MEDIEVAL VILLAGE IN ITALY TO RESURFACE AFTER BEING SUBMERGED IN THE LAKE FOR 27 YEARS
The opportunity to explore the alleys of a medieval ghost town is not something that comes around very often. The settlement of Fabbriche di Careggine, located in the Lucca Province of Tuscany, Italy, was inundated in the 12th century. The waters that swallowed the village became known as Lake Vagli after the region was dammed in 1947. The Romanesque Church, residential buildings, and the masonry of Fabbriche di Careggine's cemetery are situated beneath 34 million cubic meters of water in the centre of the man-made basin.
The residents of the medieval village who remained after this significant transformation were moved to Vagli di Sotto, a nearby town whose architecture was modelled after that of Fabbriche di Careggine. A few years later, the dam was finished, filling the basin and adding Fabbriche di Careggine to the list of lost treasures, along with the Titanic and Port Royal. Surprisingly, the town was last resurfaced in 1994 when the basin was emptied for upkeep and cleaning. The modest Italian hamlet expected to welcome thousands of tourists for the big unveiling when the lake was drained in 2021.
When Vagli di Sotto, their cherished ghost town, was last revived, Lorenza Giorgi's father served as its mayor. "I hope that next year...with the support of social networks, we will be able to replicate and overcome the incredible success, with just as much attention," she says in a recent Facebook post. In addition, Enel, the dam's owner, is drafting a "Memorandum of Understanding" that will address worries about the lake being empty for an extended length of time while promoting tourism in the region.
However, when water levels drop sufficiently, the remnants of Fabbriche di Careggine can occasionally be seen cresting the waves. This has happened four times during routine dam maintenance. The last time this happened was in 1994, when thousands of tourists flocked to the dilapidated, eerie village to explore its streets and get a close-up look at the abandoned homes, bridge, bell tower, and St. Theodore Church. The experience and vision of Fabbriche di Careggine are so vivid that they have been dubbed "la piccola Atlantide" (the little Atlantis) and "la piccola Pompei" (the small Pompeii). The settlement has remained under the lake ever since, waiting for another opportunity to reappear and sun-dry its stones.
It's still unclear when that will happen. It is teased but never delivered, almost every few years. It was announced for 2016 in 2015, but it never materialised. It was once more in 2020, but it didn't proceed. In 2023, the same thing happened, but the lake did not move. However, because of the depth of the lake, which keeps it obscured by darkness and water pressure too high for divers, it will provide an answer to a significant question regarding the condition of Fabbriche di Careggine whenever it occurs. However, as with medieval buildings in Spain and other old buildings around Europe, recent droughts have provided sporadic glimpses, exposing some buildings on the brink.