cascina [ka∫'∫ina]. A trip above abandonment

Gallo, Andrea Sara

The photography of abandoned buildings has been booming over the last fifty years in the area of the United States and Western and Southern Europe. However, in the Swiss scene this type of photography is still quite new, especially because in the north of our country there are not many buildings that remain abandoned for a long time. In contrast, the south of Switzerland, the canton of Ticino, has tens of thousands of ruins scattered throughout the territory: the cascine*. Those cascine are arranged throughout the territory of the canton and have been abandoned many years ago. I approached to the cascine with the idea to try to inform and make people aware of the presence of those buildings. With the intention of providing a new perspective of the abandoned cascine and trying to show them to others, I photographed 60 of them, with the help of my drone. I then enclosed the 60 cascine in a photo book called "cascina [ka∫'∫ina] / A trip above abandonment" and gave them a position and a name.
* cascina [ka∫'∫ina] [ca-scì-na] noun, s.f. (p.f. cascine)
Meaning a small building in open country, destined to store hay or small animals. Also used for the production of butter and cheese.

Basel, 2019