Ghost Towns in Italy (Abandoned Italian Villages)

Introduction

Ghost towns are towns or villages that have been abandoned by their original inhabitants, whether due to a natural disaster, lack of modern conveniences, obsolescence of the local economic activity (mining), linking to roads and railways bypassing the original town, depleting natural resources or simply the dwindling of an elderly population.

Often the original city has been re-established on nearby sites, while the ruins of the ghost cities have been given a second life as artist colonies, or more often as a refuge for squatters and illegal immigrants.

Ghost Towns (in alphabetical order)

Argentiera: Argentiera is a Ghost town and former mining frazione (hamlet) in the comune of Sassari, in Sardinia, Italy. It is located in a narrow valley, in front of the Sardinian Sea. The village was slowly abandonned after the mine closed in 1963.

Balestrino: Balestrino is quite a mysterious case in that very little information can be found on it. No one is quite sure when the town was established, nor why exactly is was abandoned, though records date back to before the eleventh century. At that time Balestrino was owned by the Benedictine abbey of San Pietro dei Monti. The upper part of the town consists of a Castle (of Marquis) and the lower part a parish church (of Sant'Andrea). Records of population, mainly farmers, go back to around 1860, when around 800-850 people lived there.

In the late nineteenth century, the North-West coast of Italy was struck by numerous earhquakes. One of these in 1887 (magnitude 6.7) destroyed some villages in the area of Savona, and although no official records show Balestrino was affected it coincides with much repair work and a dip in population. Finally in 1953 the town was abandoned due to 'geological instablility', and the remaining inhabitants (around 400) were moved to safer ground to the west. The derelict part of Balestrino that has stood untouched and inaccessible for fifty plus years is currently undergoing planning for redevelopment.

Bussana Vecchia: Bussana Vecchia is a 1,000 year old ghost town near San Remo (Province of Imperia, region of Liguria) destroyed in the 19th century by a severe earthquake and now inhabited by artists. See: Bussana Vecchia.

Castelnuovo dei Sabbioni: ghost town in the province of Arezzo, Tuscany. The history of the town is linked to the coal mining activity, which served to supply the local power plant.

Celleno: Celleno is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Viterbo in the Italian region Lazio, located about 80 km northwest of Rome and about 15 km north of Viterbo. The origins of the village are unclear, but it was probably founded by the Etruscans.

Craco: Poor farming added to by earthquakes, landslides, and War - all contributed to a mass migration of Craco's population Between 1892 and 1922 to North America. In 1963 a landslide caused the evacuation of the remaining 1,800 inhabitants to a nearby valley called Craco Peschiera, and the original Craco remains in a state of crumbling decay to this day. Craco has since remained intact, offering the rare sight of a true ghost town, unique in its kind in Italy. You can wander the streets and look into the houses that were left as they were, both those of poorer people and those of more genteel status. Some scenes from Mel Gibson's film "The Passion" were filmed in the deserted streets and alleys of this town.

Gattara di Casteldelci

Romagnano al Monte: Romagnano al Monte is a village and comune of the province of Salerno in the Campania region of southern Italy. The village was destroyed in the Irpinia earthquake of 1980 and rebuilt a few kilometers away. The ghost town became a tourist attraction in the early 2000s almost like the other one in the province: Roscigno Vecchia.

Roscigno: Roscigno is a small town and comune of the province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-western Italy. The town is divided in Roscigno Nuova (New Roscigno, simply referred as Roscigno), the new settlement built after a landslide of the old settlement; now named Roscigno Vecchia (Old Roscigno), distant 1,5 km from the new town. It is completely abandoned since the early 20th century, when population moved to Roscigno Nuovo due to landslide. Receptive for tourism, the ghost town became from the beginning of 21st century an eco museum.

Sant'Anna di Stazzema: In 1944, it was the site of a notorious atrocity during World War II, the Sant'Anna di Stazzema massacre.[1] The village was only partially rebuilt after the war. Since 2000, it has been the site of the Italian National Park of Peace (Parco Nazionalle dela Pace) with memorials and a museum dedicated to the massacre.

Tocco Caudio: Tocco Caudio is the name of a village and comune in the province of Benevento, in the Campania region of southern Italy. The old town was abandoned after a series of earthquakes in 1980 and 1981. In 1980 and 1981, earthquakes damaged much of the old historical habitat of Tocco Caudio. Rather than rebuild the historic town, the citizens were forced unwantedly to completely abandon it and resettle around the ridge. Today there are esentialy two Tocco Caudios: an empty old town and a new town above it in a location called Friuni.

Photos of the YourGuidetoItaly.com banner (from left to right): (on campus) Sean Locke, (red deckchair) Valentina Jori, (chianti botlle) Donald Gruener, (Vitruvian man) Jodie Coston, (coliseum), Roberto A Sanchez, (Fiat 500) Luca di Filippo.

Giardini di Ninfa: Ninfa is a deserted and overgrown ghost town that's now an "English style botanical garden". Ninfa was once a prosperous town that thrived for 600 years between the 8th and 14th century within a double walled fortification.

The Caetani family purchased the fortified town in 1297 for 200,000 florins. They build a dam that held back the waters, which today form the backbone of the river and streams that flow through the garden. A century later the town was razed to the ground during fratricidal struggles, and was never rebuilt. The few remainig peasants that remained were killed by malaria. Nature then took its toll and what was left of the ruins was swallowed up by brushwood and bog.

Monterano: Monterano, is located close to Canale Monterano, 50 Kms from Rome, in the surroundings of the lake of Bracciano. The "ghost town" of Monterano, now part of a large nature reserve, is famous for its surreal atmosphere and beauty. It has been an ideal set for some renowned movies such as "Ben Hur" or "Brancaleone alle crociate". In 1799 the assault of the French troops put an end to the history of the town that was also plagued by malaria. The inhabitants moved to the nearby towns of Canale Monterano and Montevirginio.

Pentidattilo

Poggioreale: Poggioreale (Sicilian: Poggiuriali) is a small town and comune in Sicily, Italy, set on the Belice valley, which administratively belongs to the province of Trapani.

It was destroyed by the Belice Valley earthquake in 1968, and eventually rebuilt in a safer place a few kilometers away, causing the entire population to be moved there.