Tyrolean Atlantis: a lost city emerges from a lake in Italy 70 years after its disappearance

Curon was purposely flooded in 1950 to build a hydroelectric dam. Now they emptied it for repairs.

A lost city has emerged from a lake after spending 71 years underwater. It is Curon, a village in the province of South Tyrol, in northern Italy, which it was flooded in 1950 to transform the site into a hydroelectric dam.

The reservoir is known as Resia Lake and generally the only sign of the 163 houses that have been lost underwater is the tower of a 14th century church protruding from the surface.

Temporary drainage into the lake revealed the ancient Alpine village, which was intentionally flooded in 1950 despite protests from residents. to merge two natural lakes and create the local hydroelectric power station.

About 1,000 people have been displaced. About 400 of them created a new village nearby, while the rest are said to have moved to other towns.

Since then, Lake Resia has become a tourist attraction due to the Spooky abandoned church steeple coming out in the middle.

But in recent days, the past has come to life thanks to the repairs they carried out at the scene: the lake was dry and tourists and locals were able to walk around the site, which resulted in some great photos.

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A few examples can be seen on the Instagram account of Luisa Azzolini (@ luisa2506), a neighbor in the area who showed terrifying buildings among the ruins.

“It is a strange feeling to walk on the rubble of houses,” he said.

Italians bordered Austria and Switzerland, and many locals neither spoke nor read Italian. This fact was just problematic when An Italian notice was posted in the village informing residents that the water would rise 22 meters and the houses would sink.

German was the first language of many people in the South Tyrol region where the lake is located. This is because Sur was part of Austria before WWI.

The flood plans were revealed in 1940, which gave residents a decade to decide where to go.

Other nearby towns (Arlung, Piz, Gorf and Stockerhöfe) were also submerged by the dam of the 1950s and increased the legend of this binational Tyrolean Atlantis.

To share this experience in person, you will need to travel to the nearby town of Curon Venosta (Graun to Vinschgau, in German), from where you can easily access what remains of Curon.