32 Grand Old Railway Hotels Left Vacant Along Forgotten Routes

11. Grand Hotel Campo dei Fiori, Varese, Italy: Funicular's Lost Art Nouveau Gem

High above Varese, the Grand Hotel Campo dei Fiori (1912) is an Art Nouveau masterpiece designed by Giuseppe Sommaruga, once accessible by a dedicated funicular railway from the city. This luxurious hotel, with its stunning frescoes and panoramic views, catered to an elite clientele. However, after World War II, its fortunes waned, the funicular closed, and the hotel eventually shut its doors in 1968. It has remained spectacularly abandoned ever since, a hauntingly beautiful, architecturally significant relic of a forgotten mountain transport system and leisure era.