannot design architectural beauty. Indeed, the term “architecture” refers to the principle that projects form. As a result, it is even more important that architects be made aware of the ontological aspect of their work. “Therefore, anything that is done must always have an ontological connection, in other words a connection with the being that man is according to nature’s plan. A house, a garden, a staircase, a studio or a terrace must be enhanced senses, developed perceptions. In other words, the house must be our second body or even an expansion of the small body of the human being, from which we must be able to achieve the progressive amplitude of an ever-larger space in which to experience our own territorial psychology.” A highly stimulating intellectual atmosphere allowed participants to re-experience the spirit of the creative workshop of the Renaissance encouraged by the Bauhaus and Renzo Piano alike. This powerful meaning, so simple that it seemed impossible to understand because it was forgotten by the great perennial culture, that of Aristotle and Leonardo, became topical once more: manna for those who were willing to accept it. The pedagogy of a Maestro who, with his works, fully demonstrates the underpinnings of the ontopsychological culture and finally recognizes an operating criterion for design, one that has vanished from the media because of rampant consumerism, can still be found in all the geniuses who – on a transhistorical level – bear witness to the value of the human being. It is a shame that these values, which would restore to young people the operative scope of a profession, have vanished from the media due to widespread political indifference. By the same token, it is important that this kind of cultural and scientific testimony be available to attentive minds capable of grasping the vital challenge of responsibly playing a leading role in their eras. “This ontological architecture or, in other words, working according to the ontic project of each individual, must be provided above all when people join together as a society and create monuments, parliaments, churches, gyms, football pitches, theatres and so on.” This event led to a proposal for the critical interpretation of a current work, a monument that is representative of Italy’s architectural heritage: the Ara Pacis in Rome. No one likes the current renovation, particularly Italians, and Antonio Meneghetti’s solution would be a glass pyramid, a symbol that has always testified to the eternal value of human knowledge. Public attendance at the event continued to grow, culminating with 150 paying participants during the last weekend. Despite the fact that the event mainly targeted an Italian audience of students, graduates and professionals working in this field, it was rewarding to note that it was also attended by architects, interior designers, gallery owners and important businesspeople from Brazil, Russia, Latvia, England and other countries. One cannot help but wonder if this foreign turnout was due to the cultural novelty of the event or the publicity it gained as a result of the interest shown by the UN in Geneva in early July of this year regarding the Annual Ministerial Review. The AMR presented the results of two urban settlements created with scientific, artistic and cultural objectives in mind, respectively in Latvia and Brazil, and designed by this great mind ahead of his time. The main interest focused on the innovation that this business angel can create, i.e. economic cooperation between private and public organizations in order to restore or create new urban settlements, above all due to the enormous difficulty involved in establishing an economy that can endure during the time it is carried out, that avoids creating a cathedral in the desert and is capable of guaranteeing complete insertion and the revitalization of the local population involved. Fascinating, innovative and full of operating solutions with a broad range of applications in the social arena, this event marks an important step in Italy’s cultural life.

Ontopsychology
Ontopsicologia Editrice
Antonio Meneghetti