plea for help with abandoned houses

[rebeccac]

Has anyone got the time and money to rescue these wonderful buildings? In Abruzzo in South Italy.

http://www.adrphoto.com/index.php/Paesi-abbandonati/Il-paese-abbandonato-di-Serra.html

The quality of some of the stonework is surperb and there are some beautiful carved lintels and archways. The whole hamlet was abandoned when people went to the cities for work.

Looks pretty remote, possibly no electricity but it could keep one (?) or more of you pretty busy for the next 50 years!Seriously though I dont even know if the places can be bought as often in these villages its impossible to trace previous owners who may have emmigrated etc.If there is anyone who thinks they might be at all interested email me and I'll try to find out more :info@myabruzzohome.com


Becky

 

[another_richard]

Get in there quick and 'quarry' the other houses for spares before someone else moves in!

On a more serious note if you are giving them away then I'll have that one with the lovely view.

I can manage to scrape together about 50 quid for wine n cheese for my breaks after I have gone from house to house collecting the bits I need to do up the house you are going to give me.

 

[Penners]

Some years ago I remember driving across the Piano Grande - I think it was north of Abruzzo, probably in Marche. Right in the middle of the high plain we came across a village that was almost entirely abandoned. The majority of the buildings were daubed with vendetta slogans. Apparently it had been a largely Sicilian goat-farming enclave, and the vendetta culture had become so great that most of the people had simply abandoned the place and moved away.

It was a tragedy to see, particularly because this bleak, crumbling village was in the middle of an enormous "sea" of wildflowers.

 

[shelli]

That is such a perfect background template for a novel, you really should use it before someone else does (like me! :twisted: )

 

[Penners]

Great idea, shelli. I'll get going right away.

"It was a dark and stormy night....."




Er.....

Um.....

 

[shelli]

Great idea, shelli. I'll get going right away.

"It was a dark and stormy night....."




Er.....

Um.....

okay then - here we go - how many words each? - one sentence, one phrase ?

"when the conservation officer set off in his morris minor"

 

[Penners]

I think one sentence, don't you?

"As Antonio the goat farmer stepped back to admire his graphics on the barn wall, he failed to look behind him."

 

[shelli]

"The well which broke his fall had hitherto lain undiscovered for almost 2 centuries"

 

[Penners]

Do we think that "hitherto" might be regarded as tautological?

 

[rebeccac]

I find the Sicillian goat farming story a bit strange.Are there any Sicillians farming goats in Abruzzo and if so would they be Mafiosa;just because they were from Sicilly I would doubt it so perhaps you were spun a bit of a yarn??Good story though.

The reason these villages were abandoned were ecomnomical ones and Abruzzo like the rest of Italy was an extremly poverty striken area until the arrival of manufacturing industries and building of a motorway to Rome in the early 70's.
The village must be quite remote or as someone else has suggested it would have been 'quarried' for archtectual salvage for rich property owners to buy in Tuscany or Umbria or even in the South of France.

 

[chuckey]

As Luigi splashed about in the water, his hand touched the lid of an old chest. He kicked it hard and slowly managed to loosen it. As the lid floated away, Luigi discovered to his amazement. . . .
Frank

 

[Penners]

perhaps you were spun a bit of a yarn??Good story though.

That's entirely possible. But the village was certainly very remote, and it had a very high proportion of abandoned, crumbling buildings, many of which were daubed with vendetta slogans, as I said. I remember one that read something like "la morte di cinque generazioni".

 

[Moo]

Somewhere in the Tuscany/Umbria area there is a stunning village called Peralta that was, I understand, bought as a ruin and restored by a sculptor. It now functions as a wonderful holiday venue for artists and poets, and ordinary people as well.
Well worth Googling for inspiration.

 

[Anita]

Castellucio- definitely a "weird" little village in the middle of the breathtaking grasslands of the Piano Grande. Not at all what you expect in amongst the wildflowers! I was there just last year.

 

[Anita]

Castellucio- definitely a "weird" little village in the middle of the breathtaking grasslands of the Piano Grande. Not at all what you expect in amongst the wildflowers! I was there just last year.

OOOPS - a double post - how did I manage that!

Sorry don't know how to delete it!

 

[DaveBrigg]

As Luigi splashed about in the water, his hand touched the lid of an old chest. He kicked it hard and slowly managed to loosen it. As the lid floated away, Luigi discovered to his amazement. . . .
Frank

that he was being watched. "Luigi, keep your hands off my chest!" The voice of his neighbour, a widow, echoed down the shaft, as she started sawing at the rope with a knife.

Italy is not alone in having deserted villages of course. English Heritage estimates there are the sites of 3 000 abandoned medieval villages, including this one...

 

[Penners]

Castellucio

That's the one! Well divined, Anita. A spooky place, as you say.

 

[Penners]

As Luigi splashed about in the water, his hand touched the lid of an old chest. He kicked it hard and slowly managed to loosen it. As the lid floated away, Luigi discovered to his amazement. . . .
Frank

that he was being watched. "Luigi, keep your hands off my chest!" The voice of his neighbour, a widow, echoed down the shaft, as she started sawing at the rope with a knife.

"I have never touched your chest, Signora," Luigi called up the shaft. A voice inside his head added, "But your daughter is a different matter".

At that point the severed rope fell in sodden coils on top of him.

 

[rebeccac]

That slogan that you saw perhaps meant that 5 generations of the same family lived in the vilage but it had come to an end when it was abandoned ?

 

[Penners]

Well, my Italian is rudimentary at best, but the words "la morte" would seem to carry a rather more dramatic connotation! Otherwise, why daub it in large letters on a wall?