Abandoned Places Around the World
Villa Ombrosa, with its park of centuries-old trees, has a troubled history. Built by Countess Carini (name left on the maps) at the beginning of the 20th century, it was originally called Villa Gemmamaria.
Before the Second World War, it changed ownership several times: first to Gattegno and then to Giuseppe Cameo, from whom it was taken away in 1944 following the confiscations carried out against members of the Jewish race. In 1954 it was purchased by Don Pietro Lodolini, who lived there until his death (1992).
The main villa is not in good condition, also because in the 60s and 70s Don Pietro had transformed it into a hotel for youth, creating small rooms and actually altering the original internal architecture. In a building built more recently inside the park he hosted groups of Senegalese boys (the first to arrive in Rimini) for a long time. A situation which triggered quite a few controversies in the neighborhood and which was resolved with the forced eviction, when, several years after the priest’s death, the new owners wanted to take actual possession of the villa. But no one has ever lived there. Since then it has been left in complete abandonment and decay!