four years ago, Eleonora Costi, an Italian photographer based in Florence, was skimming through a local paper when she came across an article about an abandoned 14th-century villa located just few miles north of Milan. “It sounded like a good location to take photos, so I decided to go and check it out,” she says. “The first thing I remember is a vivid scent of wet wood and a haunting silence.”
Originally built by the Pusterla family, the 10-acre estate was later acquired by the Cirivelli and Arconati families. During the 19th century it became known as “Villa Napoleone” after Napoleon Bonaparte used it as his headquarters during the Italian chapter of the French Revolutionary Wars. By 1879, the government had converted the estate into one of the largest psychiatric facilities in the country. It wasn’t until after 1978, when a new law called for the dismantling of psychiatric hospitals, that the nearly 700 year-old estate was abandoned. No effort has been made to restore it since.
“It was dark, damp, and really quiet,” Costi says. “It’s a kind of surreal silence I have been feeling only in abandoned places. As if anyone could come out from behind a corner at any time.”
Two years ago, this 19th century villa outside Milan was in bad shape. It has since been restored and sold to a new owner.
Two years ago, this 19th century villa outside Milan was in bad shape. It has since been restored and sold to a new owner.
Since that first trip, Costi has visited more than 50 abandoned villas across northern and central Italy. “Once you start researching, you realize that there is a whole world of abandoned places out there.”
Over the years, she’s developed a varied methodology to find such hidden gems. Sometimes it’s about entering the right string of keywords into Google. Other times, she searches local papers to see if anyone is mentioning a villa that is crumbling or a family from the area that used to own one. Google Earth also helps. “If you pay attention to the right kind of signs, you can spot them from above,” she says. “For example, if a roof seems like it has some crumbling parts, that is usually a promising clue.”
