Through some detours I managed to get up the hill this stage of the Grande Traversata delle Alpi. At the top, next to the Refugio, was an old small village with about 18 houses that were in varying condition. The owner of the Refugio had been living there for generations as the last one and once it was all full of families. The place is unique on the edge of a mountain and on a narrow cliff, but at the same time quite inaccessible. However, in summer quite a lot of hikers pass by the refugio to enjoy the view. The village continues to deteriorate until there is hardly anything left of it. These are testimonies of a sinking culture.
Hidden deep in the Italian Alps are countless stories of villages that once thrived but have since fallen silent, their houses and streets slowly reclaimed by time. Walking into one of these abandoned villages feels like stepping into another world—where the echoes of the past linger in every stone wall, wooden door, and overgrown pathway.
This particular alpine village was once home to farming families who relied on the mountain’s harsh but fertile environment. Terraced fields, now covered in grass and wildflowers, hint at a time when life here revolved around tending livestock and cultivating the land. The sound of cowbells and the chatter of neighbors once filled these narrow lanes, but now only the wind and the calls of mountain birds remain.
Many such villages in the Alps were abandoned in the 20th century, when economic hardship and harsh winters drove younger generations to seek work in the cities. Without people to maintain them, the homes—built of stone with slate roofs—began to crumble. Today, they stand as haunting ruins, their windows like empty eyes looking out over valleys below.
Yet despite the decay, there is beauty everywhere. Ivy climbs over old archways, alpine flowers bloom in cracks of stone, and moss carpets stairways that once carried families to their homes. Walking through, you feel both the sadness of abandonment and the resilience of nature reclaiming its space. In some places, small chapels or shrines remain intact, their faded frescoes still visible, a reminder of the strong faith that sustained mountain communities through centuries of hardship.
Exploring such a village also sparks reflection on how quickly human life can change. A place once full of laughter, work, and tradition now exists only as memory. At the same time, these ruins connect us with the people who came before, their determination to live high in the mountains, and the heritage they left behind.
For those who stumble upon them, abandoned alpine villages are not just eerie or mysterious—they are powerful reminders of resilience, loss, and the passage of time, set against the breathtaking backdrop of the Italian Alps.