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Decline and fall of the Italian villa: Haunting images of the forgotten palaces which are now spectacular ruins
- Photographer charts decline of country homes from Piedmont to Tuscany
- Believed to be more than 300 ghost villages -
'paesi fantasma' - in Italy
By
Nick Enoch
|
For the most part, the villas lie in economically distressed areas with poor communications.However, there are cases where family tensions have been the cause of the residences' downfall. In one instance, the
construction of a nuclear power plant nearby led to the abandonment of
the village and the house master.
This
once-great Italian villa would most likely have been home to nobility
during the Renaissance - but now, it and many others have been
abandoned.
Yet there is still beauty to be found
- frescoes depicting angels and rustic scenes, and vaulted ceilings
which have managed to ward off the ravages of time.
To
document their sad demise, photographer Thomas Jorion has roamed the
north of the country - from Piedmont and Lombardy to Tuscany and Emilia
Romagna - for his gallery series, entitled Forgotten Palaces.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2181957/Italian-villa-The-palatial-rustic-retreats-Renaissance-lie-abandoned.html#ixzz22KAlPfDe
There are believed to be more than 300 Italian ghost villages, or 'paesi fantasma', many dating from medieval times. Residents have left such villages - many dating
from medieval times - for reasons ranging from
landslides to migration to big cities. The term 'villa' originally applied to the suburban summer residences of the ancient Romans and their later Italian imitators.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2181957/Italian-villa-The-palatial-rustic-retreats-Renaissance-lie-abandoned.html#ixzz22KCTEL3j
