#consonno

Consonno "Intended as Italy's answer to Las Vegas, Consonno was devised by entrepreneur Mario Bagno, who bought up and razed the entire town, aside from a few houses and the church. Bagno began building a Las Vegas-like complex called the “city of toys,” hoping to draw tourists from Milan which was just an hour away. The pleasure paradise was to be outfitted with shopping malls, restaurants, ballrooms, and at least one luxury hotel, each facility themed after different type of architecture. The commercial gallery had the shape of a Muslim minaret, there were Chinese pagodas randomly standing in the gardens, and a fake medieval castle was placed at the entrance.

However, the main road to Consonno was washed away a few years after the construction was started, eliminating the site’s main flow of customers and effectively killing the project. Now the odd, half-completed village of kitschy buildings is abandoned and crumbling under decades of neglect and graffiti. After being built on the ruins of its predecessor, Consonno seems like it is well on its way to being paved over as well."

Pripyat Amusement Park "(From Wikipedia) The Pripyat amusement park is an abandoned amusement park located in Pripyat, Ukraine. It was to have its grand opening on 1 May 1986, in time for the May Day celebrations, but these plans were cancelled on 26 April, when the Chernobyl disaster occurred a few kilometers away. Several sources report that the park was opened for a short time on 27 April before the announcement to evacuate the city was made. These reports claim that the park was hurriedly opened to distract Pripyat residents from the unfolding disaster nearby. However, these claims remain largely unsubstantiated and unsupported. Pripyat residents have not been able to recall for sure if the park was opened following the disaster, but considering the lack of panic at the time of the disaster and subsequent evacuation, there would seem to be no need to distract people. In any case, the park—and its ferris wheel in particular—have become a symbol of the Chernobyl disaster.

Radiation levels around the park vary. The liquidators washed radiation into the soil after the helicopters carrying radioactive materials used the grounds as a landing strip, so concreted areas are less radioactive. However, areas where moss has built up can emit up to 25,000 μSv/h, among the highest level of radiation in the whole of Pripyat."