NESTLED in the Italian foothills, a 50-year-old community lives a sci-fi reality – talking to plants, communicating with aliens from underground temples, and renaming themselves after animals.
Damanhur is a group of spiritual eco-villages where hundreds of believers have swapped their birth names for lives in “nuclear families” dedicated to secret experiments and reaching “the cosmos”.
Damanhur is a group of spiritual eco-villages where they aim to reach the ‘cosmos’Credit: Damanhur
Illuminated pyramids are also scattered across the eco-village
Members take part in the Rite Of Spring EquinoxCredit: Getty
Damanhurians believe the human soul originally comes from life out in deep space and see alien souls as their long-lost brothers and sisters.
The community was founded in the 1970s by a charismatic visionary named Falco Tarassaco – which translates to Hawk Dandelion – a former insurance broker who became a prominent Italian alchemist.
Falco, born Oberto Airaudi, convinced a band of followers that humans have hidden powers that modern society has forgotten.
He eventually turned a quiet valley in Vidracco, a commune in ‘s northwest, into a massive, live-in laboratory where the only rule is constant change.
To break free from old habits and social cliches, members “conquer” new identities based on animals, plants, and minerals.
Damanhur has been labelled a cult, with former members claiming to have been brainwashed.
In a response, the group’s blog said: “Well, maybe we’re an ethical cult.”
Speaking to The Sun from their village, resident Bertuccia – which means Barbary Monkey – said: “We were part of civilisations that were much higher in complexity than the one that we are currently witnessing on this planet.”
She lives alongside neighbours with names like Manta Ray, who also goes by Shiitake Mushroom, and others known as Swiss Chard and Boa.
“ and animals are part of our evolutionary game,” explains Manta Ray.
“Without a connection to them, we cannot fully express ourselves.”
Manta Ray once lived a corporate life and was digital director at an international company, but noticed a “miraculous” change to his life approach when he moved to the community in 2018.
Names take on their own lives once they are conquered and they are transferred between members once someone either dies, leaves, or moves on from that personality.
Bertuccia inherited her monkey moniker after its previous owner, Swiss Chard, decided to change her identity again to Boa.
But there must be no duplicates, says Bertuccia, as the community of like-minded individuals “want to underline the importance of uniqueness”.
Residents live in groups of about 20 people – formed around projects like organic or scientific research rather than blood relatives.
“The choice is done by the project,” explains Bertuccia.
“Based on your talents and the alchemy that you have toward the specific project, you choose the project.”
Members of the community painting one of their buildingsCredit: Damanhur
Damanhur is a federation of eco-villages tucked into the Italian valley town VidraccoCredit: Alamy
Damanhur’s “Temples of Humankind” was recorded as the largest underground temple in the worldCredit: Damanhur
The spiderweb of caves were dug by hand and hidden for over a decadeCredit: Getty
The community prepares for cosmic contact by sleeping in their famous Temples of Humankind – a snaking underground complex that has been dubbed the eighth wonder of the world.
Falco claimed the idea for the build came from visions of ancient temples he had seen aged ten in a previous life.
Hand-carved into the rock 100ft below the ground without a single architect or geologist, these massive halls were kept hidden from the Italian authorities for over a decade.
One Damanhurian told Grunge how they kept the project a secret for so long: “When there was maybe loud work going on, we would play records.
“If somebody happened to hear, they would think we were just having a party.”
But in 1992, a group of disgruntled former members alerted authorities to them, sparking a legal battle over ownership.
And a decade later it was crowned the largest underground temple in the world by the Guinness .
The members say that the temples are used to communicate with other life forms in space and reach a higher spirituality.
They are designed to act as a giant antenna for catching “signals” from space.
Bertuccia and Manta Ray believe that by opening their “inner senses,” they can chat with other souls in “the cosmos” that have the “knowledge that we are missing”.
An example of ecological and painted shared house in Damanhur
Homes in the community are painted with plant artCredit: Getty
Damanhurians speak to their distant alien relatives from a network of underground temples
Damahurians also claimed to have cracked the code to time travel in 1997.
In a 2014 National Geographic documentary, member Gnomo Orzo said: “It’s like a machine but it’s not only physical… there are energies inside.”
Villagers also use a system called Selfica, which uses intricate copper spirals and as a spiritual .
They claim these hand-made metal coils act as “ conductors” to improve everything from the quality of their to the of their bodies.
“It is a spiritual technology that has been reintroduced because shapes and features were documented in ancient times,” Manta Ray says.
They have even hooked sensors to trees to turn electromagnetic signals into musical notes – claiming the plants actually learn how to play the device over time.
“The sounds that plants emit are strongly connected to the problems that the person that is interacting with the plant has,” Manta Ray says.
“They are trying to heal us, but we don’t know it.”
While the world faces a loneliness crisis, the Damanhurians claim their secret is never being alone.
“Community life gives you an opportunity to really not feel alone, which is the epidemic of today,” says Bertuccia.
They see themselves as part of a “unified soul” that connects humans, nature, and the stars.
Damanhurians communicate with aliens by catching signals from spaceCredit: Damanhur
Statues and decoration in the classical style of DamanhurCredit: Alamy
By mirroring the “community of the soul” they believe exists inside everyone, they have turned a mountain retreat into living like a civilisation from another planet.
The group traces its roots back over half a century – beginning as what one member describes as a “meditation school” born out of the esoteric boom of 1970s Turin.
From there, it rapidly snowballed into something far more ambitious.
“We call it ‘medit-action’,” Bertuccia explains – a mash-up of meditation and action.
“Because our approach to spirituality is very practical. Everything we do every day is an occasion for spiritual growth and giving meaning to things.”
And because the community focuses on playing to each individual’s strengths, they
“There’s a huge array of possibilities,” Bertuccia says.
“There are people working in activities that Damanhur wants to propose to the world, like the Welcome Centre, the Academy with all the courses and schools.
“And then there are people who are entrepreneurs that create their own service to the world, who don’t necessarily have to be connected to Damanhur.”
Bertuccia explains that their worldview is not only confined to their Italian valley, but Damanhurians also exist over 6,000 miles away in .
A sub-community named Orovelj was established near Osaka in 2023.
Damanhurians mark its establishment as a “significant milestone in their global expansion”.
It has not all been smooth sailing for Damanhurians economically.
The community once operated its own currency to encourage local trade, but the system crashed during the and is currently frozen.
Still, Manta Ray explains that their system has become something of a benchmark.
“We have been studied by sociologists, by anthropologists, and also by people who study economics,” Manta Ray says.
“Now in , there is a movement that is called Moneta Positiva – positive currency – that has used our model.
“Once again, Falco started so early and it is another thing that made him a great visionary.”
After over half a century, Damanhurians continue their cosmic experiment, where people, plants, and purported aliens intersect in a ways that make sense to only themselves.
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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