THE abandoned places They exercise a strong attraction on us for their ability to evoke complex emotions: a mixture of nostalgia, restlessness and adrenaline, triggered by several factors under study. The dilapidated architectures, come on ghost villages to the abandoned asylumsIn fact, they are witnesses of a time now lost and tell stories of economic, social and cultural transformations capable of capturing the collective imagination. From these images full of forfeiture theAbandonalismthat is, the growing interest, now widespread on a global scale, for the ruins: a cultural phenomenon that finds wide expression in urban photography and exploration.
What the studies say
There are reasons psychological, aesthetics And philosophical that explain our attraction towards abandoned places. On the emotional level, several scholars observe that in front of decadent buildings we experience conflicting emotionsas fear and curiosity. A can also emerge sense of nostalgiaaroused by the perception of a still tangible past, by the traces left by those who have lived or inhabited certain spaces, or by the resurface of personal memories. To this is also added a component of adrenalinedue to the excitement that is felt in the unknown or, illegally, unknown places, where it would be prohibited. The abandoned architectures then embody the melancholy beauty of imperfection And they intrigue us because they are the material reflection of the time, of its effects and its erosions. As Sonia Paone, professor of Urban Sociology at the University of Pisa said:
The ruins have always had a charm because they allude to the transitory nature of the human work, the inexorable passage of time, to the transience of things. Today the cosmic tragedy of a nature that could resume the upper hand means that the ruins of the present time are a source of inspiration.
It is a concept that we find in Japanese culture that has been celebrating this aesthetic for centuries through the Wabi-Sabi philosophyart based on the acceptance of transitory and imperfection of things.
Aesthetics and virality: how it has become a social trend
More and more people, armed with a camera or smartphone, and often regardless of the danger, go “hunting” of disused buildings and forgotten architecture which, by natural consequence, also revive today on social network. Immortalized in millions of content, from all over the world and collected in dedicated pages and hashtags, these places also become tourist destinations Alternatives, suggestive sets for advertising campaigns and films, and even designed scenography for fashion shows. This is what emerges from a study conducted by Espresso Communication For Galleria Battilossi on over 30 international newspapers dedicated to lifestyle and trends in the fields of fashion, food, design and art.
The most famous abandoned places in the world and in Italy
From Ghost Town American, like Bodie in California and Virginia City in Nevada, to the ruins scattered in Asia and Europe, the abandoned places dot every corner of the planet. One of the most surprising cases is that of Burj at Babas, In Türkiye, a ghost complex in which 587 identical castles in Disney style lie unused. Equally known is Pripyatthe Ukrainian city evacuated after the Chernobyl disaster of 1986 and in recent years, before the conflict, a tourist destination for travelers in search of strong emotions. Here the panoramic wheel abandoned And deserted schools are now recognizable icons, protagonists of countless photographs shared online. Also theItaly boasts a large number of abandoned structures: a very rich heritage of dilapidated historic buildings and historic houses, abandoned industrial buildings due to technological evolution, and uninhabited villages following calamity or depopulation, often little known to the general public but well known to enthusiasts of Urban Exploration. Among the most famous examples, Consonno In Lombardy, a hamlet that in the 1960s an eccentric entrepreneur transformed into a sort of “Italian las vegas”, the medieval village of Crack In Basilicata, evacuated in the same years for a landslide and never repopulated, and uninhabited workers’ villages of the Sulcis-Iglesiente, in Sardinia, which retain the memory of the diffuse mining which characterized the area for a long time.
The challenge of adaptive reuse
Many buildings in Italy have been abandoned following legislative transformations, historical And socio -cultural who have determined a quick and sudden obsolescence. This is the case of Psychiatric hospitalsabolished with the Basaglia law which in 1978 reformed the care system for mental discomfort, and numerous sanitors who were gradually abandoned, or converted into alternative health facilities, with the drastic decrease in the incidence of pulmonary tuberculosis. Another interesting category is that of summer coloniesbuilt during the fascist twenty years to offer summer stays organized to thousands of children and closed after the war due to the high management cost, of the New social policies and change in holiday habits of Italians. Similarly, the disposal of military systemsderived from the demilitarization of many strategic areas, it leaves further silent testimonies of an era that ended.
Although the charm of abandonment is unquestionable, it is equally important, where possible, to rethink the future of disused structures through targeted projects of adaptive reuse. Doing it means facing a challenge that goes far beyond simple architectural recovery: it means recognizing the value of the collective memory and create a dialogue between past and future. Imagine new prospects and destinations of usecapable of respecting the history and enhancing the identity of these places, would return to our cities a very precious heritage.
