A very unique timeless music temple which everyone should visit once in their life.
In 1968 Ritual was born from a magical combination between the genius of Andres Fiore and its dreams. A granite castle upon the hill of Baja Sardinia. A masterpiece of art in particular harmony with the nature around it. Fiore preferred to define Ritual as a scenic design and he didn’t like speaking about architecture work but we cannot deny being in front of a perfect example of organic architecture; landscape and human work are naturally connected. It seems to rise from the rocks and the surrounding vegetation. Andres chose a single spyral construction’s scheme to charge its “creature” of signs and exoteric symbols. Every part of the club has been deeply studied considering landscape and stars’ position.
Ritual officially opened to public on August 6th 1970. It immediately became an important nightlife landmark. Andres Fiore’s goal was to create “A place where you can find music and dance” . Thanks to him, Ritual was one of the first clubS in the world, where DJS could change “location”. Until the 60’s, DJS have been playing isolated in a cage-like space.
Ritual DJs have always been considered as showmen reigning over the dancefloor. During the Costa Smeralda’ golden ages, Ritual was perferctly aligned with the big cultural unrest of that period. Ritual’s people have always been heterogenous, in the same night you can meet any kind of person: intellectual, VIPS, business men, showmen or tourists discovering the beauty of Sardinia.
Nowadays, the enchanted castle of Baja Sardinia is still the undisputed protagonist of the Costa Smeralda’ summer nights. Every year Ritual proposes a varied program with international DJs who warm up the Temple until dawn.
A very unique timeless music temple which everyone should visit once in their life.
“In 1968 Andres Fiore, a great adventurer, bought a granite cave on a little hill located in Su Colbu. Andrea, better known as Andres, as a king in a fairy tale turned this cave in a timeless temple. That’s how Ritual was born: a wonderful place full of recesses, little stairs, peaks and precious nests in the rocks.”
Marella Giovannelli, 21 settembre 1994, LA NUOVA SARDEGNA
“An incomplete granite castle surrounded by multiform rocks, olive and myrtle trees, appearing as an unexplored cave by day and as a chaotic club by night. That’s Baia Sardinia Ritual, designed and realized more than twenty years ago by the architect from Parma Andrea Francesco Fiore, better known as ‘Andres from Ritual’. “As Omero taught- sais Fiore- local people used to come to this caves around Arzachena to practice propitiatory rituals and animal sacrifices, and that’s why this place is called Ritual”. As we can assume from his thick hair and military clothes, Fiore showed a sort of symbiosis with the uncompleteness of his creation, as if he wanted to camouflage himself with it. “I could define myself as a pirate artist, constantly looking for life meanings. It’s important for a person to find out the reasons why he lives”. Talking about the architecture of the building, Fiore explains that “the external appearence of a false ruin stands for a constant cultural and structural renewal, always respecting nature and history”. Fiore wouldn’t like Ritual to be called as an architectural opera: “This place is more a scenery than an architectural opera”. Going into Ritual drives into a mystical atmosphere: we can find a one-rafter portal full of horoscope symbols, as for example the aquarius- a great discovery symbol- and on the other side the squared spiral defining the distance between ending and endless worlds. Going through the garden, we cand find the real heart of Ritual, the big natural cave with an amphitheatrical shape. “This place- tells the architect- was born like a meeting point for artists and in 1968 it used to be a free community, and only later on it became a club, but I don’t think this influences the value of the structure”
Tito Pioli, luglio 1997
