It’s not unusual to see old abandoned homes in southern Italy…so when we took a walk to see my uncle’s childhood home (not far from his own) I asked him who owned it and why it was abandoned. The answer was that he did,along with his brothers and sisters. It was left to them by their parents and since they all had either moved away or had homes of their own,they couldn’t decide what to do with it. They had refused offers from business men,families and countless others because no one could agree. I’m sure there are many similar stories all over Italy. So what once was alive with voices and daily chores is now silent and overgrown…but if you look a little deeper,beauty still lives there.
Beauty does indeed reside there. And echoes of love and noise and aromas…
You really did find the beauty.
Oh what stories this house has to tell. I’ll bet your uncle and other relatives could probably relay a bunch.Love all the great old hardware.
It’s the same up here. Italians prefer usually living in something new and modern. Unless it’s a signorile villa,they’ll only buy an ancient house if they can’t afford a new one. They laughingly allow that if it were not for the expats,the country would just fall into the earth. After I had invested euro 110,000 making my house safe,modern and pretty,one of my neighbors offered me euro 15,000 more than I paid for it as a home for his brother in law. The joke is that that neighbor was the contractor who did the work and knew how much had gone into the house.
Gorgeous photos,Joe. Bet I’m not the only one wishing I could somehow live there and restore it to life..
Giuditta at DolceCapeCod.blogspot.com
It’s got great bones. A little TLC and it could be your palace
My dad’s town is full of stories just like that of your uncle’s childhood home. Every so often someone is renovating or reviving one of these old abandoned homes. I walk the streets of the town and try and picture what they must have looked like during their prime. Someday,I would love to take one of those old homes and bring it back to life.
I love your photos of Italy,Joe;I could move right into that abandoned house and make it a home again! (Is there room for a garden?) I get a taste of Italy each time I visit here;I love the fountains,the scenes and your Top 5 favorite foods of Calabria — I could go for some of those olives and dried figs right now!
ahhh,these photos are so familiar as they look exactly like the abandoned homes of my mother’s village “Ferruzzano”about 70 km north
of Reggio Calabria on the Ionian side. So glad I found you through “Bleeding Espresso”and other bloggers a whole new world is opening (or should I say “old world”) Love what you are doing and am trying to do the same!! Look forward to “following you”oh..and thanks for watching and commenting on my “My Italy”video…I have been painting Calabria for over 17 years and never get tired of it!!! So much beauty!! I join your other commenters …would love to preserve,restore,revive these abandoned homes somehow,some day,if enough of us dream about it,perhaps it will come true!!!!! ciao…