freecamping italy - abandoned places?

[Sweep]

I have the impression that freecamping is generally illegal in italy but surely there must be possibilities, even if only in a bivi, around these places.

I do realise that many will be somewhat elevated.

And i am not of course advocating leaving any mess around

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... l#comments

[mjr]

I don't know about Italy but some places that look abandoned in other countries are actually daytime-only shelters for agricultural workers, so please take care.

[Sweep]

Thanks for the caution mjr but I was thinking of the usual discipline of arrive late/leave early/leave no trace.

And generally not even erecting a tent.

Naturally some of the disused buildings could be somewhat wonky/dangerous.

So I was also thinking of in close proximity to these abandoned places, not in any buildings.

I gather that some of these places are semi occupied by holidaymakers in season (but in my experience the Italian season can be rather short) but I shouldn't imagine they get up too early to go wandering round pretty much abandoned land.

I know some folks on this forum have a lot of knowledge of Italy, happy to hear from them.

[eileithyia]

No experience of the abandoned villages. But had some strange experiences of camping in Italy.
1st night we were climbing up a valley road, had not found a place to camp as a thunder storm was gathering, last minute we found a car park with a flat grassed area next to a closed restuarant (the tent that had only been used once before never went up so fast), no one was around, no one bothered us etc.
Next night arrived at a campsite, no one around, worker turned up part way into evening and did some work in toilet block (later locked one but left one open), at one stage walked over toward us, i dived into tent to get money to pay, instead he walked straight past, ran a flag up a pole and walked off.... workers arrived next morning, we made no secret of the fact we were packing up but was never asked to pay up...

Couple of other times we found some corner on a mountain road to camp and were never bothered.... (we were in the Dolomites and linking back across to the Bolzano area).

I doubt you would have any problems.

[Sweep]

Many thanks for the encouraging reply eileithyia - I was rather living in fear of some no no no nannying responses.

Interesting experiences of yours - a long time ago I did once camp with a cheap dome tent on pretty disused cinder tennis court/football pitch in full view of the Sardinian town which climbed above it. I maybe wouldn't do something so visible in Sardinia any more as the place has gone upmarket somewhat, even away from the Costa Smerelda. My experience and yours makes a free standing dome/semi geodesic tent a good idea I think.

Re your tagline by the way - HG Wells was of course a great cycling fan - also a great fan of untramelled women as well though, whether on bikes or not

[khain]

If you're just in a bivi bag does it even count as camping?

I'd be more worried about personal safety than anything else. I've camped wild in Italy a few times and didn't have any problems but finding a suitable spot isn't easy, even in the mountains. I'm not sure if camping in national parks is allowed, I suspect not.

[Sweep]

s but finding a suitable spot isn't easy, even in the mountains. .

Care to say more khain?

I have the impression that there may be more use of fences/wire etc etc in Italy than the UK.

Certain places when freecamping I do prefer to use a bivvy if weather allows it - avoids the "oh my god what's that odd noise/did I just hear a footfall on a twig" thing you can sometimes get within the confines of a tent.

Thanks for all the answers so far folks - in the meantime I think I'll put a few of those abandoned places into my Garmin.

I think there are a fair few abandoned places in the Abruzzo.