La Scarzuola is a locality located in Montegiove in the province of Terni, known for the convent where St. Francis of Assisi would have resided, and for the city-theater conceived and built by Tomaso Buzzi.
The name of the place derives from a plant called the Scarza, used by the saint to build a hut where he had planted a rose and a laurel from which a source of water miraculously gushed out. The convent was founded in 1218, in 1956 it was bought by Tomaso Buzzi (1900-1981) and next to it he built his ideal city.
This is made up of seven theaters, a metaphor for everyone's life, and culminates in the Acropolis. The style that best identifies the place is neo-mannerism, with the use of stairs in every direction, deliberately disproportionate parts, the use of monsters, stacking of monuments, buildings to create something surrealistic and labyrinthine.
On the death of the architect in 1981, the work was taken over by Marco Solari who completed the construction according to the original plans.