An Italian village under water since 1994 could appear on the surface

The village of Fabbriche di Careggine in Tuscany, in the province of Lucca, was flooded in 1946 for the construction of a hydroelectric dam and Lake Wagli, according to the local tourist board. It has not been seen since 1994, when the dam was last emptied.

The inhabitants of the town were moved to a new town on the lake, Vagli di Sotto. Submerged below 34 million cubic meters of water, the still intact buildings of the abandoned village – including stone houses, a bridge, a cemetery and the church of San Teodoro – are lowered again only when the dam is emptied for maintenance.

The ancient village of Fabbriche di Careggine reappears every ten years to maintain the dam. Credit: Dino Fracchia / Alamy

Local politicians have been trying for a long time to drain the lake and restore the destroyed village, according to local media reports.

The ruins of an abandoned village sometimes see the light of day when the lake gets used to it. Credit: Riccardo Sala / Alamy

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But now there are signs that the lake may have been emptied once again – 27 years after it was last drained to reveal the village.

In her Facebook post, Lorenza Giorgi, the daughter of former Ilio local mayor Domenico Giorgi, indicated that the lake, which currently acts as a water reserve in the event of a fire, could be drained next year.

“Reliable sources say that next year, in 2021, Lake Vagli will be emptied,” she wrote.

“It was last vacated in 1994, when my father was mayor. Thanks to his efforts and numerous initiatives that with great effort managed to establish the entire city of Vagli and managed to accommodate more than a million people,” she wrote.

CNN approached Enel, who runs the artificial lake, for comment.