A fifteenth-century Casaforte in the hills north of Rome, restored as a sanctuary where Traditional Chinese Medicine meets Renaissance stone. Two private apartments, nine treatments rooted in centuries of healing wisdom, and a landscape shaped by Etruscan hands two thousand years before the tower was built. Stay for days — and return to yourself.
In the late 1400s, a Casaforte was built into the stone of Vejano — a fortified house tower facing the castle, standing where Etruscan roads once crossed. Five centuries later, Marcello Assandri's journey through Shanghai and the Silk Road brought him back to this threshold between worlds. The ancient Chinese understanding of Qi — the vital energy that flows through all living things — found its home inside walls that had held the same stillness for five hundred years. Today, Zen and Dao is that convergence: two guest apartments, nine Energetic Balance treatments drawn from Traditional Chinese Medicine, and a rhythm shaped by the village, the thermal springs, and the stone itself.
In Japanese aesthetics, Ma is the vital pause — the interval that gives meaning to what surrounds it. At Zen and Dao, every element exists in this spirit: the silence between treatments, the centuries between the Etruscans and the Renaissance, the distance between Shanghai and Vejano. The healing is in the space between.
First floor. Private entrance. A working fireplace set into original masonry, and the same unbroken view of Vejano castle that the tower’s first inhabitants knew five centuries ago. The stone walls hold a stillness that modern soundproofing cannot replicate — though we’ve added that too.
A living collection from three decades of journeying between East and West. Vintage furnishings, original artwork, objects gathered from Italy, Bali, and the Silk Road. Room for two adults and a child. Every piece carries a story of crossing — ask Marcello.
Check into your private apartment in the Casaforte. Let the stone walls settle around you — they have held this silence since the Renaissance. That evening, wine, pasta, and unhurried conversation in the village piazza.
Local breakfast with castle views, then your first Energetic Balance treatment with Marcello — hands-on bodywork guided by the same meridian maps that Chinese physicians used millennia ago. Afternoons at the thermal springs the Etruscans bathed in, Bracciano lake, or simply at rest within the tower.
Etruscan tombs at Cerveteri, where a civilization that predates Rome carved its beliefs into stone. Santa Severa, where the castle meets the sea. Forest trails through Lazio’s ancient woodlands. A second treatment. You leave carrying a rhythm older than the one you arrived with.
Nine Energetic Balance treatments are available during your stay, each flowing from a tradition of healing that stretches back to the earliest Chinese medical texts. Marcello draws on thirty years of dedicated practice in acupressure (TUINA, SHIATSU), Tai Chi, Qi Gong, and sound therapy — combining touch, meridian knowledge, vibrational frequencies, and the deep stillness of the Casaforte itself to restore your body’s natural equilibrium. Each session is booked individually and shaped entirely around you. Change frequency, change your life.
Tai Chi, Qi Gong & Meridian Tuning at Zeit ist Knapp. Fri 18:00, Sat 15:00.
Berlin sessions
Born in Milan, 1961 — son of a lyric tenor and a soprano. Raised in Rome among archaeological artifacts and opera scores, where the ancient world was never a distant subject but a living presence. Studied Far Eastern Studies at UCLA, then lived five years in Shanghai and spent two years tracing the Silk Road through Central Asia — the same route that first connected East and West.
His research on the history of Italians in China led him backward through time — from Shanghai to the Renaissance, from the Silk Road to the castle of Viano, and finally to present-day Vejano, where all these threads converge. In 2023, his documentaries on the Hidden Castles of Lazio through Ancient Origins revealed a landscape rich with forgotten history.
The Casaforte became a place of welcome. Thirty years of Tai Chi, Qi Gong, acupressure, and sound therapy became the wellness practice. The history and the healing were never separate — they were always the same thing.
Certified Tai Chi, Qi Gong, TCM Acupressure (TUINA / SHIATSU), Sound Therapy. Thirty years alongside an international career.
A diary of five years in Shanghai. Documentaries on the hidden castles of Lazio. The thread from China to a fifteenth-century tower north of Rome.
Two Renaissance apartments. Nine ancient healing practices. One host whose journey from Shanghai to the Silk Road led home to Vejano.