Balestrino: the ancient charm of a ghost village.

WATCH THE DOCUMENTARY ABOUT BALESTRINO!

ORIGINAL POST: BALESTRINO, IL FASCINO ANTICO DI UN BORGO FANTASMA.

Balestrino has its own particular appeal, that of a medieval village being slowly taken back by nature after being abandoned by man… 

Where today stands the imposing Del Carretto castle, in Byzantine age was probably built a fortified position, around which then rose the Burgus Plebis of Balestrino, from which the “Borgo” district, now abandoned, developed. The other districts of Bergalla, Cuneo and Poggio formed in early Middle Ages as the first real residential settlement, improving their agricultural activities and moving their olive, legume and cereal farming up on the mountainsides thanks to the use of terrace cultivation, typical of the Liguria region. In feudal times the Bava, a noble family from Piemonte, became the first lords of the Balestrino feud, and built the first castle. The feud then was passed to the Del Carretto marquises who, around mid-XVI century, built their castle on the rock overlooking the village. Between 1515 and 1559 king Pirro II issued a number of edicts that burdened families with heavy taxes and work provisions; but the village notables, used to having an almost complete freedom, didn’t accept these edicts and prepared a conspiracy…

In 1561 Pirro II was killed and his castle burned down. The feud remained in the hands of the Del Carretto, who in order to prevent more riots established a court with torture chambers. Despite this, Balestrino knew an age of great expansion, becoming a sort of economic capital for the entire valley. After Napoleon Bonaparte’s occupation, in XVIII century, however, it became the scene of dramatic events: the people defended strenuously their territory, through battles and retaliations, but with poor results and the deaths of many villagers. After becoming part of the Kingdom of Sardinia, Balestrino was annexed to Piemonte, and then, when the Kingdom of Italy was formed in 1860, definitively to Liguria.

The Del Carretto castle still dominates the beautiful sea-facing valley, in memory of the time when it was surrounded by a lively village with a solid mill, furnace and soap-based economy. Today Balestrino is a lifeless town, where the signs of time can be read in the cracks in the walls and in the weeds slowly eating its foundations. A time no longer told by the sundial and the church’s clock is faceless. 

The episode that forced the townspeople to abandon their homes and move to the surroundings, in what is today Balestrino’s population centre, took place in 1953, when the town had been declared impracticable: a serious geological instability posed a threat to the village and its inhabitants…

The abandoned part of Balestrino is about 1,5 hectares wide, with over 44000 square metres of recoverable structures. A good part of the buildings suffers from a solidity-compromising decay, but is today at the centre of a study and recovery project aiming at the complete reconstruction of the medieval urban space. This project could restore Balestrino to its former medieval charm, but would surely deprive it of the peculiarity that sets it apart from other ancient towns: its crumbling and mysterious condition of abandon, as if immortalized in a snapshot taken decades ago.

The various legends, mysteries and popular beliefs passed down during the centuries and told around the fireplace have always influenced the town’s story, and now duel its ghostly charm at night and echo among sinister noises and shadows…

Balestrino’s charm spread well beyond national borders, ranking among the twenty most famous and eerie ghost towns in the world. For this reason it was chosen as location for the movie “Inkheart”, a fantasy story set in the real world in which the village is brought back to live after years of abandon. In fact, it was turned into Capricorn Village and partially rebuilt through special effects letting us witness the village how it probably once was, with people walking the streets, merchants, guards, everyday life’s activities…

Walking through the narrow alleys sends shivers to the mind, which wanders back in time with imagination, trying to visualise people standing behind the black, empty windows, without finding anything but the lonely remains of that life. Balestrino is a ghost town which preserves not only the memory of its people’s presence, but also a trace of man’s passage…

Link to ORIGINAL POST.

(Translation by Marco Salvadori)

Silent Hill: the real ghost town

ORIGINAL POST: SILENT HILL, LA VERA GHOST TOWN

The Silent Hill from the homonymous and renowned videogame franchise of psychological survival horrors, is described as an holiday resort on the Toluca Lake, divided into various areas, amongst which stand the residential district and the old part of the town. Built on an ancient Indian cemetery, the town had a troubled past that led it to be populated and abandoned many times, and then to become the place where a sect practised human sacrifices and necromancy. In the game, Silent Hill is constantly shrouded in thick fog, with rain, snow, and ashes coming down all year long. At the sound of air raid siren, the town turns into the “Otherworld”, a distorted parallel dimension where everything takes the aspect it would have after a terrible fire: everything burned, blood everywhere, and bodies hanging from the wall. A purgatory to cross and where one must face their inner demons or die. 

In 2006, a film based on the videogame was made, directed by Christopher Gans, in which the plot follows loosely the first and third episode of the series. In the film, Silent Hill is a West Virginia Ghost Town abandoned in 1974 due to a devastating fire. But in this case, the script does take inspiration from a real story… 

The nightmarish has, in fact, really existed. Its name isn’t Silent Hill, but Centralia, and it stands in Pennsylvania. The city rose in the first years of the XIX century over a deposit of anthracite, a 95% pure coal, that was extracted in huge quantities until the end of the century. During its golden age, Centralia was home to over 2.000 inhabitants, but in May 1962 a fatal accident scarred forever their fate…the coal-vein suddenly caught fire, blazing everywhere underground, and any attempt to put it out proved useless.

“This was a world where no human could live, hotter than the planet Mercury, its atmosphere as poisonous as Saturn’s. At the heart of the fire, temperatures easily exceeded 1,000 degrees. Lethal clouds of carbon monoxide and other gases swirled through the rock chambers.” – David DeKok (1986) 

The real causes of the fire are yet unknown. Apparently, it started from the introduction of burning wastes into a disused deposit. What’s certain is that the consequences were disastrous. Clouds of ashes and smoke covered the city, the trees died, the asphalt melt and everywhere formed cracks and chasms. In the following twenty years the population was progressively evacuated. In 1979 a thermometer inserted into the ground to check the petrol level of a malfunctioning station, and much to everyone’s surprise it showed 77.8°C. In 1981 a twelve-years-old fell in a 46 metres chasm that suddenly opened under his feet; luckily, thanks to his brother’s help, he survived. 

Today, Centralia is a ghost town were only about ten people live. Many buildings were pulled down and dangerous carbon monoxide flows out from some of the cracks in the road. The fire underneath Centralia is still active and it is estimated it will be for hundreds of year. Its tragic fate turned it into a gloomy and sadly instructive touristic attraction.

Translation by Marco Salvadori

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Oradour Sur Glane

 ORIGINAL POST: ORADOUR SUR GLANE

In this southern France village, in the region of Limousin, took place an horrible Nazi massacre, carried out by an SS regiment the 10th of June, 1944. It is yet unknown whether it was for retaliation or to search for something or someone, but that morning an armoured SS regiment detached from the convoy headed to Normandy to fight the Allied troops, and entered Oradour, a village with 800 inhabitants that could in no way represent a military objective.
That morning of 66 years ago, the Nazi troops raided the village, rounded up the population in a park of the town’s plaza and went on to search every house and building, destroying everything.

Be it partisans, refugees, fugitives or hidden weaponry, the soldiers didn’t find what they were looking for. All men were separated from the women and children and brought inside the near barns, where some machine guns had been placed. These were used to shoot the harmless men in the legs, so as not to kill them but to leave them unable to run away. The barns were then burned down, with the wounded still inside.
After this massacre, the SS transferred the women and children inside the town church, and placed the machine guns at the entrance. They then threw a firebomb inside the church, causing more victims, and then gunned down the survivors who tried to escape.
A total of 642 of Oradour’s villagers lost their lives that day: 197 men, 240 women and 205 children. The houses were later burned down and the whole village was destroyed.
About twenty people who had escaped when the Nazis arrived survived and witnessed the atrocities that were carried out that day at Oradour sur Glane. After the war, De Gaulle decided that the village was not to be rebuilt, as testimony of French sufferance under Nazi occupation.
And so, Oradour remained a ghost town. A place worth visiting, for it urges a reflection on the senselessness of human wickedness.

(Translation by Marco Salvadori) 

www.italiaperduta.com

Ghost towns from Italy: Roscigno Vecchia

ORIGINAL POST: ROSCIGNO VECCHIA

WATCH IN FREE STREAMING THE DOCUMENTARY ABOUT ROSCIGNO

Many Italian ghost town are in Southern Italy, where a hostile nature and a lacking territory maintenance often cause disastrous rockslides, landslides, floods and earthquakes. One of areas most affected is the Salerno province, where the beautiful ghost village of Roscigno Vecchia is. 

Roscigno rises in the Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park, an UNESCO natural reserve. Thanks to its isolated position beyond the Alburni mountains, the town remained hidden for a long time to tourists and travellers, and thus kept its original urban structure.

Roscigno’s origins date back to the IV century b.C., but only in 1500 did it became an autonomous municipality, taking its name from the local dialectal word "Ruśignuòlo", meaning nightingale. Built on an unstable ground, however, Roscigno was often subject to landslides which, as time went by and buildings kept collapsing, forced the population to abandon the village. Not everyone left, though, and some remained there for the rest of their lives, like miss Dorina, who stayed in her house until the year 2000 when she passed away, last of Roscigno’s residents.
Roscigno is an out-and-out open-sky museum. Taking a walk through the village is like leaping in the past to discover the culture and the soul of seemingly lost rural community. Even today Roscigno’s streets are walked by flocks of sheep, horses, and farmers going to work in the fields, while the population kept a strong bond with its abandoned village, giving it a new life of some sort.
In 1997, the local “Pro Loco” (associations of volunteers seeking to promote the culture, the history and the activities of a particular place) created a museum to maintain the village’s history: it’s the “Museo della civiltà Contadina” (roughly “Rural Culture Museum”), where the relics and photographs of the past farmer community were collected.
We hope that Roscigno, together with the other ghost towns we’ve visited, will manage to keep existing as a model of ancient rural towns and that it will be known as such in all of its splendour.
Here is a passage from the documentary “Roscigno Vecchia e il Cilento dimenticato” (“Roscigno Vecchia and the forgotten Cilento”).

WATCH IN FREE STREAMING THE DOCUMENTARY ABOUT ROSCIGNO 

External links: 
http://www.roscignovecchia.it/
http://www.roscignovecchia.com/ 


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(Translation by Marco Salvadori)

Ghost towns from Italy: Craco

ORIGINAL POST: CRACO

Placed on the summit of a hill overlooking the Cavone valley, in the region of Basilicata, Craco looks like a small-scale copy of the nearby Matera.
The ancient settlement, which reached a population of 2000, formed on the highest peak of this almost 7 million years old clayey valley. The settlement known as “Graculum”, which in Latin means “small ploughed field”, is documented for the first time in 1060 a.D., but the structure of the village actually dates to a period between 1154 and 1168. Thanks to its position, Craco became a strategically important military centre during the reign of Federico II.
During the XV century the city expanded around the four main palaces: the Maronna Palace with its monumental entrance, the Grossi Palace, with its beautiful vault and floreal pattern, the Carbone Palace, with its XV century monumental entrance, and the Simonetti Palace, with its peculiar medallions. 

In 1799 Craco joined Innocenzo De Cesare’s republican ideals, a movement of the rural middle class which sought to break the ties with the feudal lords, and then fell into silence, until a last, tragic event in 1963…
A large landslide destroyed part of the town, forcing the villagers to progressively leave their homes. The 1972 flood gave another hard blow, and the town slid some more along with the containment walls that were supposed to hold it up. Not everyone was willing to leave the town behind, and some remained there until the day they died.
Today, Craco isn’t sliding anymore and is constantly monitored. Its almost supernatural charms recalls its past glory, its ephemeral beauty seems almost an illusion…
Nature is slowly overtaking the town, a town still hiding mysteries and stories about ghosts claiming back their homes in the darkest nights. Some claim they heard harrowing screams and footsteps sounds, or saw dim lights behind the desolating void of an empty window.
Craco’s word-wide fame led it to a fate that it probably would never have imagined, that of a much sought cinema set. Many films were shot here, like Christ stopped at Eboli, King David, Terra Bruciata, Quantum of Solace, and even The Passion, where it was used as the background of Judas’s hanging.
At times Craco is visited by some tourists, attracted by its charm and by the mystery of abandon… unfortunately, though, the place’s politics are aimed towards its economic exploitation and not towards its artistic and cultural promotion, so tourists are charged to enter the village, and are imposed a fine if they don’t pay. This policy of pure economic exploitation stopped us from creating a Ghost Town episode about this beautiful, solitary and silent village…

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(Translation by Marco Salvadori)

Ghost towns from Italy: Galeria Antica

ORIGINAL POST: GALERIA ANTICA

Galeria Antica stands in the countryside north of Rome, just 8 km away from the Braccianese Way. A ghost town buried by vegetation like the ancient Maya ruins, an incredible maze of castle vestiges, Etruscan houses, tombs and places of worship.
Its origins get lost in the mist of time…probably founded under Etruscan domination with the name of Careia, it was a town of little importance guarding the southern borders of Etruscan territory. Later it was colonised by the Romans, as attested by some pointed arches and by some constructions built with the “opus incertum” technique. Galeria then fell during the Germanic invasions, and was populated again only during the Middle Ages. After being seized and destroyed by the Saracens, it was rebuilt and extended, and from 1276 it belonged to the Orsini family. After passing through many owners, it ended in the hands of the Sanseverino family, with whom the town suffered a slow decline until a terrible malaria epidemic decimated its population. In 1809, Galeria Antica was left abandoned.

Malaria was not rare at the time, as the place was subject to the frequent floods from the Arrone creek. What remains a mystery is the reason behind an abandonment so sudden that the people left behind not only tools and furnishings, but even the bodies of their dead, who were buried only half a century later…
After it was left deserted, Galeria became shelter for the shepherds and booty for the bandits, and today its only inhabitants are lizards, birds and vipers living in a twine of brambles and climbing plants. Amongst its ruins are still visible the St. Andrew’s Church’s bell tower, a still intact fortified bastion, the ancient main gate to the dead city, the guard tower still showing faded traces of its clock, and the vestiges of the castle, with its extraordinary system of gates and walls. In its square are still found the ghostly remains of the oven of the governor’s house and of a church. At the town’s secondary gate, the beautiful Roman access arch made of red bricks is still standing. But it is underneath that the ghost town hides its secret, a crypt with its labyrinth of tunnels that still are, and maybe will forever be, unexplored…
An old legend tells of a ghost minstrel named “Senz’affanni” (which means roughly “No worries”), who died around 300 years ago and who returns every year in Galeria, singing and playing for his beloved woman while riding a white horse. Many affirm they heard hoofs and moans, especially in winter. Those who do not believe in the story of the ghost say these sounds are made by the rushing Arrone creek.
Galeria Antica was declared a Natural Monument in 1999, but unfortunately it still remains prey to vandalisms and to unknown sects that use it at night for their ceremonies, attracted by the mysterious aura of a place oozing with death…

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(Translation by Marco Salvadori) 

 

Ghost Town series: our documentaries

GHOST TOWN SERIES - Showreel - HD from PGMVideo Srl on Vimeo.

ORIGINAL POST: I DOCUMENTARI DI GHOST TOWN

GHOST TOWN

is a series of documentaries about abandoned villages in Italy and all over the world.

"The idea of making a documentary about ghost towns first came to me during a journey in United States, touring some impressive ghost towns like Bodie (California). The discovery of places in which human existence is now impressed only in the walls of memory, often experienced only through film, literary or pictorial fiction, led me to think about the frailty of what is created by man, which is sometimes destroyed and forgotten. The fascination of these abandoned sites led me to finding out numerous Italian ghost towns and their tragic stories of death and abandon. The forced separation between man and his home is a sad circumstance, lived with suffering. Man leaves, but what was built often remains to remind us of what had been. Ghost towns aren’t just mysteriously fascinating decaying ruins, but also places of recollection that must be narrated and remembered."

Chiara Salvadori, director

SINOPSYS
Ghost Town is an expression calling to mind post-apocalyptic sceneries after nuclear catastrophes, abandoned Far West mining towns, or empty, haunted, mysterious villages, shrouded in legends feeding imagination and renewing their memory. Ghost towns are places abandoned by man due to natural events, wars, ecological disasters, lack of resources, epidemics or fires, and now left, for years or even centuries, at the mercy of time, slowly erasing their existence… This which we’ll undertake will be a lonely journey through Italy’s most fascinating ghost towns, while keeping an eye on the many ones all over the world. We’ll cover their history, the causes of their abandon, their legends and curiosities; we’ll talk about this phenomenon which, according to the estimations, is destined to a worrying increase; and most importantly we’ll discover places, often unknown to man, hidden and forgotten, which are going to enchant and intrigue us for their beauty consumed by time and the mysterious stories they can tell us…

Number of episodes currently produced:
1. BALESTRINO - The ancient charm of an abandoned village. Liguria.
2. CASTELNUOVO DEI SABBIONI - The town of the Memory. Tuscany.
3. PENTEDATTILO - The devil’s hand. Calabria.
4. POGGIOREALE - The New Pompei. Sicily.
5. ROSCIGNO VECCHIA and the abandoned Cilento. Campania.

The episodes can be increased to 20 or more on ghost towns throughout the Europe and the rest of the world, like Pripyat (Ukraine), Hashima (Japan), Bodie (USA), Kolmanskop (Namibia), Oradour Sur Glane (France), etc.


The series is copyrighted.
©2010 Pgm Video Srl.

Pripyat: the ghost town and the Chernobyl disaster

ORIGINAL POST: PRIPYAT, LA CITTA' FANTASMA E IL DISASTRO DI CHERNOBYL 

<<There is not the slightest indication that nuclear energy will ever be obtainable.>>

  (Albert Einstein)

In these days of apprehension for the risk of a disaster at Fukushima nuclear plant, in Japan, the theme of nuclear energy, whether or not such a dangerous source of energy should still be used, is again a central theme throughout the world. Apparently we can’t seem to learn from our past errors, even if all of us know the story of that place which, in 1986, experienced one of human history’s most sever disasters…we barely remember its name, since most know it simply as Chernobyl, but around that infamous plant there used to be a big city, now nothing more than a ghost town: Pripyat.

Pripyat rose in Ukraine, close to Byelorussia’s northern borders, about 110 km away from the capital of Kiev. The city’s construction began in 1970 to house the nuclear plant workers and their families. In the following years, many other people settled there and the population quickly rose to some 47.000 inhabitants. Pripyat was a modern and functional city, with two hospitals, a shopping centre, two hotels, many bars, restaurants, cinemas, theatres and a multipurpose centre which housed an indoor swimming pool that remained surprisingly operational up to the year 2000.

April 26th 1986 was the beginning of the end for Pripyat…

At 1:23:45, during a “security” test, paradoxically all the security rules were violated, causing the fourth reactor to an uncontrolled power rise. In the reactor’s core the water used for cooling split into hydrogen and oxygen at such pressure to break the cooling rods. The contact between hydrogen and white-hot graphite with air caused an explosion powerful enough to uncover the reactor. What followed was catastrophe: a cloud of radioactive materials escaped the reactor and fell on a large area around the power plant, seriously contaminating it. Radioactive clouds reached Eastern Europe and Scandinavia, and even Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the Balkans, and part of the East Coast or North America. Pripyat was evacuated only 36 hours later: 45.000 people were forcibly carried away, and in the following days 130.000 more had to leave their homes in a 30 km radius. No one really understood what was going on.

On the night the reactor exploded, tens of people even remained to watch the shining light above it. Death, at times, can be spectacular…

The Chernobyl incident was classified at level 7, the highest in the INES scale, and released a radioactivity a hundred times stronger than the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombs in 1945. The official report draws a toll of 65 verified deaths, plus 4.000 supposed ones for tumours and leukaemia within the space of 80 years. However, this balance was often contested. Greenpeace estimates 6.000.000 world-wide deaths over a period of 70 years! The radiations will remain in the area for about 48.000 years, and man will be able to live there again only in about 600 years. The truth is, the consequences of this disaster will never be ascertained, and the exact number of those who risk developing serious medical conditions won’t be known until 2016, if not later. What’s sure is that the concrete sarcophagus built to contain the core will not last and its deterioration is now clear.

Pripyat is today the world’s spookiest ghost town. The houses and the streets are still full of furniture, cars, photographs, appliances, toys, personal objects all left by inhabitants who were told they’d be back in three weeks but instead never saw their homes again. In spite of the prohibitions, there are still about four hundred people who returned to live there, eating food from the land and drinking from the highly polluted rivers. The military vehicles used for the rescues lie since 1986 in a large dumping ground due to the high radioactivity level. Special permissions are needed to access the area, and before exiting visitors are required to be checked and eventually to take a shower against radiations. Many structures are not safe or show a concentration of radioactivity too high to be visited. If staying outdoors is relatively safe, entering any building can be extremely dangerous. The most radioactive place in town is the playground that was built for May Day, because, being exposed directly to the power plant, on that fateful day the wind brought the first radioactive particles there. The Ferris wheel, in particular, shows an extremely high concentration. All the trees of the forest that stood behind the playground died in a matter of a few days, and the place is now known as the “Red forest” due to the colour change it underwent due to the effect of the fallout. If Pripyat became a hell for men, both flora and fauna proliferated immensely, to the point of being studied to elaborate hypothesis on how Earth would be without mankind. 

Pripyat is the symbol of the devastation nuclear energy can cause, but also an example of a new form of extreme tourism: Forbes considered it the most exotic place to spend a holiday…indeed, notwithstanding the risks, Pripyat can be visited for a day through guided tours organised by the city website. There is no staying for long, though, due to the danger of contamination.

The Chernobyl disaster shows the dark side of modern life, how catastrophically can technology fail. Radioactive agents are odourless and colourless, but lethal; they are invisible and silent assassins that kill slowly and for generations to come…

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Links:

Official website of Pripyat 

( Translation by Marco Salvadori )

Las Vegas: the lights switch off

ORIGINAL POST: LAS VEGAS, LE LUCI SI SPENGONO

It may seem impossible, but the city of sin and entertainment, is now losing all its majesty. Today, in fact, Las Vegas is facing the worst economic crisis in its history and the neon city’s splendour is slowly fading, like it lit up in the past…

Founded on May 15, 1905 as a railway village, Las Vegas became an actual city on March 16, 1911, when it adopted its first charter of public law. The name comes from a Spanish word that means “The Meadows”, because in the area, located in the boundless Nevada desert, there were a water wells that enabled the formation of some green areas. The construction of Hoover Dam, completed in 1936, enabled the city to develop and expand . After the legalisation of gambling, in March 19, 1931, Las Vegas called back the famous gangster Bugsy Siegel who, in 1946, opened the popular first hotel casino: the Flamingo. To money brought by tourists and gamblers then added that brought by the military who who worked at the nearby Nellis Air Force Base, in which, during the years of the Cold War, many nuclear tests were executed. Its growth was exponential exponential, and in what is now known as the “Strip”, dozens of hotels and casinos that consecrated Las Vegas as the gambling place par excellence were built. The economic and construction boom has been rapidly expanding for many years, and the building of hotels and casinos was growing. With the economic crisis that began in 2008, Las Vegas has also incurred a severe blow…

According to The Economist, the economic foundations of the city appear to have been irreversibly compromised and so Las Vegas has surpassed Detroit as themost abandoned city of America. The unemployment rate has reached 15%, with more than 30,000 people having lost their jobs in the casinos and hotels. Also in 2010 one tenth of the houses in the city was distrained, five times the national average. In the north districts this reaches one house out of five. House prices have fallen by 60%, and 70% of people who had bought home was left with a loan much higher than the value of the property. The result of this deep crisis is that entire districts are now deserted, with no lighting and no cars, while “On sale” signs are increasing in front of houses, and homeless people dwell in the abandoned buildings. Even the large hotels have not been spared and, although recently new ones like the huge new complex “Aria” were created, others were abandoned and demolished like the historic “Hotel Sahara”, which was inaugurated in 1952 and hosted stars such as Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, John Wayne and the Beatles, as well as being a famous set for films. In addition, large spaces that were to be used for new casinos were unbelievably left empty.

In short, Las Vegas, the city of perdition and excess, could become a scenic ghost town in the future…

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(Translation by Marco Salvadori )

Gunkanjima: the ghost island

ORIGINAL POST GUNKANJIMA: L'ISOLA FANTASMA

Hashima, one of Nagasaki prefecture’s 505 deserted island, in Japan, is a creepy and charming place, destination of an usual kind of adventurous and alternative turism.

The island is also known as Gunkanjima, which means “battleship”, due to the appearance of its profile on the Ocean: a grey and decadent island surrounded by a concrete wall, with buildings on the brink of collapse outlining the shape of large warship. This mysterious island was built on an important coal mine (owned by Mitsubishi) which, between 1887 and 1974, contributed heavily to Nagasaki’s energy production. It was such an important mining centre that there were built apartments for the miners, and schools, hospitals, gyms, cinemas, bars, restaurants and shops for their families. Japan’s first buildings in reinforced concrete were built there, as defence against the frequent typhoons hitting the area. In 1959 the island came to be the place with the highest population density in the world, with 3.450 inhabitants per square kilometre. The apartments were like monks’ cells, narrow and suffocating, and the inhabitants were divided in “classes”: unmarried or married miners, and Mitsubishi managers and teachers, who could even have the luxury of a private kitchen and bathroom. Hashima’s survival depended entirely on the supplies from the mainland, so if a typhoon hit the island its inhabitants had to try and survive for days before the successive cargo ship.

In its period of fullest activity, the island produced 410.000 tons of coal every year, an intense rhythm kept at the expanse of human life. For this reason, mostly Corean and Chinese prisoners were employed in the mine. Many lost their lives due to starvation or bad hygienic conditions. Here’s an excerpt from the account of Suh Jung-Woo, a Corean who was forced to work on the island interviewed in 1983:

“Even with such a exhausting work, our meals consisted for the 80% of beans and 20% boiled rice with a few sardines. I suffered from diarrhoea almost every day, and gradually my forces abandoned me. I tried to rest, but the guards would come and force me to work…I don’t know how many times I thought about throwing myself into the sea to drown…Forty or fifty of my Corean companions committed suicide or drowned trying to swim to Takahama. I can’t swim. But I was lucky. After five months I was transferred to the Mitsubishi Saiwai-Machi factory in Nagasaki, and thus managed to leave the island. If I had remained there, I wouldn’t be alive now. Now they call the place “Battleship island”, but for us it was “Prison Island”, with no way to escape.”

Hashima Island was abandoned after petroleum started to substitute coal as source of energy. Since 1974, Gunkanjima is a ghost town. 

Even tough it was a place of suffering and death, Hashima now represents an important place in Japan’s post-war development’s history. The island is today a cemetery of buildings on the brink of collapse, but, maybe because of this ghostly charm, it’s a destination for urban exploration enthusiasts and film directors. It’s been the set for such movies like “Battle Royale II: Requiem” (2003) and “Inception” (2010), and for the music video “My Lonely Town” of Japanese rock band B’z. In 2009 it has also made an appearance in BBC’s documentary “Life after people”.

In 2005 a few journalist were permitted access to the island and then the world has come to know of the existence of this incredible place. Up to 2009 setting foot in this ghost town was punished with imprisonment but, in that year’s April, part of the island was opened for visitors, even if, due to sea conditions, it’s possible to reach it only for 160 days a year.

Those who’d like to take on this adventurous trip on the ghost island can take a look at this site, unfortunately only in Japanese: Gunkanjima website. For additional information in English, visit the site Gunkanjima mini-tour.

Image gallery on original post.

Other link:

Documentary on a miner of Hashima

Photogallery 

( Translation by Marco Salvadori )

The ancient glory of Tenochtitlán

ORIGINAL POST: L'ANTICA GLORIA DI TENOCHTITLÁN 

"We were amazed and said that it was like the enchantments told in the book of Amadis, on account of the great towers and cues and buildings rising from the water, and all built of masonry. And some of our soldiers even asked whether the things that we saw were not a dream?" (Bernal Diaz del Castillo)

The grand Tenochtitlán was founded in 1325 by the legendary king Tenoch on lake Texcoco, Mexico, and rapidly became the most important city of Central America. Built on a rocky island, Tenochtitlán spanned for some 10 square kilometres and was split in four districts, linked to dry land through bridges and embankments. The city provided both streets and canals, so that it could be reached both by feet and by canoe.  In the city centre stood a 30 metres tall pyramid, with a 100x80 base, and with two sanctuaries at its summit. Near the pyramid rose two monasteries, the god of wind Ehcatl’s sanctuary, a patio used for games of pelota, and the Tzompantli, a macabre place where the skulls of the sacrificed victims were exposed.

The palace of king Montezuma II stood outside the ceremonial centre, and was a luxurious two-floors building with gardens full of exotic plants, swans swimming in artificial lakes, and multicoloured birds singing in the cages. Tenochtitlán was also an important economic hub where more than 25.000 traders came to sell food, textiles, shoes, puma or jaguar skin, tobacco, wood, utensils and handicraft. There was no money, so everything was bartered, usually for cacao or broad beans.

Since the lagoon water could not be drank, Montezuma I had an important aqueduct built, 5 kilometres long from the springs of Chapultepec. Later, also a second, 8 kilometres long aqueduct was built. Since Tenochtitlán suffered from frequent floods, Montezuma I ordered in 1449 the construction of a 16 kilometres long dam, in order to contain the waters of lake Texcoco.

At its full splendour, Tenochtitlán’s population was estimated at 700.000 inhabitants, even though more cautious esteems lower the number to 550.000. In any case, it was the third largest city in the world, after Beijing (700.000) and Hangzhou (600.000).

When Hernán Cortés reached Tenochtitlán in November the 8^th, 1519, he wrote in his diaries that never had he seen a bigger and more efficient city in the world: the streets all had pedestrian walks, no building had any smoke or dirt fouling, shining fairy-tale-like constructions with coloured walls and pensile gardens. The Spanish soldier Bernal Diaz described it as an “enchanted” vision of a magic city with “and cues and buildings rising from the water”. Tenochtitlán really was a perfect city.

Maybe this shocking fact, together with the lust for power and gold, drove the conquistadores, even though they were welcomed with honour and hospitality by king Montezuma, to conquer the city after a bloody battle. On August the 13^th, 1521, the legendary Tenochtitlán was reduced to a pile of rubble and its population exterminated. What was left of the city was dismantled and destroyed. On the ruins of the beautiful metropolis, Mexico City was built.

During the seventies Tenochtitlán’s ruins were brought back to light and some of the most important structures, like the Great Pyramid, are now open for visitors. Today, the Zócalo, Mexico City’s most important plaza, stands on what was once Tenochtitlán’s ceremonial centre, but who knows what such a glorious metropolis of the ancient world could have become without the destructive and cruel impact of the Spanish conquerors. Unfortunately, we will never know…

The ruins of Tenochtitlán

 (Translation by Marco Salvadori)

Consonno: il paese dei balocchi infranti

© Alberto Segramora

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Adagiato tra le colline della Brianza, nel territorio del comune di Olginate e a pochi chilometri da Lecco, sorge il folle paese fantasma di Consonno. Questo strano borgo, una sorta di Las Vegas in miniatura, ha avuto una storia tragica e al contempo incredibile. Ormai dimenticato, è un luogo surreale, a metà strada tra un paese futurista abbandonato fra un migliaio di anni e un sogno disneyano.

Consonno, prima del 1962, era un piccolo paese risalente al Medioevo che contava circa 300 abitanti e che viveva perlopiù di agricoltura e della raccolta delle castagne. Ma il problema di Consonno è che nessun abitante possedeva le proprie case e i terreni circostanti, che appartenevano invece alla "Immobiliare Consonno Brianza"...

Consonno nel 1953 (© Felice Sala)

La fine della storia di Consonno cominciò con l'arrivo in paese del Conte Mario Bagno, eccentrico imprenditore che aveva in mente di costruire una specie di città dei balocchi. Quando ancora l'attenzione all'impatto ambientale non era un tema sentito nè regolamentato, il Conte Bagno acquistò per 22.500.000 lire tutte le quote di partecipazione dall'Immobiliare Consonno Brianza, con la scusa di costruire una strada che collegasse il paese a Olginate. Tempo dopo il silenzio della campagna fu rotto dal rombare delle ruspe e delle bombe, mentre casa dopo casa il vecchio borgo cadde, spazzato via dalla voglia di eccesso e dalla mania di grandezza di un ricco uomo senza scrupoli. Le ruspe cominciarono a distruggere abitazioni e stalle con ancora persone e animali all'interno, che furono costretti a fuggire in fretta e furia. Del vecchio paese non restò più niente, a parte la chiesa di San Maurizio, l'attigua casa del cappellano e il cimitero, persino la morfologia del territorio fu cambiata per permettere una migliore visuale del paesaggio. Così Consonno morì la prima volta...

Consonno nel 1965, già in parte demolita (© Angelo Borghi)

"Farò il circuito in quella zona là - annuncia compiaciuto il conte Mario Bagno guardando il poggio semidistrutto - è uno dei più belli per la zona panoramica quasi d'Europa; vorrei dirlo forte perchè forse un circuito così se avrò i mezzi non ci sarà uguale, è piccolino ma molto elegante; lì sotto farò - aggiunge il Conte Bagno - il campo di calcio, il campo della pallacanestro e del tombarello, che è uno sport che si svolgerà in declino; qui vengono i campi da tennis, delle bocce, e da minigolf, di là dovrà venire la pista del pattinaggio, luna park e uno zoo di bestie da parco e giardino, un grande zoo, con un grande ristorante popolare con orchestrine curiose, è vero, per attirare tutto il pubblico naturalmente". (Conte Mario Bagno)

Al posto delle case sorsero un minareto, sale da gioco e da ballo, sfingi egiziane, pagode cinesi, gallerie di negozi in stile arabeggiante, armigeri medievali, colonne doriche, rocce finte, cannoni, cascate e il Grand Hotel Plaza. Invitanti striscioni servivano ad accogliere i visitatori: "A Consonno il cielo è più azzurro", "A Consonno è sempre festa", "Consonno è il paese più piccolo ma più bello del mondo". E le folle di turisti cominciarono a venire nel paese dei balocchi...

Cartolina di Consonno (© www.myspace.com/consonno)

Cartolina di Consonno (© www.myspace.com/consonno)

Il tripudio di Consonno durò per qualche anno, sino a quando non arrivarono gli anni '70 e la crisi e il disagio sociale del periodo sottrassero i turisti allo svago sfrenato e idilliaco. Il colpo di grazia arrivò dalla natura ribelle, che nell'ottobre del 1976 si vendicò d'esser stata deturpata: una frana cadde sulla strada d'accesso al paese, lasciandolo isolato. E così Consonno morì una seconda volta, e si tramutò in una città fantasma...

© Alberto Mingione

© Alberto Segramora

© http://www.flickr.com/photos/matteobinda/page11/

© Anael Raziel 

Negli anni '80 il conte pensò di trasformare Consonno in un'oasi di pace per la terza età. L'albergo divenne una casa di riposo ma intorno non vi sorse più nulla. Il declino dell'idea si è tramutato in rovina, i balocchi si sono infranti, il baccano si è trasformato in silenzio. Quel che era rimasto de "Las Vegas della Brianza" è stato quasi del tutto distrutto da un grande rave party avvenuto nel 2003. 
Consonno è stata più volte sfruttata come set per il cinema e per i videoclip, ma la sua vera storia, soprattutto la storia del borgo e le testimonianze di quelle persone che hanno dovuto abbandonare la propria casa per le idee folli di un uomo, è celata dalla continua avidità con cui si cerca di spremere denaro da un luogo che ormai non esiste più. L'Immobiliare Consonno Brianza possiede ancora il piccolo paese dei balocchi e insiste nel giocare con la sua vuota miniera d'oro...

Link:
Sito dettagliato sulla storia di Consonno
Sito di My Space su Consonno


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GHOST TOWN SERIES Showreel

GHOST TOWN SERIES - Showreel - HD from PGMVideo Srl on Vimeo.

La nuova presentazione della serie di documentari di Ghost Town! Disponibile in HD!

The new presentation of a Ghost Town documentary series! Available in HD!

GHOST TOWN
è una serie di documentari sulle città abbandonate in Italia.

SINOSSI
Ghost Town è un'espressione che richiama alla mente scenari post-apocalittici dopo catastrofi nucleari, vecchie città minerarie abbandonate del Far West o città vuote, spettrali, stregate, misteriose, avvolte da leggende che alimentano l'immaginario collettivo e le fanno sopravvivere nel ricordo. Le Ghost Town, le città fantasma, sono luoghi che, a causa di eventi naturali, guerre, disastri ecologici, mancata reperibilità di risorse, epidemie o incendi, sono stati abbandonati dall'uomo e sono ormai da anni, se non secoli, in balia del tempo che ne cancella lentamente l'esistenza...
Questo che intraprenderemo sarà un viaggio solitario che farà tappa nelle più affascinanti Ghost Town d'Italia, con un occhio di riguardo alle altre numerosissime città fantasma che si trovano nel mondo. Percorreremo la loro storia, le cause dell'abbandono, le leggende e le curiosità che le contraddistinguono; parleremo di questo fenomeno che, nelle previsioni, è destinato ad un inquietante aumento; ma più che altro scopriremo luoghi spesso sconosciti all'uomo, dimenticati e nascosti, che tuttavia ci stupiranno e ci affascineranno per la bellezza consumata dal tempo e per le misteriose storie che possono narrarci...

GHOST TOWN
is a series of documentaries about the Italian abandoned villages.

SINOPSYS
Ghost Town is an expression calling to mind post-apocalyptic sceneries after nuclear catastrophes, abandoned Far West mining towns, or empty, haunted, mysterious villages, shrouded in legends feeding imagination and renewing their memory. Ghost towns are places abandoned by man due to natural events, wars, ecological disasters, lack of resources, epidemics or fires, and now left, for years or even centuries, at the mercy of time, slowly erasing their existence... This which we'll undertake will be a lonely journey through Italy's most fascinating ghost towns, while keeping an eye on the many ones all over the world. We'll cover their history, the causes of their abandon, their legends and curiosities; we'll talk about this phenomenon which, according to the estimations, is destined to a worrying increase; and most importantly we'll discover places, often unknown to man, hidden and forgotten, which are going to enchant and intrigue us for their beauty consumed by time and the mysterious stories they can tell us...