Consonno – Ph. Matteo Giovanardi/Unsplash
There are abandoned places in Italy, where you can get lost in the bewildering silence: yes that’s right, if you want to try a different experience than usual, perhaps on the occasion of Halloween and the holidays between All Saints and the Dead, these are the right places.
Let’s discover together the 5 most curious ghost villages to visit in Lombardia, including Assiano, Borgo del Canto, Mulini di Piero, Monteviasco and Consonno.
1. Assiano
In the province of Milan, there is a completely abandoned village near Baggio: Assiano, an abandoned rural village dating back to the year 1000.
Little is known about this abandoned village, what is known is that it belonged to the Agnelli and Feltrinelli family and that for years it was one of the main dairies in the area, specializing in the production of butter and cheese.
The village was depopulated after the abandonment of the last inhabitants of the country, and remains as a mass of farmhouses, granaries and agricultural buildings.
Ph. milanofotografo.it
2. Borgo del Canto
In the province of Bergamo, on Monte Canto, stands the Borgo del Canto, a completely abandoned village characterized by a heap of ruins and ruins of agricultural origin.
This is the natural evolution of a typical agricultural center, left uninhabited after the phenomenon of abandonment of the countryside towards the city center.
The Borgo del Canto, with its poetic and suggestive name, rises in the San Martino Valley in Pontida, and was born as the original medieval center of monasteries and religious places, under the jurisdiction between Venice and Milan. Today it can only be reached on foot, starting from the Abbey of Sant’Egidio in Fontanella or from the cemetery of Pontida. Completely uninhabited, the Borgo del Canto is a heap of ruins that hide secrets and fascinate the most curious visitors.
Ph. notizie.it
3. Consonno
Fraction of the municipality of Olginate, in the province of Lecco, Consonno is a village whose buildings are still partially preserved and its abandonment is due to serious episodes of landslides. Also known as “The Land of Toys”, Consonno was initially an industrial project by Count Mario Bagno who, in 1962, wanted to transform it into an unlikely city of entertainment, a sort of “Las Vegas” of Brianza. However, his project was in vain, so much so that in 1976, the village was hit by a landslide, thus transforming it into a real ghost town, uninhabited and also a destination for fierce rave parties (the last in 2003 practically destroyed everything was left).
Ph. Riccardo Sartori/Unsplash
4. Mulini di Piero
For true nature lovers, the ghost villages of Mulini di Piero and Monteviasco are real pearls to visit, perhaps on the occasion of a trip or an excursion out of town.
The Mulini di Piero village, with its poetic name that recalls the songs of De Andrè, is populated by ancient windmills, just as the name implies, abandoned and suspended in time, dating back to the 18th and 19th centuries.
They are immersed in the picturesque Val Veddasca, right on the slopes of Monte Lema in the plain where the famous river Giona flows, in the province of Varese.
Ph. unviaggioinfiniteemozioni.it
5. Monteviasco
A few hundred meters from Mulini di Piero is Monteviasco, another ghost town that can be reached via a currently closed cable car.
Monteviasco is considered one of the most beautiful villages in Italy and can be reached via an uphill path, dotted with over 1,400 steps.
In these villages you can find abandoned houses, old wooden and stone huts, small churches from the Romanesque period that represented the places of worship of those small communities, now lost in time and in the landscape.
Santuario della Serta di Monteviasco
