Although it has been refurbished twice and had four grande openings, Grande Hotel de Calogero in Sicily has never had one guest in its 61 years of existence. Known as Italy’s ‘Ghost Hotel’, it has not surprisingly fallen into disrepair once again. But what happened?

The five-story building was undertaken by the region of Sicily in 1954 and was completed 30 years later. But there was no provision for management staff and the hotel lay in wait for people to run it, and guests to fill it. The hotel was fit to open again in 1993, but after another opening it was discovered that it lacked an adequate drainage system so was closed. And so this carried on, opening and closing for reasons unknown a couple more times.

According to Fortune, this is a comment on Italy’s real estate sector as a whole:

Italy has roughly 670 partially completed, never-opened buildings; all are just sitting in wait. Together, the real estate properties are worth an estimated $2.8 billion, but they require a massive investment — roughly $1.5 billion — in order to complete construction, so the odds are decidedly not in their favor.

When you look at the offerings the hotel has, one would wonder on its lack of success: It is situated on Monte Kronio, a 1,300-foot peak that is also home to an ancient basilica that holds the shrine of Saint Calogero, a 16th-century holy man. The mountain is part of a nature reserve that has views for days, and a famous hot-spring spa.

When you think about it, perhaps the ghosts of the basilica are keeping it for themselves – I mean, what would you expect when you name the hotel after one.

[source: fortune]