Location: The Ancutei Inn is located in the village Tupilati, at the intersection of the road that goes to Piatra Neamt with the one that takes you to Roman.

Short description

Built at a crossroad on the property of boyar Catargi, in the year 1718, the Ancutei Inn was a place where you could stop and rest for a while in your way to Roman, Iasi or Suceava. In the year 1819, Stefan Catargiu obtained the approval to build a new inn that in addition would host a postal service and the right to organize here a local animal fair.

The Inn was built on a stone foundation, with a total length of 36,20 m and a width of 15,70 m, with two big entrance doors made out of oak. The building had a relative simple architecture with few pillars and a double arch at the entrance. In the book called “The Ancutei Inn” by Mihail Sadoveanu, the inn is described as a fortress “where people and their animals could spend the night without any care about the robbers”.

The Peasant House took over the Ancutei Inn from Nicolae Calimachi Catargi as a payment for a debt and then the building was sold in 1920. The Inn remained in its original form until 1942, when the current owner demolished most of the building because they didn’t have money to pay the taxes or to properly maintain it. For a while, on the place of the old inn the only things you could saw were some demolished walls and the cellar that reminded of what was there.

In the year 1967, the inn will be in the property of the state and the authorities decide to reconstruct the entire complex by following the actual architectural plans. The remaining walls were demolished and on top of the old cellars they’ve built a new inn which respects the traditional architectural line characteristic for the XVIII century. The new building has the same destination and name: The Ancutei Inn. And still is a resting place for those that travel in that area.

A new stage in the restoration was in 1999, when the inn will receive an addition of traditional Romanian art in the form of small exhibitions of folk costumes and objects made out of ceramics and wood. Right at the entrance of the inn we can see a sculpture of Mihail Sadoveanu, made by Florin Zaharescu.

In the memory of old times, every year, in November, the Ancutei Inn is the host for the Festival of Literal Creation Mihail Sadoveanu.