The hand made amusement park

I visited this unbelievable place twice, and I'd go back straight away.

The first time you see it, you feel like you ended up in an open air tavern next to a poplar forest. And you think it's very nice. Then you realize that the food is good, varied and cheap. And you think it's great. Then you see all the people around you laughing and having a lot of fun. And you think it's awesome. Finally you take a look at the forest and decide to walk inside, you lift your gaze and you see a massive slide coming down from a tree, a huge floating cage, weird roller-coasters.

And then you get stunned.

This electricity free Luna Park has been built and designed by Bruno Ferrin, the tavern's owner, who started out of nothing about 40 years ago. Going along with his imagination, he learnt how to weld in the intent to imitate nature's wonderful balanced movements.

“If you want to play, you have to push and sweat, otherwise the ride won’t move”, Bruno says. And he's right. Kids and adults have to work hard, but the fun is so great that you don't even realize you're struggling. Not even while you're climbing on a 15 meter high stair just to sit on a piece of carpet for a slide among the trees.

Today there are 50 unique rides people discover walking in the poplar forest, looking up above or following kids laughters. I love this place because it offers firsthand magic and it pushes you to laugh, jump, run and shout until you have energy.

It's certainly an off the beaten track destination, yet it's becoming more and more popular thanks to its singularity. The Guardian mentioned it among the 10 most bizarre handmade playgrounds in the world, while on you tube you can find many short docs and videos, such as this one.

Osteria Ai Pioppi is here, in Nervesa della Battaglia. Almost forgetting: it's totally free!