Dedalo – The Sunflower Labyrinth

The labyrinth that Minos asked the greatest architect of Greek mythology – Daedalus – to design, was conceived as a prison in which to confine the monstrous Minotaur forever. A place in which to get lost and never find yourself again, an infinite obsession in which to search a way out perpetually and in vain.

Today Dedalo is a field of sunflowers conceived as a circular labyrinth, designed, planted and watered in Puglia, near Cascina Savino. A labyrinth in which to get lost, walking up and down the different circular rows that chase each other. A labyrinth in which to get disoriented, immersed in the continuous succession of flowers. A labyrinth in which to retrace yourself, moving forward with conviction, only to then find yourself having to go back.

Yet, Dedalo is not a prison but a garden-labyrinth that contains within it a core to be discovered: a meditation room where the ceiling is the color of the sky and the walls flutter in the wind, an “offline” place in which to reflect on one’s own path, on the roads of the future, on the importance of stopping, surrounded by a thousand sunflowers that observe in silence.

“There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind”: these are the words of Clive Staples Lewis that welcome us once we leave the labyrinth behind us and reach the center. Words in a circle, spread out in the wind like sheets to dry.

Whoever gets here was perhaps first lost, but then found himself, perhaps believed enough, perhaps was afraid but then enjoyed himself or perhaps simply like Theseus and Ariadne, whoever got here was not alone. And now all that remains is to rewind the thread and earn the exit, with a new awareness.