The Italian Adventure

By Peter
augustus 20, 2025
0 comments
Category: Italy, Roadtrip

An extensive roadtrip through beautiful abandoned Italy had been on my bucket list ever since I embarked on this urban exploring adventure. In the spring of 2025, it finally happened… After months of preparation, searching, and planning, we boarded a plane on June 14th and flew towards the adventure! And boy, what an adventure it was!
A travelogue.

A few images to set the mood…

For our first trip to Italy, we wanted to visit some of the “golden oldies”—the well-known urbex spots any urban explorer simply must see. At the same time, we were looking for a healthy mix: some residential spots, some industrial sites, and a few of the typical “manicomios” (insane asylums). After putting together our itinerary, booking hotels, buying plane tickets, and renting a car, the day finally arrived on June 14, 2025.

Since our program focused on the area between Milan and Turin, we chose Milan as our base. Everything went according to plan, from the airport transfer to check-in, and at 10:30 am we were airborne, on our way to our Big Italian Adventure.

When we crossed the Alps an hour and a half later, considerably faster than that guy with his elephants 2,200 years ago, a slight euphoria took hold of us… A quick snapshot from the airplane window of that rather impressive spectacle.

Italy, here we come!

Our tour of Italy initially led us south. Since we were up early in the morning and had a long journey behind us, we chose a beautiful villa as our first stop. This magnificent mansion, known for its impressive frescoes, was the perfect location for our introduction to Italy.

Although the entire estate is fenced off and seems very inaccessible, we quickly found a way inside. Besides the familiar central rooms in the palazzo with the frescoes, we found several other beautiful nooks, including, not in the least, a charming indoor chapel…

First mission accomplished! The tone was set for our further adventures…

The first day also took us to the first “insane asylum” of this trip, the beautiful Manicomio with its rather unappealing history. It took a bit of searching to get in. The grounds, which are still partially in use, are well-fenced. Yet, even here, we found an opening in the fence just large enough to gain access.

Once inside, we could leisurely wander through the endless corridors, where nature slowly but surely makes its way in. No trace of the horrors that once took place within these walls remains. Or at least, almost no trace… The cells in the “rotonda dei furiosi” leave little to the imagination…

All in all, a wonderful end to our first day in Italy…

From one insane asylum to another. Our first stop on day 2 took us to one of the most famous, beautiful, and best-preserved “manicomios” in this region. Its continued existence is questionable, especially as regards the oldest and most photographed building. On the park side, part of the rear facade has already collapsed. A few years ago, the facades were reinforced with tension cables to prevent further collapse. How long this situation can last remains to be seen…

Despite the fact that many of the “familiar” elements have been removed, it remains an impressive building, where we enjoyed wandering around for several hours…

The next “classic” on our itinerary was the magnificent Villa Mint, a must-see for any urban explorer worth their salt. We definitely couldn’t miss it! But alas… Upon arrival at the villa, we discovered that renovations were underway and several cameras had been installed to keep out unwanted visitors… A shame, but that’s all part of the game.

On to the next one then, an abandoned orphanage in the vicinity. The orphanage turned out to be rather unfortunately situated along a fairly busy road, and the surrounding lawn had only recently been mowed. There was no way to sneak onto the grounds unnoticed, away from prying eyes. So we plucked up courage, climbed the low wall at the front, and pretended we simply belonged there. We learned later that people are regularly taken out of the building by the carabinieri, but thankfully, we were spared that. And the largely empty building turned out to have some surprisingly beautiful features, such as this lovely indoor chapel…

The final stop on our second day was—you guessed it—a manicomio. The third and final insane asylum on our program. On my Facebook page, I dubbed this location “Inferno delle Zanzare”: mosquito hell! And for a damn good reason! To get to the site, we had to go all the way around the back through the bushes. That’s where all hell broke loose. By the time we got on the estate, we were all but devoured by the most ferocious mosquitos I ever encountered and deeply regretting our decision to go exploring in shorts that day…

The first building we came across was the chapel, located in the center of the grounds. It turned out to be completely vandalized and defaced. We couldn’t help but feel a bit discouraged, but luckily my partner in crime urged us to explore a bit further. And yes, the next pavilion we visited turned out to have some beautiful nooks and crannies, and considerably less vandalism.

Since it was getting late and we were starting to show signs of anemia after being sucked dry by mosquitoes, we selected a few of the pavilions to visit and skipped others. Apparently, we didn’t always make the right choices, because we later discovered we’d missed a beautiful auditorium here, aptly named the “Mosquito Theatre”.

The third day started with an absolute blast! One of the highlights of this trip to Italy. Still enjoying the morning coolness, we made our way to this abandoned cinema. We found our way inside more easily than we anticipated, and from the very first glance, it was love at first sight! What a beautiful building, with magnificent Art Deco elements.

I could certainly have spent more time here, but my traveling companion, a strict stickler for the itinerary, dragged me relentlessly along to the next location…

…And a good thing too, because the next one was also a beautiful one! A good urban exploration trip isn’t complete without at least a few industrial sites, and since we were in a region where quite a lot of textile industry had existed, an abandoned “cotonificio” was a must. In this first one, we could practically walk right in. That’s usually not a good sign, because it means loitering youths, vandals, and other undesirables can get in just as easily. Fully prepared for a severely trashed location, we were nevertheless pleasantly surprised. The administrative section of the immense factory had been completely ransacked, but the actual factory itself was still quite intact…

It was a somewhat confusing location, with interconnected buildings that seemed to flow into each other, making it difficult to find my bearings at times. Still, I think I saw and captured most of the important views here…

All good things come threefold… Or at the very least – in this case – twofold! Our next stop was also an abandoned former textile factory. Accessing the grounds was much more difficult here. A less-than-cooperative waiter from a neighboring restaurant didn’t help matters either. Luckily, we don’t give up easily! Eventually, we found an opening in the fence on the other side of the grounds.

This cotonificio is located on a massive industrial estate. We weren’t entirely sure if the whole industrial complex was abandoned, so we limited ourselves to the part that clearly was. Not the beautiful decay of the former textile factory, but all in all, we did find some lovely dilapidated spaces, such as this mossy meeting room…

Our last stop on day 3 was a bit of a disappointment. Upon arrival, we discovered that the entire building, a large hotel that had been vacant for years, was now covered in scaffolding. It’s great that this beautiful building is getting a new lease on life, but we would have preferred if they had waited a bit longer, like until after our visit… Oh well, as mentioned before: that’s all part of the game.

Luckily, the location in question was on the shores of Lake Como. A perfect opportunity to turn necessity into a virtue and be tourists for an evening. We crossed beautiful Lake Como by ferry and found a cozy restaurant on the other side, where we enjoyed Italian cuisine on a terrace right on the lake! A nice change from the quick bite at a pizzeria, which usually seems to be inherent to urban exploration…

View of a small harbour from the terrace

If there’s one thing the Italians are masters of, it’s constructing imposing villas. This villa, built entirely of concrete, the hallmark of a wealthy industrial family active in the cement industry, is a prime example. Years of vacancy and vandalism by local youths have taken a heavy toll on this impressive building, but there’s still plenty of beauty to enjoy, not in the least the magnificent winter garden adjacent to the villa.

The first location of our fourth and final day in the land of pasta and Chianti was an immediate hit. Still, we were finished here sooner than expected. Luckily, we had another location around the corner: the cement company owned by the family who also happened to own this villa… So, we decided to pay it a visit.

It’s always a win when there’s some time left for an additional location, and if it happens to be an industrial site, that’s the icing on the cake. Getting onto the grounds was a breeze, but once there, it took some searching to find a way to reach the upper floors. What a magnificent concrete ruin this was, with beautiful structures and lines, a beautiful decay, and nature reclaiming its rights even on the highest floors and the most inhospitable subsoil…

A classic in the Italian urbex scene is this unique sanatorium for tuberculosis patients. The hospital wings behind it were emptied several years ago, but the reception building in front and the beautiful central chapel, dedicated to Charles Borromeo, were our primary target.

It was therefore, as you can imagine, a very unpleasant surprise when we entered the chapel and discovered it had been heavily vandalized. The vandals were also rampant in the reception building. It was a particularly shocking sight… The photos you’ll find in my series of this location have been significantly “sanitized” to capture the essence of the building.

Only the chapel’s beautiful dome—at least from the inside, where the vandals couldn’t reach it—remains beautifully preserved. This is also the only “natural” shot in the series.

The last location on our itinerary was this severely dilapidated theater. We didn’t have to search long to find a way in. Everything is just wide open, shielded only by a low fence that you can practically step over. When a location is this easily accessible, it usually doesn’t bode well… After all, it means vandals can easily walk in too.

We were therefore very surprised, pleasantly surprised, to see that there was absolutely no vandalism. The decay of this theater, exposed to the elements, is entirely natural and has been going on for quite some time. Climbing onto the stage was an adventure in itself, and since it’s quite dark inside, we had to constantly watch where we put our feet.

Upon arriving at the theater, we’d already noticed that numerous buildings surrounding it seemed empty too. Since we still had some time before we had to return to the airport, we decided to have a quick look in one of them.

Across the street, we saw this large building that was clearly vacant. We managed to get in relatively easily. It was a bit of an odd building, shallow and opening onto a large, empty warehouse at the rear. Upstairs, however, was a small and attractively decayed living area.

Not a spectacular location, but nevertheless a nice unexpected ending to a very successful trip!

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