Original subtitles

[narrator] In Peru, a remote island

besieged by a violent revolution.

With the world watching,

this group chose their moment to strike.

A peaceful refuge in Nevada

that offered hope to its occupants.

[Rose] This place attracted women from across the country

in search of a better life.

And in France,

a worker's paradise seized by an invading force.

[Auerbach] Facing annihilation, they didn't give in,

but instead turned to resistance.

Off the Peruvian coast, a remote island tells the story

of a country held captive by fear.

[mysterious music playing]

[Dr. Nusbacher] We can see buildings here.

They have not been looked after.

They've not been properly used in a very long time.

[Gutierrez-Romine] In one of the roofless structures, we can find

crumbling remains of tables and benches.

Perhaps this had some type of institutional purpose.

Take a closer look, and you start to see evidence

that any people who resided here did not do so by choice.

Bars on the windows and the remote island location

expose this site's true purpose.

This is a bit like Alcatraz.

This is where you're going to put the people

who must never escape.

[Rose] This rocky outpost was designed to house

Peru's most violent offenders.

They were members of a militant organization

that terrorized the Peruvian people

in the name of communism.

The Shining Path were well organized all over Peru,

and that included this prison.

It looks as though a full-scale war took place.

-[Tealdo speaking Spanish] -[translator] The terrorists had been preparing

the uprising for months.

They took their weapons, their rifles,

and shouted, "Long live the takeover."

[Dr. Nusbacher] There are hostages being held on this island.

The Peruvian government had to make a decision.

They launched an attack, and what followed

was a massacre.

[Rose] This island was uninhabited for most of its history,

but in the early 20th century, the government found

a perfect use for it -- they built a prison.

[Gutierrez-Romine] Initially, it was just used to house violent criminals,

but in this turbulent world of Peruvian politics,

it was soon the place where political prisoners

were sent to.

Those prisoners were members of a communist organization

called the Shining Path that first formed in the 1970s.

The terrorist group was able to exploit

Peru's poverty-stricken rural population,

who had suffered greatly under a succession

of weak civilian governments and military dictatorships.

[Rose] The Shining Path formed their own communist ideology,

inspired by Chinese Maoism.

They were a highly militant organization

and established a guerrilla army.

Fabrizio Tealdo is a local historian,

familiar with the Shining Path's dramatic rise.

-[Tealdo speaking Spanish] -[translator] The group began to take over rural areas,

gradually moving towards cities.

Their goal was to eventually take the capital,

where the centers of state power were located.

By the early 1980s, the Shining Path's ranks

had swelled to around 10,000 members.

Their reign of terror included intimidation,

public executions, and bombings throughout the country.

[Dr. Nusbacher] The ultraviolence of the Shining Path

was designed to frighten the Peruvian people

into shifting their support from Peru as a state

to the Shining Path as a movement.

-[Tealdo speaking Spanish] -[translator] They knew how to choose their targets,

and among other tactics, they also selected leaders

for kidnappings and assassinations

to increase their capacity for action.

[Dr. Nusbacher] As the Peruvian government started to succeed

against the Shining Path,

they knew it was very important to separate

the Shining Path members

from the general population of Peruvian prisons.

In 1982, the facility here was repurposed to incarcerate

the growing number of Shining Path radicals.

This is El Frontón Prison Island.

[Gutierrez-Romine] By 1986, there were over 160 presumed members

of the Shining Path who were imprisoned at El Frontón.

They were all housed in the Blue Pavilion block.

But segregating the prisoners proved to be a fatal mistake.

[Dr. Nusbacher] The Peruvian government were creating the ideal conditions

for a new revolutionary cell on this little island,

only five miles away from Lima, the capital of Peru.

At 6 AM on June 18th, 1986,

prison guards opened up the cells of the ground floor

of the Blue Pavilion block.

But suddenly, they rushed the guards,

taking them by surprise

and attacking them with homemade weapons.

-[Tealdo speaking Spanish] -[translator] The terrorists had daggers, crossbows,

and even small bazookas.

[Dr. Nusbacher] They took hostages.

Rapidly, they controlled the prison.

Rapidly, they controlled the island.

The Peruvian government soon discovered

that the El Frontón takeover was part of a much bigger plan.

[Gutierrez-Romine] On the same day, members of the Shining Path

had rioted in various other prisons

throughout the country.

This was a coordinated operation.

[Rose] This all took place when President Alan García

was hosting an international congress in Lima.

[Dr. Nusbacher] This was an act of propaganda to humiliate

the Peruvian government in front of the whole world.

Armed police were immediately sent out to El Frontón,

and a negotiating team tried to communicate

with the rebels using loudspeakers.

Holding three prison guards as hostages for leverage,

they issued a long list of demands

that included better prison conditions.

-[Tealdo speaking Spanish] -[translator] At two in the afternoon,

the peace commission arrives.

However, no agreement is reached.

[Dr. Nusbacher] It becomes very clear to the Peruvian government

that they're going to have to use military force

against this island.

This was no easy task.

The rioters had smuggled in dynamite,

they had gotten guns from the guards,

and they'd even made their own crossbows.

-[Tealdo speaking Spanish] -[translator] We're at the point where the military began

the counterattack, around 5:15 PM.

Here, we can see how important it was to take this high point,

which provides a direct line of sight

to attack the Blue Pavilion.

Throughout the night, the military pounded

the Blue Pavilion with heavy gunfire.

But their initial attacks were repelled by inmates

who fired back at them and threw explosives in retaliation.

[Rose] With the attack failing,

the president took an extreme step.

He issued a supreme decree declaring the prison island

a restricted military zone.

This enabled President García to ban civilian

and judicial authorities from the island.

That meant the world would not see what happened next.

The consequences were swift and brutal.

The Peruvian government would wreak their revenge

on the prisoners at El Frontón.

On June 18th, 1986,

El Frontón Prison Island was seized by inmates who belonged

to the Shining Path terrorist group.

The Peruvian military acted decisively

to contain the situation.

Government troops were able to rain down

artillery shells onto the defenses

that the prisoners had established.

[Dr. Nusbacher] In the Blue Pavilion,

the structure is starting to go to pieces.

and the Shining Path

are going to move into the cellar.

2 PM on June 18th, the remaining inmates

shouted out that they wanted to surrender.

By now, only around 30 of the Shining Path prisoners

were still alive.

Over 100 had already perished in the battle.

But there was an even greater retribution to follow,

the shocking truth of which would not be revealed

for many years.

-[Tealdo speaking Spanish] -[translator] They surrender, but the story doesn't end there.

They are brought in groups of five to this beach area

to be executed.

[Gutierrez-Romine] Their bodies were disposed in the trenches

below the pavilion, covered in gasoline and burned.

[Rose] In the aftermath of the massacre,

witnesses came forward.

The military's actions came under increasing scrutiny.

[Tealdo speaking Spanish]

[translator] And despite the various trials using testimonies

from survivors -- survivors who among the piled-up bodies

numbered five, if I'm not mistaken,

only two of those have provided testimonies.

And despite this, the events have not been fully clarified,

and investigations are still ongoing.

[Gutierrez-Romine] The conflict with Shining Path eventually came to an end

around the year 2000.

It left some 70,000 people dead.

El Frontón's haunting remains now serve as a grim reminder

of one of Peru's most troubled and violent eras.

In southern Nevada, on the edge of Las Vegas,

a scenic park contains the remnants

of a revolutionary sanctuary.

[Gutierrez-Romine] From the sky, this place stands out

as a lush, green oasis.

Set against the backdrop of this dusty, dry desert.

[Meigs] We can see a cluster of white buildings

with a vaguely Spanish style, like a ranch or a hacienda.

Smaller structures dotted around the site

suggest this was a place where people once resided.

[Meigs] When you look in these rooms, they're kind of time capsules

of the mid 20th century.

You see wood paneling, pink tile in the bathrooms,

kitchens that look like something

out of the "I Love Lucy" show.

The question is, who were these buildings for?

So this is a part of Las Vegas history that many people

are not aware of, including locals.

This is a place that offered women a freedom

they did not have access to before.

Las Vegas has always been famous for the quickie wedding,

but this place tells a different side of the story.

And it wasn't long before major celebrities

started coming to Nevada to stay at sites like this.

[intriguing music playing]

Dr. Diane Siebrandt is a Historic Preservation Officer

for the City of Las Vegas.

Her job is to protect

culturally important sites like this.

Many people believe that

Las Vegas history starts and ends with gambling,

but there was another tourist industry

that is less well-known.

This property was a major part of that industry,

and its origins are closely connected to the creation

of Las Vegas itself.

[Meigs] Today, we think of Las Vegas as a huge city of glitz

and shameless wealth, but 100 years ago,

it was a little rough and ready outpost in the desert,

a place for travelers to stop

in the midst of a grueling journey.

This all changed with the construction

of the Hoover Dam in the 1930s.

[Meigs] This was America's biggest engineering project

since the Panama Canal,

and it required thousands of workers.

Almost overnight, Las Vegas turned into a boomtown.

At the same time, the impact of the Great Depression

began to hit harder.

And drastic action was needed to stimulate

the state's struggling economy.

On March 19, 1931, the state's governor

signed Assembly Bill 98, which legalized gambling

in the state of Nevada.

One man, who had come to Las Vegas

from the Midwest in 1928,

was quick to capitalize on the liberal new law.

[Dr. Siebrandt] Prosper Goumond was a businessman,

and he, along with other businessmen,

they purchased the Boulder Club,

one of the first of four establishments

that received legalized gambling licenses in Las Vegas.

Goumond made a fortune from his new venture

and quickly looked for additional opportunities

to make money.

In December 1941, he found the perfect place.

[Meigs] Prosper Goumond was a man who could see an opportunity.

He saw that this region of Nevada might be a place

of economic growth.

He invested in a huge piece of property

around these natural springs and this natural oasis

in the desert.

He developed this site from empty fields

to a successful working ranch known as Tule Springs.

But soon, this site would be transformed

into a prime vacation spot.

So it initially was a working ranch,

but it started taking on guests as a dude ranch.

[Meigs] This was a time when America was fascinated

by all things Western.

So the notion of a dude ranch, a place where you could go

and ride horses and spend time side by side

with real working cowboys,

and maybe even come home with a cowboy hat.

Although families seeking an authentic Western experience

were not the only guests.

[Gutierrez-Romine] If you were staying at Tule Springs Ranch in the 1940s,

you wouldn't just see cowboys and horses roaming around.

You'd probably also see a few glamorous young women.

The reason they were here

was because of a piece of legislation

passed on the same day gambling was legalized in 1931.

This new law introduced the concept

of a quickie divorce.

And to qualify, all you had to do

was become a resident of Nevada and live there for six weeks.

[Dr. Siebrandt] But you also had to have witnesses that attested

that you had stayed in the same place for six weeks.

So Prosper Goumond recognized that opportunity,

and he opened up his ranch to a divorce ranch.

And it wasn't long before even major celebrities

were coming to places just like this.

In 1948, Tule Springs was transformed from a dude ranch

into a divorce ranch.

At this time, ending a marriage was still very taboo

and incredibly difficult to achieve.

Divorce ranches were an attractive option

to speed up the process.

[Meigs] Nevada's liberal divorce law was a dramatic contrast

to most of the rest of the country.

In other states, you'd have to prove

all these difficult things --

that your husband had abandoned you or that some kind of abuse

had taken place, or various indiscretions.

For women especially, this was a difficult,

arduous legal process.

In Nevada, it was more like what today we would call

a no-fault divorce.

[Dr. Siebrandt] You could claim mental anguish or mental cruelty,

irreconcilable differences, and this allowed the women

to get out of a marriage that perhaps was not healthy.

Nevada openly advertised themselves

as the divorce capital of the U.S.

Tule Springs' rural location made it an appealing choice.

It was still very far from downtown Las Vegas,

so you had your privacy.

And I think that was one of the most important aspects of it.

Women can enjoy themselves and relax before

they get their divorce.

There was a pool here.

They could go fishing.

There was also a shooting range.

Yet, divorce ranches were not an option for all women.

[Gutierrez-Romine] A Nevada divorce required money.

So this was really only accessible to women

who were well off.

[Dr. Siebrandt] It could only really accommodate about a dozen people.

So because this did really cater to a small clientele,

it was very exclusive.

In 1951, an up-and-coming movie star checked in.

[Dr. Siebrandt] The space we are in right now,

there was a young Hollywood starlet named Terry Moore.

And we can just imagine that she's in this space here

doing her makeup,

maybe doing her hair, and getting ready for her day.

[Meigs] Terry Moore was a relatively minor star,

but her secret boyfriend was anything but obscure.

[Dr. Siebrandt] So Terry Moore was here because she was having

an affair with Howard Hughes.

At the time, she was married

to a football star named Glenn Davis,

and the marriage didn't work out.

Howard Hughes arranged for her to come here

to seek her six-week residency in order to file for that

quick-note Nevada divorce.

Howard would have definitely visited her here

or even stayed with her here.

But Moore did not stay for the full six weeks.

It's rumored her husband, Glenn Davis,

refused to agree to a quickie divorce

and wanted to use this as leverage

to secure a big payout from Hughes.

Their divorce was finally issued in 1952.

[Gutierrez-Romine] But here's where things get complicated.

As it turns out, when Terry Moore arrived

at Tule Springs, she was already married

to Howard Hughes.

The two had had a secret wedding offshore years prior.

[Rose] So her marriage to Glenn Davis was,

in fact, a bigamous marriage.

And, in the ultimate Hollywood plot twist,

none of this became public knowledge

until after Howard Hughes's death in 1976.

In 1954, three years after Hughes and Moore

left Tule Springs, its owner, Prosper Goumond, died.

By 1959, the property was no longer being used

as a divorce ranch.

Divorce tourism to the state was in decline,

and it made no financial sense to continue.

[Meigs] After Prosper Goumond's death, the ranch had several owners.

But fortunately, it eventually wound up

in the hands of the state, which converted the ranch

and the beautiful springs around it into a state park.

[Gutierrez-Romine] In a fitting twist of irony, this site has done a full 180,

as it's now a site to many weddings.

In northeast France, 90 miles from Paris,

stands a monument intended as a force for good

that was hijacked by evil.

[eerie music playing]

[Auerbach] These three vast wings of a building make up

what looks like a palace fit for a king.

[Dr. Nusbacher] The scale of this is grand, but when we look closely,

we see that this is not a place of great riches.

One empty unit after another is lined up

around these courtyards.

There must be hundreds of them in total.

[Selwood] Only a few clues remain as to what these were.

A narrow bathroom, remains of a kitchen,

all of this suggests they were modest apartments.

When constructed, this place was part

of an innovative vision to improve workers' lives.

In time, that dream turned into a nightmare.

[Dr. Nusbacher] The German jackboot comes to this corner of France

twice in the early 20th century.

[Selwood] They arrived at these doors, and the inhabitants' lives

were plunged into chaos.

During World War II, an individual act

of extreme courage helped the Allies force out

the Nazi occupiers.

He knew he was taking his life into his hands,

but that he had to do it to save the lives of others.

In France, are the remains of a revolutionary project

inspired by an idealistic dream.

The grandeur that we see today is all the result

of one man's vision.

He set out to change the way that French people

worked and lived, but it had a modest beginning.

[Selwood] In the early 19th century, Jean-Baptiste André Godin

was a young apprentice traveling around France,

learning the trade of iron production.

[Auerbach] While he perfected his craft, he couldn't help but notice

the terrible conditions in the factories,

and that workers around the country were suffering.

Godin had grown up in relative poverty and was driven

by a desire to help those less fortunate than himself.

Amélie Gombert works at this site today.

Part of her role is to make certain the memory of the man

who built it is never forgotten.

[Godbert] He knows what it is not to eat every day,

not to have nice and clean place to live in,

uh, not to go to school.

His idea is to make the workers' life better.

But before Godin could make his mark,

he needed to make his own fortune.

Godin develops a new way of making stoves.

He builds a stove that can be cast in a single piece

out of molten iron.

The design was a hit and production boomed.

And he's got a lot of money 'cause he's got

the monopoly on the stove market.

By 1859, Godin had amassed enough wealth to finally make

his dream of helping the people who worked for him a reality.

He set out building a collective settlement

for his workers across the river from his factory.

[Godbert] It's his own vision, and he tries

to transmit this philosophy.

It's like an experiment.

Godin called his utopian concept the Familistèère.

It was also known as the Social Palace of Guise.

[Dr. Nusbacher] This was going to be a genuine community focused

not only on the production, but on productive living.

The centerpieces were these three great apartment blocks

built around central courtyards.

They could house 2,000 people in 500 apartments.

[Auerbach] There was a theater, a swimming pool,

restaurants, stores, and a nursery.

There was even a school that provided

free, mandatory education for the workers' children.

[Godbert] It was more than a high standard living,

because even the richer people in the town wouldn't have that.

Godin continued to perfect his workers' utopia

for the next 25 years.

In 1888, at the age of 71, he passed away.

Fortunately, he died knowing his legacy was safe

in the hands of his employees.

But soon, Godin's creation would face a threat he could

never have imagined, one that would bring

the social experiment to a shuddering halt.

In 1914, when Germany attacks France,

their plan is a rapid advance, and they're gonna take Paris.

And that means the German army comes to Guise

early in the First World War.

[Auerbach] About 200 factory workers were mobilized in defense.

It's said that some of them were firing

at the approaching army from the left wing

of the residential complex.

The battle would not last long, and after two days,

the Germans overran the Familistèère

and began a long occupation.

Under German control, the theater was converted

for use as a military prison, and the courtyard served

as a hospital for wounded soldiers.

A place that was built for peaceful communal

family life turns into a place of misery.

And then, when Germany exits the war with the armistice,

becomes possible to try to re-establish

the dream here in Guise.

The Familistèère's residents reclaimed their homes,

and eventually the factory began to operate once again.

But the fragile peace did not last for long.

Across the border,

a malevolent power was mobilizing.

On September 1st, 1939, Germany invaded Poland,

and soon turned the full force of its army

against France once more.

During the Second World War,

Germany ruthlessly exploited France for the Nazi war economy.

This factory is repurposed to support

the German war effort.

[Selwood] For many of the workers and families,

the memories of occupation were all too fresh.

The residents of the Familistèère

that worked in the factory

were urged to collaborate or face brutal reprisals.

They were instructed to continue making

cast iron stoves, but this time,

chiefly for the German market.

[Dr. Nusbacher] It rapidly became clear to a lot of French people

they could not accept the horror of Nazi occupation.

So all over France, including here in Guise,

those who were fit enough would become part

of the French Resistance.

One man took the fate of the town into his own hands

to keep a pathway open for its liberators.

During World War II, in the French town of Guise,

the factory workers that lived in the Familistèère were

ordered to make cast iron stoves for the German market.

They were compelled by their managers

to collaborate -- some chose to fight back.

-[Potier speaking French] -[translator] One of the most well-known figures

was Georges Jamart.

He was a Familistèère resident, born here in 1897,

the son of a worker at the Godin factories.

Maxime Potier is a historian at the Familistèère

and an expert

on Jamart's heroics during World War II.

-[Potier speaking French] -[translator] He distinguished himself here by saving

the bridge you see behind me, the Familistére Bridge,

which the Germans intended to destroy.

On June 6th, 1944, the Allied forces

landed in Normandy.

Over the coming months, Hitler's troops were forced

back towards the German border.

By the end of August 1944, the U.S. Army

was edging closer to Guise.

The Allies had liberated Paris, and all across France,

the German Army was retreating, sabotaging what it could

as it went.

Here in Guise, as the Germans were getting ready to leave,

they packed the bridge with explosives,

preparing to blow it up behind them.

If they succeeded, it could slow down

the Allied advance in this region.

-[Potier speaking French] -[translator] Georges Jamart went under the bridge

and removed the explosives that the Germans had placed there.

He unfastened them, causing the explosives

to fall into the Oise river.

[Auerbach] When the American forces arrived, they were able

to cross the bridge over the Oise

and liberate the town, thanks to the bravery of one young man.

At the end of the war, Godin's factory reopened,

but its days as a worker's paradise were numbered.

In 1970, it was purchased by a cookware company

who had no need for the Familistèère.

The apartments were sold to private owners,

and by the early 2000s, many of them were abandoned.

[Auerbach] Today, after much careful restoration, visitors can walk

the rooms and hallways of the Familistèère

and see Godin's vision in all its glory.

[Selwood] The school and theater are still in use, and there are

even plans to convert one wing into a hotel.

In Sicily, an isolated settlement

charts the tragic tale

of a rural paradise forever lost.

[Bell] Agricultural fields stretch for miles around,

and with mountains off in the distance.

It's beautiful, but eerily quiet.

[Prof. Mitchell] In the center of all this rises a strange collection

of crumbling buildings.

The lines are symmetrical, simple, and clean cut.

The architecture is unusual for rural Sicily.

On each of the buildings are signs that indicate

their original purpose.

School,

laboratory,

salon.

Evidence this was once a residential village.

[Bell] But it's peculiar to label each building

in such a functional way,

which suggests whoever built this was trying

to impose some kind of order.

[Auerbach] Created to revitalize Sicily's countryside,

this settlement was part of the vision

of Italy's famous fascist dictator.

But none of this explains why it's abandoned.

For many years, this was a peaceful home,

until a disastrous event began its slow demise.

The final nail in this village's coffin

would be a tragic descent into violent crime.

-[Solazzo speaking Italian] -[translator] Living nearby, I happened to drive

this way and always have a look.

It brings back my childhood, because to us,

this was the center of the world.

Luigi Solazzo lived in this rural village

for almost 40 years.

-[Solazzo speaking Italian] -[translator] When I say this place was paradise,

the definition is perfect.

We had everything.

There was nothing missing.

The feelings I have are both happiness and sadness.

We were the last family to leave this village.

[Auerbach] To understand why this place exists, you'd have to go back

quite some time into southern Italy's history.

[Prof. Mitchell] Prior to the 20th century,

most of Sicily's agricultural land had been divided up

into vast private estates owned by local nobility.

This system of feudal landed estates

persisted well into the 1800s.

And at the bottom of this socioeconomic pyramid were

the penniless peasants that did the backbreaking labor

on the land itself.

When an economic crisis hit Sicily in the 1880s

and made things even harder, people started leaving.

Over the next 30 years,

around 1 million Sicilians emigrated,

many to the United States.

The mass exodus left Italy

without the means to produce enough food

for the remaining population.

Something drastic needed to be done before it was too late.

Political upheaval and World War I delayed things.

Then, in 1922, Benito Mussolini and his fascist party

forced their way into power.

[Bell] Mussolini's ideology was ultra nationalist

and all about self-sufficiency.

He didn't want Italy to have to rely

on any other country for food.

At the beginning of 1940, they started building

eight new villages spread across the island.

-[Solazzo speaking Italian] -[translator] Mussolini established this village,

like many others, to stimulate people to cultivate the land,

to make people work the land, as he was aware there was a need

for places where the farmers could live.

This one was called Borgo Schirò.

Borgo, meaning "village,"

and Schirò, the surname of a fascist martyr

killed by left wing agitators in the 1920s.

On December 18th, 1940, it was officially unveiled

during a grand opening ceremony.

[Auerbach] The village was designed to have everything

that a growing community needed,

and the goal was to encourage peasant families

to move into the farmhouses that dotted the fields.

[Solazzo speaking Italian]

[translator] My grandfather, who used to work in the fields,

lived a quiet life.

I know they were happy here with all the other families

working the fields.

[Bell] But soon the government was thrown into chaos,

as Mussolini's alliance with Hitler

brought World War II to Sicily in 1943.

[Auerbach] When peace was restored to the island,

the new government continued the land reform policy,

and Borgo Schirò could finally

meet its potential for prosperity.

[Solazzo speaking Italian]

[translator] One of my uncles had the barber shop.

Another one was a sacristan.

And my mother and my father had the general store.

I would help run the shop.

Gosh, I would steal some candies from my dad.

Every now and then, us kids would put

some in our pockets and out we went.

At Borgo Schirò's peak in the 1950s,

around 100 people lived in the village

and its surrounding farmhouses.

[Bell] Life was simple and it was hard work,

but for many, it was idyllic.

[Prof. Mitchell] But just as life seemed perfect,

a catastrophe would hit Borgo Schirò

and usher in its downfall.

By the late 1950s,

the Italian village of Borgo Schirò

had developed into a rural paradise

for its residents.

Little did they know,

disaster was just around the corner.

[Auerbach] In 1968, a violent earthquake struck the Valley of Belice,

and the epicenter was a mere 17 miles

from the village of Borgo Schirò.

[Solazzo speaking Italian]

[translator] The first earthquake was around lunchtime.

Us kids had already eaten and we were playing outside.

All of a sudden, the ground started shaking.

I remember, to shelter, we came to the church.

I remember the windows shaking, but they didn't crack.

Not even one.

The powerful tremor, measuring 6.1

on the Richter scale,

devastated the Belice Valley area of southwest Sicily.

[Bell] Four towns were completely destroyed,

leaving 100,000 homeless

and killing or injuring over 1,200 people.

The region was struggling, and many families

left in the aftermath of the earthquake.

This included the residents of Borgo Schirò.

[Solazzo speaking Italian]

[translator] Some houses here collapsed, and a lot of people were forced

to leave and emigrate north.

I remember every single one of the families that were here

and left, because we were a big family.

We were in harmony.

But Luigi and his parents refused to leave.

This was their home, where three generations

of Solazzos had built their lives.

And by the late 1980s, in a village where

around 100 people used to live, they were the last family left.

But living in a virtually abandoned town has its risks,

and Borgo Schirò became a target for criminals.

-[Solazzo speaking Italian] -[translator] One day, two kids robbed our place

when my mother was alone.

They threatened her at gunpoint and kicked her.

She was left traumatized and decided to leave.

We might still be here if that hadn't happened.

After the Solazzos departed in 1995,

Borgo Schirò's abandonment was complete.

Ever since, it's continued to crumble.

[Bell] There are currently no plans to demolish Borgo Schirò,

so you can happily walk around its ghostly streets

and bear witness to an extraordinary remnant

of Italy's fascist past.

[Solazzo speaking Italian]

[translator] It surely represents a style of life

that doesn't exist anymore.

Nowadays, our society is a steamroller.

We used to live calmly, so peacefully here.