Bell tower in Lake Resia in South Tyrol

In Italy, not far from the country's border with Austria and Switzerland, there is Lake Resia (Lago di Resia or Reschensee), in the middle of which an old bell tower rises. A local legend says that in winter, when the reservoir is covered with ice, the ringing of bells removed from it for a long time is heard in these places. As if the dead ministers of the church, buried in the graves left under water, pull invisible ropes - and a hymn to glory sounds The Lord God , which is not given to everyone to hear ...

Lake Rezia, six kilometers long and one kilometer wide, is of artificial origin - it serves as a reservoir for water used for the needs of the nearby hydroelectric power station. A flooded bell tower towering over the waters of the lake is all that remains of the once-standing town of Curon.

In the late 1940s, an energy company decided to build a power plant in this place - and for its needs, combine two natural lakes into one artificial reservoir, which would be located on the site of the city. No matter how the locals protested residents, the plan of the power engineers received the support of the authorities and all the townspeople had to leave their homes. Some of Graun's buildings were dismantled and moved to the surrounding hills, and the rest of the buildings were simply blown up in July 1950. And then the old city with the adjacent fertile lands, which gave income to hundreds of people, went under water.

It was decided not to demolish the bell tower of the old city church - the tallest building in the city. So it rises to this day, surrounded by the waters of Rezia. In summer, you can swim up to it on a pleasure boat - and in winter, when the reservoir freezes over, you can walk to it on the ice, put your palm to the old masonry stones and read a prayer to yourself. Many who have come this way say that this is a very touching meeting with a city that no longer exists.

The bell tower in Lake Resia can be reached from the nearby town of Bolzano, located 75 kilometers to the southeast and with its own international airport. And also from Verona (249 kilometers) along the A22 and SS38, Munich (213 kilometers) along the A95, 187, 197 and 180 highways and Innsbruck (125 kilometers) along the A12 and 180. Ten kilometers south of Lake Resia in the Italian town of Malles- Venosta (Malles Venosta) there is a railway station, trains to which run from Bolzano several times a day. A regular bus runs from here to the lake with a bell tower.

You can write a letter to God or light a candle in the temple .