Somewhere in Italy, there is a weird place where plants roam alleys, where there are houses which were initially built by man for man - but mankind has disappeared! It seems like people were simply devoured by a green mass that is now ruling the town - while other parts are just completely lifeless. This place was inhabited by thousands of people until the 1960s, but suddenly they were gone! What was once a vivid place to live has become the pure definition of a ghost town. In this episode, we set out to learn what has happened here. And as we are seeing dozens of desolate buildings, the full story reveals itself: From one day to the next everything changed. We spend hours in this surreal world to investigate why people had to leave in a hurry. The Italian town is full of forgotten structures that are just sitting there empty today. As we explore deserted streets, enter empty homes and big manors, we discover artifacts from bygone times. Watch this video if you want to experience the beauty of decay and learn the story of this ghost town. While we are heading there, we will show you the remains of a similarly sad place - and also deal with some minor police issues. Join us on a new adventure in abandoned Italy! After posting the first ghost town video from our recent Italy trip, we got in touch with several locals who could explain why there are so many of these uninhabited villages all across the country. Houses with everything in it were simply abandoned. This episode got a ton of views in no time, and Italian people reached out to us after watching to help us understand this rather complex subject. It is not that easy for people to return to their old homes. Sometimes they just can't. The insights we learned are part of today's episode.
Enjoy it! Road trip mornings are the best! After a week of exploring ruins across Italy, we are on our way home. It will take us a few more days before we get there because of places like this! Wherever we go, such desolate structures are welcoming us. Where we are from in Germany, there are not many ghost towns like this. Okay, I know what you might think now: Two buildings? That is hardly a ghost town! Fair point. But look at this. That is the same place in the 1950s! This town used to be a thriving community that makes you feel the Mediterranean flair just from seeing these photos with narrow alleys and small houses side by side. But 30 years later, you could experience the very same place with a totally different flair. Suddenly, there is no life anymore. What happened? And here we are today, in the summer of 2020. Not only the people are gone, but also their homes. This place has become a wasteland! Well, at least through the eyes of us as human beings. For nature, this actually has become a sanctuary! After decades of being left alone, nature and structure have become one. There is dense vegetation everywhere. Hatching birds were scared away, and the whole stability of this derelict church is questionable. We are like intruders in this foreign world. After a terrible earthquake in the 1960s, people needed to leave their homes forever. What remained was torn down, with only the church and the castle left behind as mementos - or maybe as a warning. Both structures now seem to get dismantled by a green explosion. Just imagine how such a place must have looked when the buildings were not torn down, and nature could reclaim them undisturbed. Well, we will just show you in a bit. But before we get there, we have to deal with some, let's say, minor issues. We are driving one of the few cars here with a foreign license plate. Italy just opened up their borders after the first fatal wave of COVID-19 hit the whole country. As travelers, we are subject to stringent regulations. Four people driving in a car without complying with the minimum distance and wearing masks would end up with an expensive fine. Well, unfortunately, it is not that easy. But you know what they say: The third time's the charm. We are located at the foot of this hill, on top of which a broken town has decayed for decades - with hundreds of houses, each one being a keeper of secrets. Also here, devastating earthquakes were causing the tragedy. Yet, the buildings are still standing - at least partly. And apparently, it is not as abandoned as it seems at first glance - as we were told by a police officer who just spotted us the very moment we wanted to get past the roadblock. Today, the community is recovering from its destruction long ago. People here were always plagued by earthquakes but the last one dates back a while. So, renovations began already. If you enter the village, you would not expect it to be deserted at all. But it is - kinda. People did their best to reinvigorate this place - and yet, there is no one else around. It is still a ghost town, only visited by curious and nostalgic people from time to time. You can roam around freely in a small official area. But we are more interested in the major part waiting behind these secured houses - the part where nature took over and everything was left the way townsfolk have abandoned it. Let's explore. To be honest, we are a bit overwhelmed. There are hundreds of houses with their doors wide open. Where should we start? It is easy to explore here, but it is also dangerous. It is hard to say which structure is safe and which one is close to collapse. After all, the earth here was shaking badly! Quakes and landslides have become common events in this region, but in the second half of the 20th Century, it was really bad. In the 60s, two fatal earthquakes in a row devastated many communities - like the one we explored before. But while the whole town was evacuated there, here a few people actually stayed back. They remained in their homes, while more than 6,000 other residents were resettled. Many of them panicked when they were just thinking about returning and getting their possessions. And the few stubborn people who remained were now living in a ghost town, full of houses damaged beyond repair, with the risk of new earthquakes hitting the area at any time. Their resistance was broken two decades later, in 1980, when a quake once again hit the place and scared even the boldest residents away. There are many cars - or at least what is left of them. Allegedly, they were dumped, so their owners could save the cost of scrapping them. Of course, that is forbidden. But we do not judge because we really should not be here as well. The historic center of the town is this market square. This is also where the more wealthy citizens were living. This multi-storied palazzo is one of the biggest buildings around, and it is also one of the better preserved ones. Let's get inside. This is a ceiling fresco by an Italian artist from 1932. It is in pristine condition! The office of the local notary was located here. His documents are spread all over the place. Apparently, somebody was ransacking the archive. Apart from some details and cool architecture, this place was emptied out - either by the former residents, or by looters. One way or the other, there is not much left to see. Let's move on and search for traces of the former townsfolk somewhere else. Surrounded by beautiful nature, you can quickly forget all the tragedy connected to this place. The whole situation is just too abstract for us. So like a mantra, we have to repeatedly say to ourselves that each house represents another sad story. People had to leave their old lives behind them in the blink of an eye. And this is what remained. Time was stopped here, twice - once 60 years ago and then 40 years ago. By now, most items from back then have been retrieved or stolen, which is why so many buildings are empty. But once in a while, we discover relics reminding us of the past. This is a historical town with its origins back in the Roman Age. But to save and refurbish it it would have cost a fortune. The government does not have the funds to rebuild all of the old villages hit by earthquakes - but they can build new ones. In fact, it is way cheaper to let plants rule ghost towns and relocate displaced residents. So, within sight of these ruins, there is a modern settlement now. But together with this transition, many things got lost. Life was different back then. Once, people lived next door to one another. The neighbors were close. It was more like living in one large family than living in separate households. Residents who still remember this way of life are grieving about it. It is a sense of community which is now sorely lacking. But it is not too late to save the ruins. What was destroyed by an earthquake not once but twice and then neglected for decades can actually become a thriving community again - just like it was more than 60 years ago! Roaming around in this ghost town is not actually forbidden. It is just dangerous, because you never know if the buildings around you could collapse even though they might look safe. That is why the former residents could never be allowed to live here again. To repair these old stone buildings is not only expensive but also a lot of work. They do not stand on their own. In most cases, several houses share the same foundation walls. Even if you decide to refurbish your own home, this would not be possible without your neighbors doing the same. Resuscitating this ghost town is inconceivable without the extensive support of the federal state. For a few years now, many people have been dedicated to rebuilding this lost paradise as they yearn to go back. The medieval castle and the surrounding structures are fully renovated already. More construction works are planned as well. And there are many other ideas and projects to come. Actually, restaurants are already resettling in the narrow roads together with B&Bs. And from time to time this place also gets used as a set for movies. Even now - after all these years of desolation and with basically no people around - this town is still exuding its charm. Its charisma was never really gone, it seems. Oh, how it must look like when we return in a few years! But again, this is only one of many Italian communities to be devastated by earthquakes. Only a few of them were saved thus far, so there is still a lot to do. But it is a start. The day after, we wake up at the next destination of our trip. We were spending the night on the roof of a former monastery somewhere in Italy. To be honest, if you stumble across this place by accident, you probably will not think that it is lost. But it is, and we have it to ourselves for a whole day! We explore the pristine remains that were once occupied by devout believers and find out why it has been abandoned. We will see you again in two weeks when we upload the next installment of "Abandoned Italy"! All the photos shown in today's episode were taken by our friend @tobi_urbex. Go to his Instagram to see more content like that. The link is provided in the video description. I hope you understand that we could not reveal the name of the ghost town, so we do not encourage others to trespass these desolate homes. By the way, did you come here to hear the story of the deserted buildings or to see the beauty of decay? Either way, we will feature more of both in the next episode! Keep exploring.
