Secret Berlin

An amphitheatre where animals were dissected, a sand dune hidden in a town centre, the oldest forgotten remains of the Berlin Wall in Pankow, the outstanding interior of an Expressionist church, a building which is a copy of the Farnese Palace in Rome, the remains of a camp for those in transit between the West and East, a concrete construction weighing 12,000 tonnes built to measure the solidity of the ground, a shining performance in the chapel of a cemetery, an unknown masterpiece of brutalist architecture, the man-made hill where the aviation pioneer Otto Lilienthal did his first test flights, a street that closes from 10pm to 6am to protect beavers…

Far from the madding crowds and the usual clichés, Berlin remains full of hidden treasures that can only be seen by locals and travelers who bother to wander off the beaten track.

An essential guide for those who thought they knew Berlin, or for those who wish to discover the city’s other side.

After earning his PhD in philosophy, Tom Wolf decided to dedicate himself to writing. He has written 22 crime novels, 3 guides inviting travellers to take a fresh look on the places they visit, and a guide on wines produced in the region of Brandenburg. After spending 12 years in Berlin-Mitte and Kreuzberg, he now lives in the north of the Berlin/Brandenburg metropolitan region where he looks after his vineyard and his small craft brewery. But that story is for another time…

Manuel Roy had been a Germanophile for many years when he discovered Berlin like a punch in the face. He had seen Germany through the verses of Schiller and the paintings of Caspar David Friedrich, and found himself in a post-apocalyptic landscape full of punks scrupulously respectful of the selective sorting of rubbish. He admits to not having understood everything straight away. Twenty years of research later, with a doctorate in philosophy under his belt, having been a Berliner by adoption since 2000, and a guide in Berlin since 2013, Manuel now thinks that he has a better grasp of the city. But amazement is never far away. Despite its recent gentrification, the city never ceases to shake him up and surprise him. And it would seem that he loves that.

Born in 1986, Roberto Sassi is an urban sociologist. With Teresa Ciuffoletti, he is the author of the book “Guida alla Berlino ribelle” (Voland Edizioni, 2017). He regularly organises travel writing workshops and works with several journals, magazines among which the journal of the Goethe-Institut Italia, and websites. He lives in Prenzlauer Berg.