Italian ghost towns: Consonno or the Las Vegas of Lake Como

For a day from Milan, you can always check out the vast area of Monza, Brianza and Lake Como.
In fact, it would probably constitute more than one day trip, but today we take a look at what is known as a “ghost town” of Consonno in the Brianza.
It’s a kind of Las Vegas paradise in Italy that was born in the 60’s and abandoned soon after.

A small town of about 200 people once lived there, mostly involved in agricultural and sheep farming activities.

In 1962, Count Mario Bagno bought the entire town and demolished it, apart from the church of San Maurizio.
His aim was to build a casino capital just kilometres from Milan, which would either prove to be a success or an utter failure.
For more information on the town, have a look at the Associazione “Amici di Consonno” site, which has a lot of historic information on the town and its Count Bagno, including the buildings and videos of this interesting place.

The blog of Andrea Moro also has many photos of this unusual site, and you can also find Consonno on MySpace.

Consonno ghost town also appears in the Italian film “Figli di Annibale” by director Davide Ferrario, a scene from which you can see in the video after the jump.
The most part of Consonno is private property, where you can walk around the streets on foot, although most buildings are deemed dangerous and therefore entry inside the buildings is prohibited.
See the map for details on reaching Consonno from Lecco, on Lake Como, or Colle Brianza.