The world is full of sights that we think nothing of today, but that caused major upheaval when they were first introduced.
For instance, hearing a train pass by may be mildly disruptive at best, but a common concern in Victorian times held that the sounds and motion of trains would damage people’s sanity to such a degree that they’d instantly become violent and deranged. This was called “railway madness” and it seemed to assume that any rowdy or violent behavior by train passengers was the fault of the train itself.
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But while this was an unfounded and spurious claim, we can see a more immediate example of how a local feature changes things every time we see a dam. In many cases, people had to be displaced for that dam to be possible and in Italy, we can actually see the evidence of that displacement on some special occasions.
Although it’s likely very difficult, it’s not out of the question for you to meet someone who remembers when this shell of a village was an active community.
This is what remains Fabbriche di Careggine, which once stood in the province of Lucca in Italy’s Tuscany region.
As Travel + Leisure magazine reported , this town was constructed all the way back in the 13th century.
In 1947, however, the town had to be abandoned and it only takes one look at it now to see why.
Yes, since none of us are Aquaman, there’s no way that we can live in a town that lies submerged in what is now called Lake Vagli.
According to Travel + Leisure , when a dam was to be built on the Edron river, residents had to leave Fabbriche di Careggine for nearby towns because the area was about to be flooded.
Although the construction of this dam and the creation of Lake Vagli happened over 70 years ago, it’s not impossible to see modern photos of people walking through Fabbriche di Careggine.
And that’s because there have been rare occasions in the decades since where Lake Vagli is drained so the area can be maintained.
So far, this has only happened four times: once in 1958, once in 1974, once in 1983, and once in 1994. During those draining periods, Fabbriche di Careggine was not only visible, but actually possible to visit as we can see here.
And there’s a good chance that one of those drainage periods is coming up.
According to Travel + Leisure , the dam is owned by an organization called Enel and they’ve made a statement expressing the possibility of emptying the lake again in 2021.
Although Italy is not open to tourists outside of Europe at the time of this writing, that could very well change by the time Fabbriche di Careggine re-emerges.
Still, it’s important to emphasize that there’s only a *possibility* that Fabbriche di Careggine will return in 2021.
After all, there was a similar plan to drain the lake back in 2016, but that plan never took place.
Although it’s possible to get updates on the likelihood of the town’s visibility from the nearby town of Vagli de Sotto via its website and Facebook page , the information from both of those is written in Italian.
h/t: Travel+Leisure
