So the reason that 'Campi' is in brackets is that this tiny, ancient village no longer exists. Most of the buildings continue to hang on to the mountainside, but walls have crumbled, windows gape and, six years after the central Italian earthquakes, weeds are overtaking roadways and growing up through cobblestones. The residents of the village now live in demountables at the bottom of the hill. There doesn't appear to be much hope that one day they might move back.
We stayed just below Campi, further down the hill, at a lovely B&B. Bizarrely, it was almost unaffected, despite being at the epicentre of the Norcia earthquake and only a few hundred metres from Campi.
The rest of the evidence is all around. There seem to be cranes in every village; road works and scaffolding everywhere; demountable shops and homes in every town. These aren't easy places to get to either. Campi is at 700m, on winding mountain roads. Castelluccia, not much more than 10km from Campi as the crow flies but 40km by road, is at 1400m.
Castelluccia is famous for its wildflowers, and used to have B&Bs and restaurants to cater for the tourists that spring and summer would bring. The photos below show some of what is left. But the residents seem to be determined to keep the town alive - there was a thriving demountable bar and cafe trade, caravans selling local produce, a 'ranch' for local horse rides, and a landing zone for hang gliders. It was an extraordinary couple of days.
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| The entire facade of the church in Campi has gone |
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| The ridge running horizontally across the mountain is the earthquake slip |
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| Castelluccia |
2 comments:
Just amazing - can't imagine how much work it would to secure those damaged buildings, hanging onto precious. Sad to see whole villages so affected🌺
I can understand them not wanting to leave - looks like such a pretty place.
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