You Won’t Believe What This Abandoned Building in Italy Used to Be

When it comes to abandoned buildings, we are often faced with different questions about their origins. Who built it? Who lived there? Why did they leave? These are just some considerations that come to mind.

But every now and then, people come across an abandoned building with a recorded backstory that is extremely frightening.

The Villa Sborteli is one of those examples of an abandoned building with a freakishly haunted history. This building was built way back in the late 1800s by a wealthy businessman. It was actively used for over a century, but now, it sits crumbling in ruins in some beautiful rolling hills in Italy. And some people believe that the place is haunted.

Throughout the years, the building served many different functions. It first housed European noblemen, but then hosted mentally ill patients for a number of years. The building was also home to a group of Nazis. All of this, plus the natural beauty of the home and its atmosphere, give it a very intriguing story.

The building sits on a very quiet street in Tuscany. As mentioned, it first began as a lush and lavish place fit for a king. It came complete with tennis courts, ballrooms, gyms and more.

The wealthy Sborteli family lived there in the 1800s. They were reportedly unhappy as they had a son who was considered crazy and thus, he was concealed from the public in order to keep up the dignity of the family. In 1868, to cater to their son’s needs (and the needs of other rich and elite people), they turned the building into a place for people with similar mental illnesses.

By World War II, Nazis took over the villa and used it as a detention center for political prisoners. After the war, it became a mental hospital. And while the facility was one of the best options of the time, the procedures used there would be considered barbaric in the modern day. This included lobotomies, shock therapy, and tub-immersion.

After rules were implemented to stop these harmful treatments, the place could no longer operate and finally shut its doors for good in 1990. Since then, the place has remained abandoned and the only people that dare go through are explorers and vandals.

If these walls could talk, who knows the kind of atrocities they would speak.