Forgotten Faraone

Approaching the abandoned medieval village of Faraone

Ancient Faraone.  Abandoned ancient Faraone.  It is a fantastic example of the fact that nature will consume what man has forgotten.  Walking through the greenery to peak at the buildings left to the vices is an eerie experience.

Evidence of a Ristorante/Bar which served the town

A cloud of sadness and mystery sits on my shoulders.  Hunger to know why the town, which is perched high up on a river bank, has been left, half destroyed, graffiti and crumbling walls.  Apparently it happened in the 1970s due to the fact that it was slipping into the river and a number of buildings had structural issues due to the earthquakes in the region.

Vegetation crawls through the window like a thief in the night

It is estimated that the walls were built in 1467.  Every historic town can’t be saved, that I understand, but it still seems sad.  What I don’t understand is why there is such wanton destruction on what was left behind.  It clearly looks more man-made than nature made – certainly graffiti gives some of that away.  Other areas the crumbling brick and broken tiles seem more the result of sledge hammers, although that is just conjecture.

Interior decorating left to the vices

A tremendous arch at the entrance, a simple church, a palace and three parallel streets hosting about 20 some odd building is the make up of this village.  It once hosted a convent of nuns, a bar, and a post office now all mutilated and devoured by vegetation.  Of course blackberries and stinging nettle, typical vegetation in disturbed sites, bear an ironic sign to a place once lived in by man.

The simple yet imposing arch at the entrance to the ancient city.

What I find most interesting as I wonder around, is that I can find little evidence of electricity or plumbing but their must have been.  Only on the side close to the church where the bar was do I see any wired or pipes.  It is unlikely the previous inhabitants did without in the 1900s, perhaps it was removed as people took the wire for money, similar to what you would see in North America.

A crippled set of doors open to greet the encroaching greenery

So for now and likely from this point forward, ancient Faraone, called Pharaoh in English, will be left in the hands of Mother Nature as she does her work to reclaim this forgotten village.  Soon it will be buried and disappear until perhaps one day, maybe, if man is still around, someone building on the site, will come across the remains, and it will become an archeological site.  That assumes man can last that much longer.  Walking through this village I am reminded of the documentary I have seen a couple of times where it is imagined that man suddenly is gone off this earth and it explores what happens to everything we have left behind.  This little village is a perfect example of what happens in the first 40 years.  So go to sleep Faraone.  I’m glad I got a chance to wonder through your presence before you disappeared.

Still standing strong

... but not for long.