Old Bussana Medieval Ghost Town

For decades, international celebrities and ordinary tourists alike have traveled in pursuit of the glitz of Sanremo, famous for its music festival and the wealth of world-class villas that loom over its teal waters. But how many of these visitors know that lurking just beyond the glamour is a rogue art community rebuilt from its own ruins?

In medieval times, what is now prime real estate was exposed to all kinds of raiders and conquerers. In order to survive, individual homes and entire communities had to be built directly into the jagged hills that dotted the valleys between mountain and sea. Homes and buildings hung in precarious clusters in the rock, often supported by a single narrow, winding road both in and out. Serving as their own fortresses, these towns boasted engineering so advanced as to have held off the advances not only of their enemies, but of time itself.