Photographer Antonio La Grotta has documented some of the beautiful ruins of the hey-day of Italy’s once vibrant disco club scene. Via Slate:
Through the 1980s and some of the 1990s, giant discotheques on the outskirts of Italian cities were at the center of the nightlife scene. Inspired by an economic boom, partiers frequented spaces designed to celebrate opulence and splendor, built, as Antonio La Grotta described them, “large enough to contain the dreams of success, money, and fun of thousands of people.”
Eventually, tastes changed. In the late 1990s, La Grotta said, smaller bars and clubs opened in the city with live concerts and DJs, drawing revelers away from the large discotheques, rendering them “cement whales” housing “echo and melancholy.”
Check out more of Antonio’s incredible photos after the jump!