Original subtitles

[narrator] An American machine of war given a second life.

Landing people on the moon was an epic defining moment,

but it wasn't the end of the mission.

[narrator] An eerie shrine that offered the promise of immortality.

Children would burst into tears

at the sight of the departed father of their country.

[narrator] And a labor of love born from the ashes of trauma.

[narrator] And a labor of love born from the ashes of trauma.

This was architecture intended to look forward to a new kind of future.

[narrator] Decaying relics...

Ruins of lost worlds...

Sites haunted by the past...

Their secrets waiting to be revealed.

In Alameda County, California,

lies a behemoth with a story that is out of this world.

[Prof. Geoff Wawro] Obviously, we're in San Francisco Bay.

This is a bustling bay with lots of industry, lots of naval facilities.

And then you come up and you see this huge vision before you.

And then you come up and you see this huge vision before you.

And there's no mystery what this is.

It's an aircraft carrier.

[Alexis Pedrick] It's imposing.

It's sleek.

It's deadly.

[narrator] Inside, the vessel has everything you'd expect to see on board a U.S. Navy ship.

[Pedrick] Everywhere you turn,

there are more dials, more instruments, more screens.

there are more dials, more instruments, more screens.

[Dr. Katherine Landdeck] And then there are rows and rows of beds for the crew.

There's a kitchen.

There's just everything that you need to survive and function.

It's essentially a floating city.

[narrator] This ship served a vital role

in the 20th century's greatest conflict.

But there are features that reveal it also had another mission.

[Wawro] And that's this airstream trailer parked conspicuously

with a presidential seal on it.

with a presidential seal on it.

And that suggests that this aircraft carrier had a very specific purpose

in addition to its wartime role.

[Cappa] Right now, we're in what's called primary flight.

And it's basically the same thing

as air traffic controller at a civilian airport.

The air boss would be running the show up here

directing flight operations down the flight deck.

[narrator] Retired U.S. Naval Officer Ron Cappa

[narrator] Retired U.S. Naval Officer Ron Cappa

has inspected numerous aircraft carriers over his military career.

This one, the USS Hornet, is a true legend.

[Cappa] The Hornet was part of a carrier task group

that was responsible for launching many strikes.

The carrier could launch planes about every 30 seconds.

They were the most modern and the biggest of the time.

[Landdeck] Construction begins in August of 1942,

and it's finished in August of 1943.

It took just one year to build this massive aircraft carrier.

[narrator] When launched into action

against the Axis powers of World War II,

she was a fearsome beast.

The ship was stocked with some serious air power,

including air groups of fighter, bomber and torpedo squadrons.

including air groups of fighter, bomber and torpedo squadrons.

[Landdeck] If you look at the USS Hornet,

the history of this ship,

it is intertwined with the history of the American War

in the Pacific and World War II.

[Wawro] The ship fought in multiple campaigns

in New Guinea, in the Philippines,

in Iwo Jima, Saipan.

It had, like, seven battle stars.

[narrator] The Hornet's most famous engagement

was the battle of the Philippine Sea,

was the battle of the Philippine Sea,

later dubbed "The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot."

[Cappa] The battle of Philippine Sea was quite historic.

The Japanese were looking for the Americans,

and they were in the Philippines Sea, around the Mariana Islands.

And the Japanese actually spotted the fleet

before the Americans had discovered the Japanese.

[Wawro] The Japanese launched everything they had from their own carriers,

to try to wipe out the American carrier fleet.

The Hornet was among the ones sent by American admirals in the Pacific to intercept.

The Hornet was among the ones sent by American admirals in the Pacific to intercept.

And they had this phenomenal shoot-down ratio.

Over 500 Japanese aircraft shot down

with a loss of something like 30 American planes.

[Landdeck] The Japanese fight and fight,

but they get crushed,

and are never able to significantly strike with their carriers again.

[narrator] As the battle in the Pacific theater raged on,

the Hornet continued to deliver knockout blows.

the Hornet continued to deliver knockout blows.

[Landdeck] In just 18 months of combat operations,

the crew of the USS Hornet shot down 668 Japanese planes

and sank over a million tons of Japanese ships.

[narrator] At the war's end, the ship was modernized and sent back out to sea

to support the fight against Vietnamese Communists.

Soon it would be called to take part in its greatest operation yet.

Soon it would be called to take part in its greatest operation yet.

On July 12th, 1969,

the Hornet slipped her moors at Pearl Harbor,

and embarked on a new mission in the Pacific.

Built for battle, the ship was pressed into the service of science.

[narrator] One week later,

Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon.

[Neil Armstrong] That's one small step for man,

one giant leap for mankind.

That looks beautiful to me.

[Landdeck] The Apollo 11 mission was so important and so symbolic.

The idea of landing a man on the moon

was something that people have dreamed of for centuries.

[Wawro] For those of us old enough to remember watching this,

it's hard enough getting these guys into space,

and then somebody had to pick them up.

And that was the job of the USS Hornet.

The Hornet's basically an airport at sea

and it's the perfect base of operations to recover this capsule

and it's the perfect base of operations to recover this capsule

which is going to come hurtling out of space and land in the ocean.

[narrator] July 23rd, early afternoon...

[man over radio] ...Recovery information.

[narrator] ...the Hornet waited in the predesignated splashdown zone

while the Apollo 11 astronauts made their final checks.

[Cappa] June of '69, Captain Seiberlich was in command.

They did like 15 or 16 simulated retrievals

They did like 15 or 16 simulated retrievals

to make sure that everything was prepared, the crew was prepared.

[narrator] Weeks of planning were about to be put to the test

as the eyes of the world watched on.

But there was a problem.

[Wawro] Top-secret reconnaissance satellite recon information

held that a storm was threatening

the original splashdown zone.

[Landdeck] To come down in the middle of a storm like this

could have torn the parachutes that were bringing the capsule in to shreds,

which meant that they would've hit the water as much too high of speed,

and very likely killed the astronauts on impact.

[narrator] How would America's most high-profile space mission

be saved from looming tragedy?

[narrator] In July 1969, the U.S. Navy carrier, the USS Hornet,

was called into action to retrieve the returning Apollo 11 astronauts.

As their capsule sped towards Earth,

a top-secret CIA spy satellite

captured evidence of a storm that threatened the mission's success.

captured evidence of a storm that threatened the mission's success.

[Landdeck] If they hadn't known the storm was coming,

this would've been a complete disaster.

But they couldn't really tell the guys at NASA how they knew this,

so it was all very cloak and dagger.

[narrator] Fearing catastrophe, the operative that spotted the danger

circumvented protocol to alert a chief naval officer to the peril that lay in wait.

[Wawro] And little known fact,

the splashdown zone was actually moved 250 miles at the last minute.

the splashdown zone was actually moved 250 miles at the last minute.

[narrator] On July 24th, in the final hours before splashdown,

the Hornet raced to take up its new position.

The crew was on high alert.

Returning astronauts were not the only visitors they were expecting.

Early in the morning, President Nixon arrived aboard Marine One.

My past history in the Navy,

when we had dignitaries aboard, it was all spic and span.

when we had dignitaries aboard, it was all spic and span.

You don't want anything to go wrong.

So, I'm sure, you know, tensions were high.

[Wawro] It must have been hell for the skipper,

having the President of the United States,

his Commander in Chief on board,

looking over his shoulder.

[Wawro] Meanwhile, the Columbia capsule hurtled back to Earth.

Around 6:00 a.m., they see Columbia come through the atmosphere

Around 6:00 a.m., they see Columbia come through the atmosphere

and land in the water.

[Pedrick] So the Navy rescue team came up to the capsule on boats,

began the process of stabilizing it,

and getting the crew out,

but not before they handed them HAZMAT suits.

[Wawro] Something that most people don't remember about these lunar missions

is that we had no idea what bacteria, what pathogens existed on the moon.

is that we had no idea what bacteria, what pathogens existed on the moon.

So when these guys came back,

they had to be very strictly quarantined

in case they were carrying some superbug

that had never been seen on Earth before.

[narrator] Once the astronauts arrived on the Hornet,

they were placed into what would be their home for the next four days.

[Cappa] This is where the astronauts were put inside

to where they could get cleaned up and get rid of their contamination suits.

to where they could get cleaned up and get rid of their contamination suits.

As we enter the trailer, off to my right,

we have their sitting, eating area right in here.

Back in here is their little kitchenette,

and actually one of the first microwaves ever produced.

So after the astronauts were placed inside the quarantine facility,

President Nixon came up,

and was talking to them through this window right here.

[Wawro] When he waves to them,

and sort of pantomime-shaking their hand,

and sort of pantomime-shaking their hand,

and has a little chat through the glass with them.

[narrator] The Hornet, with its cargo of returning heroes safely on board,

then sets off for its final destination of Hawaii.

[Pedrick] So the astronauts actually stayed in this trailer

for the whole journey.

Then they were loaded onto a plane, still in the trailer,

flown to Houston,

where they rode out the rest of their quarantine in a larger facility.

[Wawro] And just a year after participating

in this recovery of the astronauts from Apollo 11,

the USS Hornet is mothballed,

and basically put on the shelf.

It's ended its useful life,

no longer valuable as a naval asset.

[narrator] In 1998,

the ship was donated to the Aircraft Carrier Hornet Foundation,

the ship was donated to the Aircraft Carrier Hornet Foundation,

and turned into a museum.

Its service to America, immortalized.

[Cappa] The USS Hornet, to me, means a lot.

And to be a part of it right now is like going back,

being a kid again.

And I get to talk to people about the things that the ship did.

I can't express how much I like to do that,

and how much I feel a part of the ship.

[narrator] In the Bulgarian capital,

where few residents have ventured,

is a reminder of an influence that consumed Eastern Europe.

Sofia is a beautiful city.

It has got activity, it's got nightlife.

[Sascha Auerbach] There are no obvious abandoned buildings here.

Everything looks very well-maintained, and even pristine.

[narrator] Yet, in the center of this immaculate town,

[narrator] Yet, in the center of this immaculate town,

hidden from view,

is the entranceway to another world.

[Dr. Lynette Nusbacher] Here we've got narrow tunnels

which are branching off into the darkness.

[narrator] At the heart of this labyrinthian network lies a spartan room.

[Auerbach] It's almost like an old hospital,

or maybe an asylum.

You have these tiled walls and these thick doors.

You have these tiled walls and these thick doors.

[Landdeck] There's these old refrigerators with big power supplies,

a big metal table.

It's just kind of creepy and strange.

[Nusbacher] When I look at this table,

all I can think is this is a mortuary slab.

[Landdeck] Reality is that these tunnels were used for a kind of dark propaganda,

[Landdeck] Reality is that these tunnels were used for a kind of dark propaganda,

to convince the people to follow a certain way of life.

[narrator] In Bulgaria's capital

is a subterranean network built at a time of political upheaval.

Behind me, there is a building of National Bank,

and in front of me, there is a National Theater building,

also the building of Ministry of Defense.

But the real story, the hidden story, is underground.

[narrator] Ivo Maev is a journalist

who has spent many years exploring the city's secret tunnels.

The inconspicuous gateway to Sofia's netherworld

is located near a busy marketplace.

It's Christmas mood here,

but it's quite different downstairs.

Very few people know about this place here.

Here is the past of Bulgaria.

[Auerbach] Most of the tunnels date back to the Cold War,

when Bulgaria was a communist country.

This government ruled over its people with an iron fist.

[Landdeck] Georgi Dimitrov was the leader of Bulgaria.

He was put into place by the Soviets in 1946,

and he was fine with that.

He wanted to be a communist leader.

He had no problem following the directives of the Soviets.

He had no problem following the directives of the Soviets.

[narrator] Bulgarians readily accepted Dimitrov's dictatorial control,

for they were a population in dire need of hope.

Bulgaria was a desperately poor country at the time,

and the people saw communism as a way out of this grinding poverty

after years of bloodshed and violence.

[Nusbacher] The Soviets help Bulgaria to very rapidly industrialize.

[Nusbacher] The Soviets help Bulgaria to very rapidly industrialize.

So, ordinary Bulgarians are suddenly experiencing

a very different standard of living from what went before.

[narrator] As the country slowly clambered out of destitution,

it soon faced a new threat,

one that demanded the tunnel's construction.

[Maev] Official propaganda says that the nuclear war

[Maev] Official propaganda says that the nuclear war

between east and west will happen one day.

And that's why, officially,

the government promoted tunnels and shelters

as places for security,

a safety zone for people.

[narrator] The reality of who the tunnels were actually built for

was radically different.

[Auerbach] It's believed that this labyrinth encompasses

nearly 150 miles of tunnels built as escape routes,

so that important Communist Party officials could get away

in case of a nuclear attack.

[Landdeck] So all these tunnels went across the city,

and went up into all the different important buildings,

the bank, different Communist leaders' places.

It was just a really elaborate way for them to get around with nobody seeing them.

[narrator] Yet, the tunnels weren't just escape routes

and passageways for Communist dignitaries.

They would go on to serve a far more macabre purpose.

[Landdeck] So Dimitrov had been in power for about three years,

and went on a trip to the Soviet Union and died there.

It's unclear what happened.

Nobody quite knows what became of him,

but we know that he died,

and this was a huge blow to the Bulgarian Communists.

and this was a huge blow to the Bulgarian Communists.

[narrator] The solution of the ruling party

was to transform their deceased leader into a deity.

[Nusbacher] Dimitrov is going to be refrigerated, embalmed, plasticized,

moisturized,

and kept going as long as Bulgaria remains communist.

[Landdeck] It was really important to keep the name

[Landdeck] It was really important to keep the name

and the image of Dimitrov alive.

He had become central to this idea of what Communism was.

[narrator] To house his body,

the government built an extravagant mausoleum.

[Auerbach] Just as the pyramids housed the pharaohs,

this was to be the eternal home of Dimitrov,

and the center of political beliefs in Bulgaria.

[narrator] Located directly below his shrine,

was a secret room that connected to the vast tunnel system.

was a secret room that connected to the vast tunnel system.

And this is the most interesting place.

Here we can see a big hydraulic platform

which is fixed just under the center of mausoleum.

So the body of Georgi Dimitrov was here,

and was pushed up for the visitors in a special glass box.

and was pushed up for the visitors in a special glass box.

[Auerbach] You had a seven-man team of doctors

that did daily inspections of Dimitrov's body.

They even took care of his clothes.

They had a new suit made for him regularly by his own personal tailor.

[Nusbacher] Everybody in the whole country

is expected to make a pilgrimage

to this communist godless mausoleum,

as though they were making a pilgrimage to an ancient Christian saint's grave.

as though they were making a pilgrimage to an ancient Christian saint's grave.

I visited at least three times when I was in school.

What I remember,

the cold temperature inside,

the smell of something like hospital,

and see a body of a person who I saw only in the books,

inside a glass box.

[narrator] For the next 40 years,

Dimitrov's preserved corpse remained an ever-present attraction.

But in 1990, his body would be removed, and a scandal uncovered.

[Nusbacher] It is not unreasonable to ask the question,

did Dimitrov fall or was he pushed?

[narrator] In Bulgaria, are the underground remains of a mausoleum

built to house the deceased communist leader, Georgi Dimitrov.

The onset of revolution would reveal serious question marks

around the circumstances of his demise.

The fall the communism, officially, was in November 1989.

The fall the communism, officially, was in November 1989.

One year later, first post-communist government

decided to have official funeral of Georgi Dimitrov.

Secretly, during the night,

his body was transported to the central graveyard, and was buried there.

[narrator] However, when laid to rest,

his remains were not entirely intact.

An embalmer had removed his brain for examination.

As they suspected, Russian foul play was the real reason for his untimely death.

As they suspected, Russian foul play was the real reason for his untimely death.

He had been called to the Soviet Union by Stalin,

and it's there that he died.

The tests proved that Dimitrov was poisoned by mercury,

because in his brain and his hair

were registered more than 20 times more mercury

compared to normal dose for any human body.

[Landdeck] It's one of those mysteries that we can't prove,

but makes some sense.

but makes some sense.

[narrator] Whatever the truth,

the mausoleum was demolished after Dimitrov's removal,

and the tunnels abandoned.

It's been over three decades since Communism's dark shadow lifted from over Bulgaria.

Ivo Maev still finds that period painful to remember.

[Maev] There is no option to have any romantic memories from the Communist times.

This building was controversial enough.

A lot of people hate it,

and I'm among these people,

because, really, this place was the heart of Communist propaganda.

It was very important the building to be demolished.

[narrator] In northeast England,

the city of Hull hides an extraordinary ruin in a very ordinary street.

[Rob Bell] There are houses, grocery stores, bars,

and then right in, amongst them all,

there's something that you definitely don't expect to see.

[Auerbach] This building is in really bad shape,

so much so that the whole structure is held up

by steel girders and scaffolding.

by steel girders and scaffolding.

Something much more destructive than just time

has reduced this place to near-rubble.

[narrator] On the edge of town is a brutish construction

that at first glance appears entirely unrelated.

[Auerbach] Surrounded by lush green farmlands

is a series of stout concrete structures

that seemed to serve no agricultural purpose at all.

[Nusbacher] And what we're looking at here is a relic of the idea

that you could send enough airplanes,

and drop enough bombs to break the will of a people.

[narrator] These rural ruins and battered brick shells six miles away

connect to a time when Britain was fighting to preserve its very existence.

The creeping horror of the idea

The creeping horror of the idea

of going to sleep in your bed and never waking up,

drove the people into the countryside.

Well, when I first came in, it was completely overgrown.

The trees had taken over, really, at the back,

and it was almost like a secret garden.

[narrator] Hilary Byers has fought for decades

[narrator] Hilary Byers has fought for decades

to save this site from being torn down.

She works to ensure the tragedy of what happened here is never forgotten.

[Byers] We're intending to create memorials around the site,

so we shall have boards with names on,

but we shall also have interpretation

explaining to people just what happened here.

[narrator] In 1914, when this building was originally constructed,

[narrator] In 1914, when this building was originally constructed,

it served the local community as a cinema.

It was called The National Picture Theater.

It could seat over 900 people in its stalls and balcony levels,

and it had a 24-foot screen that stretched across the far end of the cinema.

[Byers] Their advertising material said,

"Our chairs are as comfortable as father's armchair at home."

In other words, they came to tell you this was no fleapit,

this was the real deal.

this was the real deal.

[Auerbach] This was a place where people came to enjoy themselves,

to meet up with friends and family,

but something happened to threaten all that.

[narrator] On September 3rd, 1939,

Britain declared war on Nazi Germany,

marking the start of the most destructive conflict in human history.

One year later, the people of Britain felt the full force of Hitler's wrath.

One year later, the people of Britain felt the full force of Hitler's wrath.

The Germans sent wave after wave of bombers

to drop an immense amount of ordnance all over cities in Britain.

[Bell] The Blitz brought the reality of the war

from mainland Europe to the very doorstep of the British people.

[narrator] Hull was no exception,

and its citizens were subjected to a brutal and sustained attack.

[Nusbacher] Hull is a really important English city.

It's industrial, it has a port,

but also, Hull faces Germany across the North Sea.

Unlike some industrial places in the United Kingdom, especially England,

Hull is easy to bomb, because it's easy to get to.

[narrator] The city responded by aiming its defenses up, towards the sky.

[narrator] The city responded by aiming its defenses up, towards the sky.

Dennis Chapman is a local historian that helped rediscover this site in 2014.

Where we are now is in the middle of one of the four gun emplacements.

So the gun itself, which was a 3.7-inch gun,

was centrally located here.

[narrator] Known as Station H31,

it was part of a web of gun batteries around Hull

designed to fight back against relentless Luftwaffe attacks.

designed to fight back against relentless Luftwaffe attacks.

There should be seven ammunition recesses,

so that's where the shells were stored.

And then we'd then collect the appropriate shell,

and obviously feed it into the gun to be fired.

And then in addition to those recesses, you've got the two shelters,

which is where the men would have sheltered when they weren't on the gun.

On a busy night, it would be hectic,

because they'd all be working at once.

The information going out to the guns would be changing all the time

as the position of the aircraft would be changing.

[narrator] But try as they might,

Hull's valiant defenders could not stop the bombs from falling.

As much as 95% of its buildings were damaged or destroyed.

[Nusbacher] All of Europe suffered in the Second World War.

But the Home Secretary at the time said it,

"No place in Britain suffered worse than Hull."

"No place in Britain suffered worse than Hull."

[narrator] The National Picture Theater would not escape the carnage,

but it wasn't Hitler that had the last laugh.

The circumstances around this building's destruction are truly bizarre.

You couldn't write it.

[narrator] In the Hull are the remnants of one of the city's finest cinemas.

On the night of March 18th, 1941,

a full house had assembled to watch one of wartime Britain's most popular films.

[Nusbacher] You've got a movie theater filled with moviegoers

watching The Great Dictator.

They're watching Charlie Chaplin,

They're watching Charlie Chaplin,

a working class English guy who is mocking Hitler.

As you can imagine, Hitler and his buddies weren't amused at all.

But the film was hugely popular

with audiences in the U.S., the U.K. and other Allied countries.

They couldn't get enough of it.

[Nusbacher] And suddenly, the film stops.

The projectionist puts a gel on,

The projectionist puts a gel on,

which says that there's an air raid.

[narrator] For almost seven hours,

Hitler's fury rained down on Hull.

With the air raid sirens screaming outside,

the people inside must have been terrified.

And then the bomb hit.

[Bell] It sent bricks and debris flying back through the building

towards the occupants taking shelter in the foyer.

towards the occupants taking shelter in the foyer.

The smoke and screaming that surrounded them must have been all-consuming.

So it's quite ironic that that was the film that was showing

the night that the cinema was bombed.

[Nusbacher] A room full of English people watching Charlie Chaplin

playing the character that is clearly based on Hitler.

And then, Hitler takes a swat at them.

He wanted to punish the British for laughing at him.

He wanted to punish the British for laughing at him.

[Bell] In total, 91 people lost their lives that night,

including nine on the road opposite the cinema.

But by some miracle, nobody in the cinema died.

[narrator] The National Picture Theater was destroyed

beyond repair that fateful night.

Yet, no amount of bombs could break the people's will

or stop them laughing at Hitler's expense.

or stop them laughing at Hitler's expense.

Some British people even look back at this time with a weird sense of nostalgia.

In England, it's called "Blitz spirit."

The sentiment being that if we could survive the Blitz,

we can survive anything.

[narrator] At the conflict's end,

most of Britain's destroyed buildings were slowly torn down

most of Britain's destroyed buildings were slowly torn down

and replaced with modern structures.

That any of this cinema still stands,

is tribute to the work of people like Hilary.

[Byers] It's a memorial to everybody,

all the civilians who died during World War II,

and to the experience of civilians,

those who survived as well.

[narrator] On the outskirts of the Italian capital,

nestled in a wooded glade,

is a structure built in the name of defiance.

[Jim Meigs] We're in the town of Fregenae,

a seaside community only about 20 miles outside of Rome.

[Bell] In the middle of a pine forest

lies one of the oddest structures you'll ever see.

lies one of the oddest structures you'll ever see.

It's a feast of geometrical shapes hidden amongst the trees.

[Dr. Alicia Gutierrez- Romine] They're bundled together in a really chaotic way,

like a giant game of Tetris.

[narrator] It seems clear,

whoever built this place had a disregard for the conventional.

[Meigs] The main building is kind of a study in contradictions.

Clearly they're meant to make some kind of architectural statement,

so it's not obvious whether it's a house or a small school

so it's not obvious whether it's a house or a small school

or a substation for a power company.

Really, it could be almost anything.

[narrator] Often, structures are a product of their time.

This one was a reaction.

[Alicia] This building cannot just be a house.

It has to serve some kind of function.

[Bell] This crazy design is somehow also

the proclamation of an ideology.

the proclamation of an ideology.

[narrator] In Italy is the ruin of an experimental home

that encapsulated a family's desire

to break away from the country's troubled past.

[Raynaldo Perugini] I'm the only child of two architects,

and then I became an architect myself,

because I never thought people could do anything else.

because I never thought people could do anything else.

[narrator] Raynaldo Perugini grew up in this bizarre structure.

This was a home in which the normal rules didn't apply.

[Perugini] The house is an open space.

There's no specific purpose for any particular space.

No dining room, no bedroom.

I used to occupy this space.

My bed was here.

We should keep in mind this house is more than 50-years-old.

We should keep in mind this house is more than 50-years-old.

Imagine how innovative it was for the time.

[Meigs] The project was started by two architecture professors from Rome,

Giuseppe Perugini, and his wife, Uga De Plaisant.

They wanted to build a kind of a homestead

that would reflect the trends that were moving through architecture at the time.

[narrator] Italy in the 1950s was changing.

[narrator] Italy in the 1950s was changing.

Everything from music to cinema and design

was taking on a new lease of life.

The inspiration was earlier conflict.

[Meigs] Italy's fascist government collapsed at the end of World War II.

And in the period that followed,

there was a kind of a counter movement that wanted to reject fascism,

and the kind of monolithic style that we associate with fascist architecture.

and the kind of monolithic style that we associate with fascist architecture.

[narrator] And there was no better location

for the two architects to realize their dream

than the glamorous seaside town of Fregenae.

[Alicia] Fregenae is a popular coastal town

that came to prominence in the 1960s and '70s,

when it was the center of the fashion and cinema worlds.

[Meigs] During this period, it was a place where Italian intellectuals

[Meigs] During this period, it was a place where Italian intellectuals

and bohemians would often gather.

The filmmaker, Fellini, had a house there

and actually shot some scenes in several of his movies,

including the film, La dolce vita.

[Bell] Over a period of seven years,

architects Giuseppe Perugini, his wife,

and later, their son,

built this place as their eccentric holiday home.

[narrator] This is Casa Albero,

which translates simply as "Treehouse."

[Perugini] Casa Albero is called treehouse,

because it is raised above the ground,

and is designed with a modular system of beams, pillars and plates

that can be repeated endlessly.

[Bell] And in the mind of Perugini,

this was supposed to be a never-ending house

this was supposed to be a never-ending house

whose life and energy could go on forever.

[narrator] This main building was only one aspect of the crazy concept.

If Casa Albero is the unlimited house

that can grow indefinitely over time,

next to it, as if to converse with it,

we decided to build this other experiment, the ball.

[continues speaking in Italian]

One part was the bed, one part a kitchenette, and one part a small bath.

I used it personally, given its special acoustics, to play music.

[reverberating clap]

If I clap my hands, you can hear this reverberation

that I used playing the sitar.

[Bell] Innovation, experimentation, boldness.

These are the kind of things that always get people excited.

These are the kind of things that always get people excited.

So this house became the venue for some of the craziest parties

amongst the rich Italian bourgeoisie.

[narrator] But Casa Albero's days were sadly numbered.

By the mid-seventies, the family used the building less and less.

Then, in 1995, Giuseppe Perugini died,

followed by his wife nine years later.

After the architect's death, the house fell into disrepair.

It's been vandalized with graffiti,

became a squat, and a venue for illegal parties.

[Alicia] That captured the attention of the media,

who then branded the structure as abandoned.

[narrator] Today, this building is a shell of what it once was.

[narrator] Today, this building is a shell of what it once was.

Raynaldo has big plans to change all that.

[Bell] He's tirelessly trying to preserve his family's vision,

and turn it into a cultural hub once again.

And Raynaldo is adamant his father's dream should and will live on.