Brought to fruition from desirable financial conditions throughout the 80s and 90s, these giant discotheques ruled supreme in the nightlife scene out on the outskirts of Italian cities.
The photographer of these now ghostly buildings, Antonio La Grotta, described them as “large enough to contain the dreams of success, money, and fun of thousands of people.” However tastes changed in the late 1990s as bars and smaller clubs opened in the city which attracted people away from these huge "cement whales" housing "echo and melancholy".
Today these large abandoned former clubs offer shelter to the homeless and those looking for temporary shelter. However from time to time they are held for underground parties and raves, still pertaining to their original true nature.
Most of the clubs visited were locked up and entry was impossible but La Grotta was able to gain access inside a few. “Everything inside the discos was still and silent. The lights, the music and the people were gone—only colors remained. The contrast between the past, what I imagine it was, and what I saw then, was very funny. It was like everything was alive again for a short moment just for me,” he said
You can check out La Grotta's blog here or on the Slate blog for more of his interesting photos documenting these discotheques from a bygone era.
