Italy Summer 2021 – The Industry and Morgue Tour

Highlights From This Trip

• 10 Days
• ~1800 Miles
• 28 Locations Explored
• ~600 photographs
• Some glorious natural decay
• Lots of industry in various states of preservation/decay

My second trip to beautiful Italy

It has been three long years since I last visited Italy! I have so many fond memories from my previous trip in 2018. Italy has always been a paradise for urbex, and not just for the locations. The beautiful weather, sandy beaches, tasty food and delicious wine must all be sampled. It is true, nothing is more perfect than a long summer adventure in a warm country filled with lost treasures and ruins.

a diverse Plethora of industry explored

Abandoned industrial locations are always a treat to explore and photograph. Whether they be collapsed ruins overtaken by nature, or pristine factories frozen in time. Immense turbine halls always promise to challenge even the widest of wide angle lenses. Control rooms challenge with asymmetric consoles, forcing you to improvise and work with lines and angles. A collection of bucket wheel excavators was also one of my top locations, the little brothers of Blue Wonder (in Germany).

Happily, this trip also granted me something which has been on my bucket list for a while. Thus far eluding me. A gasometer! The tall cylindrical tank was a truly surreal space to photograph. The smell of hydrocarbons drifting up from below, and the echoes reverberating as we moved around. It was truly a multi-sensory experience!

Orphanage, Sanatorium, hospitals and morgues

No macabre manicomio on this trip sadly, the ones on the wish list were too far off the route or with uncertain access information. Still, there were ample opportunities to photograph some darker subject matter on this trip; four morgues.

A wonderful atrium in an old sanatorium was one of the highlights of the trip for me. A classic staircase in an old orphanage was also enjoyable to photograph.

Timeless beauty – Italian Villas and an overgrown greenhouse

No trip to Italy would be complete without some beautiful villas! I was pleased to visit Villa Bellavista and Oriental Gem, as well as an immense castle with wonderful architecture.

Without a doubt, my top location of the trip was an abandoned greenhouse. Unfortunately a cloud of mosquitos also decided to come and join in the fun, so the explore was not as enjoyable as it could have been!