{"id":1447,"date":"2025-05-14T11:14:04","date_gmt":"2025-05-14T09:14:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welcomemaiolatispontini.it\/?post_type=destinazione&p=1447"},"modified":"2025-11-20T17:02:16","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T16:02:16","slug":"colle-celeste","status":"publish","type":"destinazione","link":"https:\/\/www.welcomemaiolatispontini.it\/en\/destinazione\/colle-celeste\/","title":{"rendered":"Colle Celeste"},"author":4,"featured_media":1692,"menu_order":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-1447","destinazione","type-destinazione","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tema-bellezza","tema-cultura","tema-natura","stagionalita-tutto-lanno","riferimentogeografico-maiolati-spontini"],"Nome":"","Descrizione":"A few steps from the historical centre stands the Colle Celeste Park, whose name refers to Gaspare Spontini's sweet bride.\r\n\r\nAn integral part of the couple's extensive philanthropic project, the Colle was created with the intention of donating a public park to the community to improve the education and lifestyle of the people of Maiori.\r\n\r\nFor its realisation, a piece of land called La Pianella was purchased, a flat area on a small hill: it was the highest and most panoramic point of the town, a splendid natural terrace made up of cultivable land, bordering the county of Sant'Andrea, already owned by the composer.\r\n\r\nThe foundation stone was laid on 17 November 1842 and by 1850 the hill was already a garden of wonders. With the help of specialists and books, the couple and, from 1851 onwards, Celeste alone took a personal interest in its design, which included several areas: an Italian garden, an English woodland, the construction of an open temple to house a bust of the maestro and a Chinese casino for resting. The list of plants that were purchased included beeches and privets, pines and horse chestnuts, mimosas and flowering seedlings, among others.\r\n\r\nIn 1858, Celeste Erard returned to Maiolati to directly supervise the work on a personal project of his for the park: the raising of the statue of the Madonna of the Celeste Hill. The base, designed by the engineer Gabussi of Ancona, was made of Istrian stone.\r\n\r\nThe monument, a copy of the Immaculate Conception of Lyon, arrived in Maiolati on 21 April and was placed in place of the open temple and bust of the composer. Celeste's motivation for dedicating this space to the Virgin Mary and not to her husband was profound: the statue, a permanent emblem of faith, symbolised Marian protection over charitable institutions, Maiolati and the surrounding villages.\r\n\r\nThe inauguration celebration, which took place on 19 June 1858, was grand, with illuminations and fireworks. Positioned at the highest point, facing Vallesina, the statue was visible from all over the Colle and also from the surrounding valley.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welcomemaiolatispontini.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/destinazione\/1447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welcomemaiolatispontini.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/destinazione"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welcomemaiolatispontini.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/destinazione"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welcomemaiolatispontini.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.welcomemaiolatispontini.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/destinazione\/1447\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2353,"href":"https:\/\/www.welcomemaiolatispontini.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/destinazione\/1447\/revisions\/2353"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welcomemaiolatispontini.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welcomemaiolatispontini.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}