In recent days I have visited a small park in which an abandoned villa called Villa Bini is connected. Once the residence of a noble local family, it has been abandoned for decades and today it is also at risk of collapse, which is why access was forbidden, erecting a protection with wooden boards. The wind and perhaps even some unauthorized raids have opened a passage but it is not recommended to go further.
The outdoor garden is really beautiful and full of fruit trees such as tangerines and lemons, freely collected by those who visit the park. In the garden of the villa there is a tank, to date it only collects rainwater, but in the past it was full of fish and cared for by gardeners. In the center of the basin there is an altar which probably in the past housed a statue or coat of arms of the family but today is instead covered only by uncultivated grass.
Along the avenue there is a cage, a guardhouse, in which vigilantes alternated to make sure that the criminals were far from the villa. In the past, assaults on villas were very frequent, poverty was much more widespread and for this reason the nobles loved to have large gardens, in which to spend and enjoy leisure time as a hobby or simply relax. Going out on the streets was not safe for the wealthiest.
An abandoned farmhouse was the place where materials used for the care of gardens and animals are kept. The stable is located on the back of the villa but unfortunately it is not accessible as it is at risk of collapse. The villa was once inhabited by a noble family and until the 1980s it was inhabited by the noble family whose younger heirs, after completing their studies, moved to northern Italy for work and with the death of the last nobles. , the house remained uninhabited.
The villa and the surrounding land are today protected by the authorities as a historic villa and therefore linked to constraints that do not allow the heirs to demolish it to give rise to a new building. The sale of the property is difficult due to the high costs of restoration and reclamation of the surrounding land. The municipality therefore attempted to transform it into a park for public use, after securing the villa, but it was a mild attempt as it instead favored the attendance of homeless people or small gangs of children.
Controls have increased to date but it is not unusual to observe small fires originating from the ground at night, forcing the authorities to re-evaluate their closure.
Thanks for taking the time to read the post.
Greetings