Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Giant boulder crashes through house owned by Catholic Church

4,000 cubic meters of rock fell from nearby cliff

Rose Troup Buchanan
Wednesday 29 January 2014 13:25 GMT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

A 300-year-old Italian farm owned by an order of the Catholic Church is in ruins after a giant boulder dislodged in a rockfall rolled through the property causing millions of euros of damage.


Approximately 4000 cubic metres of rock was dislodged from a cliff face and crashed through a barn and vineyards in Tramin in northern Italy on 21 January.

After bulldozing straight through the barn, one huge boulder came to a rest just yards from another giant rock that had been dislodged in a previous rockslide.

In remarkable drone footage that shows the aftermath of the trail of destruction, another boulder is shown to have stopped next to the main house, which is owned by the Servite Order of the Catholic Church.

Speaking to South Tirol News, the manager of the estate, Baron Philipp von Hohenbühel, said the rockfall had caused millions of euros of damage.

Although no one was hurt, the area has now been evacuated as geologists fear there may be a chance of further rock falls.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in