A town that had exploded economically in the 20th century thanks to a far-sighted entrepreneur. And as quickly as it exploded so quickly did it fade away, turning into an abandoned, silent and gloomy place shrouded in dense forest cover. We are talking about Consonno, Lombardy’s “toyland” or the “Las Vegas” of Lombardy.
All nicknames it had obtained thanks to the fame it achieved in the 1960s and 1970s. It went from being a rural town to a happy and wealthy destination for anyone who wanted to have a good time and then also benefited especially from its proximity to Milan, about an hour or so away.
Consonno, the ghost town
Rural and somewhat decentralized Consonno managed to survive through craft activities and cultivation of the fields. An honest, country town by origin. It underwent its transformation when the eccentric Milanese entrepreneur Mario Bagno set his eyes on it, who during the period of Italy’s great economic boom ( c. 1960s) was in charge of several construction sites to build roads and airports throughout the country. He saw Consonno and flashed him the idea of making it “toyland,” mainly because of its proximity to Milan.
In 1962, Impresa Bagno, with a notarial deed, took possession of all the Borgo’s territory, had a road built to connect it with Olginate (the town of which Consonno is a hamlet), and embarked on a lengthy redevelopment of the area by razing what remained of the old town.
What Mario Bagno built there
Bagno started the work, and before long restaurants, a dance hall, a luxury hotel, a medieval castle, and the famous “minaret” sprang up. Never satiated, the entrepreneur continued with a soccer field, a basketball court, a tennis court, a bocce court, a golf course, a skating rink, a shooting pool, an amusement park, and a zoo.
As well as various constructions with references to the most varied cultures, such as a pagoda and a panoramic train to view the entire city. Within a short time Consonno became unrecognizable and often hosted great figures from music and entertainment in its premises. A fairy-tale place to go to party and have fun.
A merciless end
But soon the joy passed and a trivial landslide was enough to dissolve the magic: the geological aggression of all this undoing and rebuilding did not benefit the area at all. In fact, a first landslide destroyed the main road that connected Consonno to the rest of the world. Mario Bagno set to work and restored it. Soon, in 1976 another one destroyed everything again, definitively annihilating the entrepreneur’s dreams. With no more connections the influx of tourists to Consonno soon diminished.
Tired, distressed and weakened by landslides Consonno lost prestige. Bagno attempted to revive it in the 1980s by building an old people’s home, but by then the magic had faded, gradually the hamlets were abandoned, and the dreams faded with the death of Mario Bagno.
The empty and abandoned village received a further years later in 2007 when a rave party was organized: during those three days several structures were daubed with graffiti and damaged.
Now Consonno lies silent, ghostly, shrouded in the gentle embrace of nature’s masterful embrace. There is an association ( Friends of Consonno ) that is trying to revive the hamlet. Numerous times it has been an ideal location for film sets, advertising clips and music clips.
It can be visited, but given its perilous condition, access is limited.