Dark Music School / Collegio S, Italy

The Dark Music School is also known as Collegio S. This school was once a Roman Catholic boarding school. The college has been abandoned since the 1980s and is now in an advanced state of decay. In recent years vandalism and graffiti have almost destroyed this once beautiful educational establishment. We visited the college in the summer of 2018, as we travelled across Italy.

The religious school was built in the early 1960s. Around 200 male students would have been permanently housed here during the academic year. During the summer holidays, the school served as a summer camp for the boys of northern Italy.

Inside the abandoned Dark Music School (Collegio S)

The college inside is labyrinthian; a seemingly endless collection of corridors.

The main attraction at Dark Music School, is the basement music room. This small and dingy room is still filled with vintage desks. A blackboard hangs on the wall behind the teacher’s desk. On the wall above the desks are staves and clefs. Only some of these remain after vandals have satiated their need for destruction over the years. These notes were originally the solfège syllables; do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti. Solfège is a technique used to teach aural skills, pitch and sight-reading of music.

There are numerous other classrooms and dormitory rooms, mainly on the upper levels.

Additionally, there is also a large abandoned auditorium at the Dark Music School. The wooden floor of the stage has been mostly removed. In order to reach the centre stage, you must walk across the beams which would have supported the now-missing floor. The theatre has retained the original folding chairs.

My favourite area, however, was the chapel. This area is less damaged than the rest of the building. The colourful mural above the altar is very beautiful, with many interesting details

Arson attack and auction in 2019

In the summer of 2019 there was also a fire, which local authorities report as arson. This was based on inspections of the fire brigades that attended the blaze. Fires began in several areas of the former college, which certainly points to a deliberate motive.

Later in 2019, Dark Music School has been put up for auction in a desperate attempt to re-purpose the site. The starting price of the auction is set at 30,000 Euro. The auction lot states that the building is degraded and structurally unsound. A municipal ordinance also states that many buildings are not up to modern legal building standards. As a result of this, the auctioneers are only permitting potential bidders to view the building from the outside. Reading between the lines, it seems Dark Music College may be slated for demolition if new owners are found.