Pienza, Italia
13/04/2022
Abandoned buildings have something fascinating to them. It is the feeling of past times, constructions once filled with life and serving a purpose, now left behind uncared for, their substance slowly being eaten away by decay.
When we drove past numerous such ruins on our way to Pienza, it immediately occured to us that we would have to spend some time exploring them. Naturally, this also included taking some drone shots of the factory and surrounding countryside.
The picture series grants a look into a long-abandoned brick factory. You can see the large halls of the factory, an administrative area with destroyed office staples as well as the furnace used to burn the bricks. If you look closely, you may even be able to spot some paintball marks and airsoft bullets, most likely from some teenagers having played in there.
When entering the former office area with all its folders and files left behind, we found some almost 30 year old documents giving more indication of the purpose of the factory.
The documents below are a contract from 1993 about the purchase of an autonomous loading machine by brick manufacturer “Industria Laterizi Pienza” – the operator of the building – from Fiatallis, a US construction machinery producer. Whatever they meant by “autonomous” at the time – probably engine-powered but manually steered.
It is crazy to think that at some point the factory just shut down and all documents and a lot of equipment was left behind. Despite the destruction and decay over the years we were able to find a 30-year-old contract of sale with ease and I am sure there would have been so many more mysteries and and questions to be answered. However, as the holiday was only a brief one it was time for us to continue with our journey.
Ciao!