the end of the world

Wandering through Venice today, well off the beaten path, my family and I found one of the strangest sights I have ever seen. I dont really have the bandwidth to investigate it on this ghetto pc hidden away in our hotel, but if anyone knows more about it, Id love to hear it. (I also cant seem to get the apostrophe working on this keyboard)

Behind a park, we found a huge building that appeared to say "Germany" in Romanesque carved letters. It was a massive structure, quite beautiful, and overgrown with weeds and vines. There was absolutely no one around, which was a little bizarre to begin with, considering the number of people out strolling around in the rest of the city. We continued walking through a little dirt path, and came upon another building, and another.

Buried in the southern end of Venice is an entire abandoned city. Walking through it feels like youre in a post apocalyptic movie, where everyone is dead but you, and the zombies will pop out at any minute. There are well over a dozen buildings, marked with United States, Venezuela, Egypt, and a number of other countries. They have enormous columns, stone murals, steel doors, inactive fountains... All of the doors are padlocked shut or covered with plywood. There are strange spraypainted figures on the buildings of peoples faces, each with a different four digit number. (This was unrelated, but it was a very determined and artistic graffiti.)

Our guess is that it was built for a World Fair, and then never touched again, but it just seemed mindblowing to take up several acres of this beautiful city with huge marble buildings and architecture, and then leave it for nature to ravage.

Anyway, it was one of the most surreal experiences Ive ever had in my life. If anyone knows the story behind this, please let me know. Im gonna head up to my room, have a beer, and pass out.