Gairo’s name seems to mean 'flowing land'. Today, Gairo vecchio is one of the most famous ghost towns in Sardinia. Poignant and unique in every detail. Dilapidated, as lively and communicative. Photographed and instagrammed, like few other places, but often forget that the narrow streets of the country and the houses crumbling tell a tragic story. One of those that in the last seventy years leave us incredulous. One of those that has as protagonist the impetuous nature, that transforms the places, After a series of geological events, known at least since the end of the 19th century, it was October 1951, when a violent storm struck the area. The Causing slipping planes on the side of the rock on which the Gairese had built their houses, always, and they thought, forever. The chronicles tell of five days of rain and incessant wind. The streets turned into impetuous streams making the ground 'slide' dramatically down the valley. The subsidence of the slope, damaged some buildings in shale stone, often still mounted dry. This highlighted the housing danger of the entire town. For obvious reasons of security, during the following decade, the village was progressively abandoned. The Gairese families could choose where to live, between three different locations: Gairo Sant'Elena and Gairo Taquisara, which still make up the Municipality of Gairo, and Cardedu, which later broke away from Gairo and became an autonomous Municipality.
