Bussana Vecchia is a 100-year-old town in Liguria province, 

It is located a few kilometres from the Italian-French border. 
Bussana suffered a serious earthquake in 1887, which has left the village abandoned for decades, but in the early 1960's the Community of International Artists decided to move into the ghost village.

The spirit of the community was somewhat idealistic: to be able to live simply and to work artistically.
There was no electricity, no water or sanitation.

The community grew quickly and the original members of the international artists grew to 40-50 people.

In the end of the 60s, artists were arriving from all over Europe ( Austria, England, France, Denmark, Germany and Sweden) and were settled in the Bussana.

Mainly because of political and economical disagreements the tension grew between the artists and the government forces; on  the 25th of July 1968 an eviction notice was ordered and enforcement police was sent to evacuate the village.  

The artists were refusing to leave and to protect themselves they invited over a large group of international news reporters in order to  ask them to document the confrontation- which has never happened, as the police reft.

The latest eviction order against the artists was issued in 1997 when all buildings were declared the property of the Italian Government. 

The community is still living and working from Bussana, which over the years has become a main tourist attraction within the Northern part of Italy and  the village gives home to many festivals and artistic events during the summer time.