Italy: More than fifty journeys to a country’s abandoned places

In no other country have I photographed as many abandoned places as in Italy: villas, palazzi, churches, mountain villages, castles and old holiday colonies. More than half of my works were made there. Since 2009 I have travelled through the country more than fifty times, from the Alps to Campania. Why so much stands empty there has to do with where the houses lie, with the costs and with the sheer number of historic buildings.

Since 2009

Anyone who knows my work and my path a little knows of my deep bond with Italy and my great passion for the country. I made my first journey to the “luoghi abbandonati” in 2009, and Italy cast its spell on me at once: because of the architecture, the history, the colours and the Italian light. In no other country have I made so many tours or covered so many endless kilometres. Since 2011 I have travelled through the country several times every year, enjoying, besides the places, its way of life, its cooking and its many facets.

Some 250,000 to 300,000 kilometres have accumulated along the way, and by now I probably know the country better than many an Italian does. Italy is my number one feel-good place and will probably always remain so. Even after two large books on its abandoned places my passion is unbroken. Every year I discover new time capsules, enchanted villages and majestic architecture, and still there is always enough left to discover.

Why does Italy not simply save everything?

The sight of so many abandoned places often gives rise to the false assumption that Italy neglects its architecture. The answer is far more complex, for the Italians love their buildings and their history. Nevertheless it is impossible to save this variety and endless abundance of historic buildings in full.

It takes the right investors and achievable goals, and location plays a large part as well. Filling a majestic palazzo with vast halls with life is not easy when it lies remote in the mountains and the drive to the nearest supermarket alone takes half an hour. A restoration is expensive and often unthinkable for private individuals. Those who can afford it are more likely to settle on Lake Como or in other sought-after locations.

The figures behind it: according to an analysis by the institute Ifel, 27.3 per cent of homes in Italy stand empty, and almost 2,000 small towns lost more than a fifth of their inhabitants between 1971 and 2015. I have described this at length in the story Why do so many villas stand empty in Italy?.

What has changed

In every village and in the middle of nowhere many treasures still lie dormant. Unfortunately the growing interest in ruins has left clear traces here too. There is far more vandalism and lack of respect. Where places once mostly stayed untouched for years, there are now, sadly, many black sheep, destruction and theft. Some of the places I photographed can no longer be found today or have been badly damaged.

The view from above

The pictures in my most recent book were taken after MELANCHOLIA, from 2019 onwards. What is new are the aerial photographs, for which I now deliberately revisit many places where possible. Deciding which motifs to choose was unbelievably hard, for there would already be enough material again for a new book on Italy. What I show is only a fraction of the past few years.

Places with a soul

For me Italy is not just a second living room but rather my greatest place to recharge and come to myself, for inspiration and for the enjoyment of positive solitude, without being lonely at all.

I often call Italy’s architecture places with a soul. Every place tells very special stories, even when you do not know the historical details exactly. The colours are unique and still work their effect after decades of abandonment. To my mind there is nowhere else with so much surviving splendour, such unique frescoes and places that seem made for eternity. After a visit you would like best to save them all yourself. One can only hope that as many as possible survive, soul and all.

Italy is one of the twelve countries in my book VERGESSENE PRACHT, published by Frederking & Thaler in 2023. Two earlier books, NOSTALGIA and MELANCHOLIA, belong to Italy alone.

The pictures

Photographs from Italy from the series AIRSCAPES, HABITAT and BOUNDLESS, a small selection from the years since 2019.