A typical street in present day Bussana Vecchia

Bussana Vecchia (Old Bussana) is a 1000 years old ghost town in Liguria a few kilometers from the Italian-French border, it depends administratively from the city of San Remo, IM. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (600x800, 120 KB)Photo taken by me of a tipical street in Bussana Vecchia File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (600x800, 120 KB)Photo taken by me of a tipical street in Bussana Vecchia File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... A street corner in the ghost town of Bodie, California. ... Liguria is a coastal region of north-western Italy, the third smallest of the Italian regions. ... The name San Remo can refer to several different things: San Remo, Italy – a large town in Italy San Remo, Victoria – a town in Victoria, Australia The San Remo – an apartment building in New York City This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might...

History

Bussana was founded probably in the second half of the ninth century when the coastal region was repeatedly attacked by Saracens. It was built on the top of a hill to be easily defended. For the rugby club Saracens see Saracens (rugby club) The term Saracen comes from Greek sarakenoi. ...

In 1429 it had 250 inhabitants and it was granted autonomy from the Marine Republic of Genoa. A period of major development followed and most of the actual buildings were built in this period. The Republic of Genoa, in full the Most Serene Republic of Genoa (known as the Ligurian Republic from 1798 to 1805) was an independent state in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast from ca. ...

Earthquake

A marmour memorial remembering those who died in the Earthquake in Bussana Vecchia

The French Riviera and western Liguria are at the junction of south-western Alps and Liguria basin, a region of moderate seismicity. The severest earthquake to hit Bussana struck the region on February 23, 1887 killing more than 2000 people. The worst of the damage in Bussana occurred at 6:21 on that Ash Wednesday morning, a twenty second seismic wave caused immediate destruction and deaths throughout the village. Image File history File linksMetadata Lapide_Bussana. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Lapide_Bussana. ... The Promenade des Anglais in Nice on the French Riviera at night. ... Liguria is a coastal region of north-western Italy, the third smallest of the Italian regions. ... The West face of the Petit Dru above the Chamonix valley near the Mer de Glace. ... Liguria is a coastal region of north-western Italy, the third smallest of the Italian regions. ... Global earthquake epicenters, 1963–1998 An earthquake is a sudden and sometimes catastrophic movement of a part of the Earths surface. ... February 23 is the 54th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1887 is a common year starting on Saturday (click on link for calendar). ... In the Western Christian calendar, Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent. ... p-wave and s-wave from seismograph A seismic wave is a wave that travels through the Earth, often as the result of an earthquake or explosion. ...

The earthquake was the first recorded by a true seismograph built by Cecchi in Moncalieri, Italy. Seismographs (in Greek seismos = earthquake and graphein = write) are used by seismologists to record seismic waves. ... Moncalieri is a town of approximately 56,000 inhabitants (2001) about nine kilometers south of Turin, Italy. ...

Most buildings were severely damaged and the authorities decided to rebuild the village in a new site downhill called Bussana Nuova (New Bussana). The old village was abandoned and all of its buildings declared dangerous.

Rebirth

In 1947 immigrants from Southern Italy started illegally settling the ghost town. After a few forced evictions by the Italian Police in the '50s the authorities ordered the destruction of all first floor stairways and rooftops. A street corner in the ghost town of Bodie, California. ...

Despite this in the early '60s a group of artists, the Community of International Artists (now International Artists Village), 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-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 25th 1968 an eviction was ordered again 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. Eviction is a legal process by which a landlord forces a tenant to move out of the landlords property involuntarily and usually permanently. ...

Today

The International Artists Village was born and despite periodical confrontation with the authorities (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 their handiwork to the tourists or organizing artistic events.

In 1980-1981 the French pirate radio Radio K was broadcasting from Bussana Nuova. The term pirate radio lacks a specific universal interpretation. ...

External links

• in the News
• official page of the International Artists Village
• Some good pics can be found here.
• The first WebSite of Bussana Vecchia created 1995