Bussana
Vecchia is a 100-year-old ghost town in Liguria a few kilometres from the
Italian-French border. It is administratively a hamlet of the city of Sanremo.
It has
suffered a serious earthquake in 1887 which has left the village abandoned for
decades.
In the
early 1960s a group of artists, the Community of International Artists decided
to move to Bussana Vecchia.
The spirit
of the organization was somewhat idealistic: to be able to live simply and to
work artistically within the village.
In the
village there was no electricity, tap water or sanitation but the new community
of inhabitants grew from the small original nucleus to around twenty to thirty
people by 1968, mostly hippie artists coming from all over Europe (Italian,
Austrian, English, French, Danish, German and Swedish).
Tensions
with the old inhabitants and with the police grew until on July 25, 1968 an
eviction was ordered and the police sent to the village to enforce it. When the
police forces arrived, they were faced with the villagers behind their
barricades refusing to leave and by a large group of international news
reporters.
The police
decided to avoid confrontation.
The latest
eviction order was issued in 1997 when all buildings were declared property of
the Italian Government) the community is still living there, selling its
artwork to tourists, and organizing artistic events.