All language subtitles for Mysteries.of.the.Abandoned.S13E04.1080p.WEB.h264-CBFM_track3_[eng]

[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.