A medieval “ghost town” may soon emerge from the bottom of a lake in Tuscany, according to news reports. It could be the first time that the ruined village has seen the light of day in more than 25 years.
This Italian Atlantis is known as Fabbriche di Careggine — a 12th-century town that was once home to about 150 residents, 31 houses and a stout stone church. For hundreds of years, the small town was a haven for artisan blacksmiths, according to Italian news site La Repubblica. But in 1946, it met its end when Italian energy company Enel built a hydroelectric dam in the surrounding valley. The town’s inhabitants were moved to a nearby village, Fabbriche di Careggine was flooded and the new artificial Lake Vagli was born.
In the 75 years that Fabbriche di Careggine has sat on the lake’s bottom, curious visitors have had four chances to walk among its ancient, water-weathered stones: in 1958, 1974, 1983 and 1994, when Lake Vagli was drained for dam maintenance, according to the local tourism board — and it may soon be drained again.