"The 10 most beautiful communities" - and nro. 1 is...

Damanhur (Italy, not Egypt)!

(I bet you didn't see this one coming? )

The 10 Most Beautiful Communities in the World





*****

[edit on 27-5-2008 by Vanitas]

I visited there once and it is pretty nice.

Its just not talked about in the mass-media because they cant stomach someone who believes in ATS-like topics (paranormal, extraterrestrials, atlantis) to build a self-sustaining community that is independent of government and is actually having a good time on earth.

reply to post by Skyfloating



Exactly.
Maybe if it weren't already more than 30 years old, they could dismiss it as an "aging-hippie commune" or something - but they can't.

I've seen it, too - can't really say "visited" it, because I was just passing by, but I did stop and did a very short tour - and although not all of its decor is necessarily to my taste (this is not a euphemism for anything: I mean just that, nothing terribly wrong with it), I must say it was a very pleasant stay.

And BTW (for those who don't know): they have their own TV station, too!

Damanhur TV


But I am yet to visit the Torri Superiore (the first "runner-up").
The work they've done sounds impressive!









[edit on 27-5-2008 by Vanitas]

hhhmmmmm

Rather well known to be.....

Its just not talked about in the mass-media because they cant stomach someone who believes in ATS-like topics (paranormal, extraterrestrials, atlantis) to build a self-sustaining community that is independent of government and is actually having a good time on earth.

,,,hidden by the evil msm conspiracy, eh?

I first came across it in a short article in the wall street journel back in 1992 I believe. A quick check shows;

a website

selected by a maganzine (communities) owned by the FIC

Academic publications: (just s small amount of what is there)

CITATION] Damanhur: The Community They Tried to Brand a Cult
J Merrifield - 1999 - Thorsons Publishers
Cited by 1 - Related Articles - Web Search

[CITATION] Damanhur: A Magical Community in Italy
M Introvigne - New Religious Movements: Challenge and Response. London & …
Cited by 1 - Related Articles - Web Search

[CITATION] Children of the Underground Temple: Growing Up in Damanhur
M Introvigne - Children in the New Religions. New Brunswick & London: …
Cited by 1 - Related Articles - Web Search

The Game of Life: The Significance of Play in the Commune of Damanhur - all 3 versions »
E MEIJERINK - Journal of Contemporary Religion, 2003 - ingentaconnect.com
Page 1. Journal of Contemporary Religion, Vol. 18, No. 2, 2003 pp. 155–168 The Game
of Life: The Significance of Play in the Commune of Damanhur EVA MEIJERINK ...
Related Articles - Web Search - BL Direct

Renaissance Zones
CF Reactor, A Judge - laetusinpraesens.org
... experimenting with the intentional significance of the Damanhur community. ... Concern
is expressed about possible missing dimensions in the Damanhur approach. ...
Cached - Web Search

Using Research in the Participative Orchestration of Europe
BI Europe, D Practicalities - laetusinpraesens.org
... New styles of thinking – beyond “project logic”. New kinds of organization
and governance sustained by new metaphors (cf Damanhur); ...
Cached - Web Search

Embodying a Timeship vs. Empowering a Spaceship
CF Reactor, A Judge - laetusinpraesens.org
Embodying a Timeship vs. Empowering a Spaceship. - / -. Part 4 of Renaissance Zones:
experimenting with the intentional significance of the Damanhur community. ...
Cached - Web Search

Resources on Renaissance Zones
ATDNR Experience, R Languages - laetusinpraesens.org
... Part 5 of Renaissance Zones: experimenting with the intentional significance of
the Damanhur community. ... Luigi Berzano. Damanhur: Popolo e comunità. ...
Cached - Web Search

[CITATION] Damanhur, popolo e comunità
L Berzano - 1998 - Torino, ElleDiCi
Cited by 2 - Related Articles - Web Search

The Encyclopedic Sourcebook of New Age Religions
JR Lewis - Nova Religio, 2006 - Univ California Press
... by J. Gordon Melton, including a nicely balanced and previously unpublished work
on Kashi; Steven Sutcliffe on Findhorn; Massimo Introvigne on Damanhur; and a ...
Web Search

etc.

..ignored by the msm????????





[edit on 27/5/08 by Hanslune]

[edit on 27/5/08 by Hanslune]

The Findhorn community in Scotland is something that has always been dear to my heart.

I would love to have been able to participate in something so groundbreaking and spiritually based.

Good thread, thanks for the uplift.

Its good to see all these communites flourishing, being a son of the sixties one has a soft spot for communes and the like. Wouldn't want to live in one thou.

reply to post by Hanslune


Nor would I...

But they aren't exactly "communes", are they?
Certainly not all of them - or maybe I have an incorrect notion of what a "commune" is.

(As I said, I only visited - which is something of an overstatement - one of the above, Damanhur.)

reply to post by interestedalways


Thank YOU for reading and enjoying it.
Knowing that people ARE interested in such topics is uplifting in itself.

I used commune in the most general sense. A group of people wanting to live a less standardized/traditional style of life. An alternative community as you were.

I'd put Mennonites, Amish and other religious groups in that too. (not just 60 style dudes)

,,,hidden by the evil msm conspiracy, eh?

I don't know about others, but I am positively allergic to the word "conspiracy"...!
(And yes, I know it was a joke. :-)

Damanhur is by no means unknown.
But I do think that, for such a long-term and apparently successful experiment, it is grossly underreported. Even today, the tourists - and there's a lot of those - come mostly from the neighbouring regions and countries, with a few dedicated Americans - and the token Australian or two - in tow.

The ubiquitous Japanese tourists are, of course, a category unto their own.





[edit on 27-5-2008 by Vanitas]

Originally posted by Hanslune
I used commune in the most general sense. A group of people wanting to live a less standardized/traditional style of life. An alternative community as you were.

I'd put Mennonites, Amish and other religious groups in that too. (not just 60 style dudes)

Yes, of course. That's what I thought.

Sorry for the unnecessary "debate" on such a minor point. :-)

It may be underreported in the US press as it (the US press) still tends to be isolationistic in it approaches, or more correctly, more inward looking.

I can think of two Americans I know who went there but they were both expatriates.

Oh I like to chide Sky about his conspiracy view on everything. Hey Sky why do restuarants rarely serve baked Alaska now days? Seventy years ago it was all the rage....why is that?

[edit on 27/5/08 by Hanslune]

Hey Sky why do restuarants rarely serve baked Alaska now days? Seventy years ago it was all the rage....why is that?

Because seventy years ago "baked Alaska" sounded like a good joke - and now it's not a joke anymore...?

Baked Alaska was a fad driven by the arrival of refrigeration. However, I cannot determine why it has lost value as a "showpiece" dessert.

I think the NWO is behind it somehow - da bastards!

Either that or a good example of human fads.