Explore #8 of the ‘128mb SD Card Tour’
James and Jade had camped out in this old abandoned villa on a trip the year before (in fact their old tents were still stored in a decaying outbuilding!), so we decided to do the same for the night to save some €€€ for the Italian road tolls and James’ speeding tickets. 😉
History
I haven’t been able to locate any history for this old villa. It appears to have been used as offices prior to its disuse – possibly as part of a former industrial site nearby which has now been redeveloped into parkland. The property has lain empty and for sale for many years, and despite signs of recent modest attempts to cover the worst of the decay (the downstairs hall has been repainted in the past year or so) a buyer is still proving elusive.
Our Explore
After making a stopover at a supermarket to load up on provisions we scaled the high wrought-iron perimeter fence and made our way inside. We quickly set up the inners of our cheapo tents a) to keep any old dust out and b) well, we had them so might as well use them! And then it was time for the evening’s festivities, with a veritable smorgasbord of a picnic: cheeses, bread, salads, cold meats, crisps, and more than a modicum of alcohol 🙂 …
(Please excuse the grainy phone snaps!)
Towards the end of the evening we had a few vinos out on the balcony, looking back over the front garden and doing our best to keep our drunken voices down so as not to reveal our clandestine campsite. To be honest the whole area was deserted at that time of night anyway…
… the next morning the hangovers were brutal. Slowly we packed our things away, as always being careful to make sure that we removed every trace of rubbish with us. We also had some fun “helping” Jade take her tent down…
…on our way out we quickly photographed the only feature of any real interest – the attractive entrance hall and sweeping staircase, before making our way back outside and off to the next location.
Thanks for camping out.
Adam X