Bussana Vecchia, a recovered village.
In the far western Liguria, a few kilometers away from the glitz of Sanremo, perched on a summit, it lies the ancient village of Bussana Vecchia, an abandoned and partially ruined town brought back to life and a destination for many tourists in search of picturesque places.
Four kilometers from the beautiful beaches, a place of art.
Background.
A terrible earthquake occurred on 23rd February 1887, caused the collapse of many houses and the church of what was the village of Bussana. The damages were really huge and houses, deemed unsafe, were abandoned.
The village was rebuilt further down, closer to the coast, and since then it has become Bussana.
The abandoned town became known as Bussana Vecchia and remained abandoned for over 60 years. In the early 60s a ceramicist of Turin decided to retire in the village in ruins and moved here his shop.
Other artists from all over Europe and not only followed his example, renovating the ruins and transforming the old town into an art town.
Things to see.
Once in Bussana Vecchia after a rise of four km from Aurelia, we leave the car at the entrance of the village and enter in the village streets, narrow and picturesque, admiring at each step workshops of every kind, painters, sculptors, costume jewelry manufacturers, potters. It’s a colorful kaleidoscope, a mixture of languages but you find yourself immersed in a serene environment, not at all noisy, despite on summer tourism is significant.
At the end of the road, above the village, we find the ruins of the S. Egidio church, from which the view extends from the mountains of the backcountry to the sea.
Going back to the car we can refresh ourselves at the bar at the beginning of Bussana Vecchia and before leaving it, it is worth visiting the nursery at the entrance of the village where you can admire, and buy, beautiful bonsai.
An absolutely peculiar curiosity of Bussana Vecchia is that its “Regulations” order that anyone who wants to move here and open a shop, can simply occupy an abandoned ruin and restore it, as long as he uses only recycled materials abandoned in the place.