Fumegài is nicknamed "the ghost town": abandoned twice, completely isolated and silent, cut off from the world, in the cold and humid Carazzagno Valley. It cannot be reached by car, but only via a beautiful path that winds through the woods and runs alongside the deep gorge created by the stream. There was no electricity; water was supplied by a fountain and a well.
It began as a small village of about ten houses in the late 19th century, with its inhabitants dedicated to agriculture and sheep farming. It gradually depopulated in the 1920s, as younger generations sought better living conditions and jobs. Only a few elderly people remained, and then there was no one left. The construction of the dam and the Corlo reservoir in the early 1950s were the final blow, completely isolating the eastern side of the basin and its hamlets. Completely abandoned for decades, the district was repopulated in the early 1970s by a hippie community, seeking their ideal world (the murals seen in several rooms are their work). It wasn't long before it was also abandoned by hippies. The reasons are unclear: some online write that it was abandoned voluntarily due to the harsh winters and lack of sunlight; others say it was abandoned following a sudden police raid and the subsequent eviction of squatters, following a suicide that occurred right there. In 2019, a young man and his dog moved into one of the houses, cleaning up the area, installing a solar panel, and adapting to the solitary lifestyle. He stayed there for about a year and a half; a period during which the district revived for the third time, before returning to oblivion.
The name 'Fumegài' comes from the appearance of the original inhabitants, who, also engaged in charcoal burning or otherwise forced to shut themselves indoors with the fireplace burning, were stained with soot, like chimney sweeps. For this reason, they were nicknamed 'infumegài' or 'fumegài' (smoked in Venetian dialect).
It's a fascinating and eerie place: some furnishings and everyday objects (dishes, tools, an unmade bed, etc.) remain in the rooms, as if time had suddenly stopped and the inhabitants disappeared without warning; or as if in a hasty move. The houses are dilapidated: many wooden floors, ceilings, and balconies are unsafe.
Most of the houses can be "visited" but you must always be very careful. On the ground floor there is the kitchen with wide open drawers and, particularly in a house, the living area is decorated with meticulous murals. Instead, on the upper floors there are the rooms with the bed still unmade and the armchairs that have not been used for years.
Nature and dust have now taken over!
Translated by Google •
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