Italy is a paradise for urban explorers.
This summer we visited the country for ten days.
Together with Michael and Bryan from The Proper People
and the photographer tobi_urbex we were heading out to search for the beauty of decay.
Countless thorn stings and mosquito bites couldn’t stop us from exploring the most impressive abandoned sites of Italy.
Over the next months we will share the footage with you on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.
Join us on one of our most memorable urbex adventures to date!
Our journey starts in the North of Italy.
We're somewhere in the Alps and it’s shortly after sunrise.
At an altitude of 2.000 meters the first spot of our urbex road trip is located:
An abandoned military compound.
This was the perfect location to spend the first night of the trip.
And to meet our crew for the next ten days.
In this room we slept: Marco and Till from BWT.
In the chamber next door is the tent of Bryan and Michael from The Proper People.
And down the hallway is the room of tobi_urbex.
He is the local and he will help us get inside the craziest abandoned sites of Italy in the upcoming days.
As you might have already noticed: The whole building complex is completely empty.
There isn't much left to see.
We only came for the view.
It's a beautiful 360-degree panorama.
And we are right in the middle of it - next to those massive satellite dishes.
This spot is a former military base of the NATO.
But the compound is only a small part of a huge network in the whole EU.
Just a few days after this exploration we want to do another overnight stay at one of those abandoned radar stations.
After a multi-year construction phase the surveillance and communication operation started in 1969.
During the Cold War, NATO troops could maintain contact due to those dishes.
This abandoned radar station was the starting point of our urbex road trip through the Northern part of Italy.
Two more locations are on our bucket list for this day.
But before we head to them it’s time for breakfast, first, which we are preparing inside the bulletproof watchtower.
For breakfast we have eggs.
With tomatoes and shallots.
And bacon. And cheese. On toast!
Voilà! – Thank you. This looks perfect!
In 1995, the operation of the radar station ceased.
After the end of the Cold War it wasn't needed anymore.
Over ten years later, the property was purchased by a private investor for around 100.000 Euros.
But he wasn't really caring about the former NATO base at all.
Instead he was offering it for sale and people were supposed to pay more than ten times the money of his purchasing price.
So it's not clear what will happen now with the compound.
But during our exploration a location scout came who was looking for the perfect backdrop of a new Ford Ranger ad.
Who knows, maybe you will see the spot soon on TV.
If so, let us know!
We now have to take the curvy mountain pass roads into the valley where the next abandoned spot is awaiting us.
The area in which we are located now is characterized by mining.
Already several hundred years ago the digging had started and there used to be mines everywhere in this valley.
But by now all of them are abandoned.
And one of those dead mines is our destination.
The Proper People are already waiting for us in their dark Škoda rental next to the site.
This impressive building complex is the second urbex spot of our trip.
From the aerial image you might see that the place was partly built into the mountain.
But we aren't really equipped for long, dark tunnels.
Today we're only here to see the beautiful main building.
Shortly before the turn of the millennium this mine became disused.
For 20 years the building has been decaying now and as you can see the old conveyor belts are already reclaimed by nature.
The one end of this conveyor directly leads into the mountain.
But it's also an entrance to the main building, that's why we’re taking this way.
Even though we aren't well equipped for that as we mentioned earlier.
A bit deeper in the tunnel there is a way down to the mine shaft and a way up to the building.
We are following the feeder band upstairs.
Unfortunately, the building doesn't look as stunning from the inside as it does from the outside.
As a matter of fact, it's just a huge death trap and we really felt uncomfortable the whole time during this exploration.
Because of wind and whether there's rust all over the place.
Holes are everywhere in the thin sheet metal floor, so every single step has to be taken thoughtfully.
Nearly all of the stairs are already broken and should be avoided.
But in order to explore all the different floors of the site we have to take the risk.
A quick look at the ceiling reveals why the place is in such a bad condition:
Due to the broken roof rainwater can get in easily.
And vandals are speeding up the decay even more.
In the past mainly fluorite was mined there.
This is one of the most important industrial minerals for the steel and light metal production.
Even today you can find plenty of machines here which were used to process the minerals.
In this facility they were prepared for the transport to other parts of the country.
In order to do that the rocks were crushed and washed.
It's unclear when mining at this location started, but it probably was around the 1930s.
About 100 pitmen used to work here during the time of the production peak in the ‘60s.
After that time, the slow descent started.
Demand slackened and the costs of mining became extremely high.
This lead to downsizing and most of the workers had been laid off.
In the ‘90s, only 30 employees were left.
Half of them were working underground and were mining around one hundred tons of raw materials per day.
In 1999, this was the last active mine in the valley.
After all the other facilities weren't profitable any more, this one was also abandoned in the end.
At this point, there is no hope left for this property.
The mine next door was turned into a climbing park but this one is that decayed that the only option would be demolition.
All of these photos were taken by our Italian friend tobi_urbex.
If you like these pictures make sure to visit him on Instagram.
You can find the link to the profile in the video description down below.
During our time in Italy, we wanted to see places the explorations of which we have already been planning for years.
In the following episodes we are going to visit abandoned asylums, churches, manors
and many more beautiful buildings marked by longstanding vacancy
So the radar station and this mine were only the beginning.
The real highlights are just about to come.
Next time on Broken Window Theory:
Our journey through Italy continues.
The next location is a massive old factory.
By now it became a home for illegal refugees.
But if you dare to enter you will be rewarded with the most beautiful natural decay we have seen inside an abandoned factory so far.
This was part one of our latest road trip series.
Special thanks to all our supporters on Patreon who helped us make this adventure possible.
We have filmed 20 abandoned sites on our journey.
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See you next time, guys!