My Photos Show The Decline Of The Church In Italy, And Here Are 40 Of The Best Ones

Church buildings have been a mainstay feature throughout Europe for centuries. From quaint country chapels to luxurious and majestic cathedrals, the “Old World” is home or has been home to hundreds of churches. Some of them are maintained in pristine shape, highly regarded as national treasures, while others meet a rather different ending, being left in the hands of time and its relentless way of decaying things.

Italy is a perfect example of a country that, despite greatly valuing its history, architecture, culture, and connection with the Church as an institution, still features its share of abandoned churches. In this post, you will find 99 photos of abandoned churches and chapels that I photographed throughout Italy.

From the far north of the country down to the most remote areas of the southern Italian islands, there are remnants of ancient churches, some of which are only known to smaller local communities. In some cases, abandoned churches and religious buildings might not even be known outside of the lore of a specific neighborhood, and as time goes by, knowledge of these places and their past history gets simply lost through time. Even large cities like Naples in the Campania region are actually home to many unsuspecting former churches.

The historical center features many residential buildings that simply morphed into homes from their origins as former chapels, as urban expansion swallowed what was there before. Take the historical building at Via Nilo 22, “Palazzo di Ludovico Di Bux.” Even the current residents might not realize the premises were once a church, with some of its decaying features still visible to this day. This building belongs to a long list of former churches, sections of which are currently still decaying in plain sight, without even any proper documentation due to loss of records through the centuries.

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