Centro Vacanza della Gioventù Italiana
THE ABANDONED CHILDREN’S CAMP IN ITALY
‘Centro Vacanza della Gioventù Italiana’ is an abandoned children’s camp in the North of Italy, somewhere between the Adriatic Sea and the Alps. It was built in 1935 and abandoned in the late 1990s.
The Italian youth center was built in 1935 by Angelo Morelli De Rossi, Ettore D’Orlandi and Sergio Petz. It was built close to the Alps, for this reason it has a breathtaking view over the small mountain village. The youth camp was owned for more than twenty years by the GIL, or ‘Gioventù Italiana del Littorio’. GIL was a youth movement of the National Fascist Party in Italy, that was established in 1937.
In fact, the GIL was created to control and influence the minds of young kids. For this reason, kids were brainwashed, in the hope that they were raising the fascists of tomorrow. Aside from the usual Fascist Saturdays, children would spend their summers in camps like this one. Admission to the colonies was reserved for children belonging to needy families and orphaned children.
The old Summer Camp was later used as a hospital, but also as a scientific high school and finally, as a municipal depot. Over the years, the local government has tried to find some entrepreneurs willing to invest in the building, bringing it back to life, for example in the form of a hotel. But all was in vain, the old Colony is rotting away, being the victim of weather, local youth and fires.
These photos of the abandoned ‘Centro Vacanza della Gioventù Italiana’ or ‘Colonia Alpina GIL’ were taken in May 2018. If you like this report, you can also check Ospizio Sacra Famiglia and Colonia Rosa d’Italia.