Earlier this month, 80 teams from around the globe participated in the ultimate game of hide-and-seek, officially known as the Nascondino World Championship. Now in its eighth year, the three-day event concluded on 10 September 2017. For the third time, the event took place near the abandoned resort town of Consonno, in the foothills of the Alps in northern Italy. In the game, players are given 60 seconds to find hiding places, and then must elude a team of seekers and make their way back to home base, which is marked by a large air mattress. This year, the team that took home the Golden Fig Leaf (named after the biblical symbol of hiding) was Mucche Arrosto of Bergamo, Italy.
Ready or not, here they come!
- In the early 1960s, Count Mario Bagno built Consonno, turning a small farming community into a garish collection of eclectic buildings and creating what he called “the Las Vegas of Italy.”
- In 1976, a landslide swept through the area, damaging buildings and access roads. Consonno never recovered, and was later abandoned.
- “The beauty of the event is that adults get to become children again for the weekend,” says event organizer Giorgio Moratti. The Nascondino World Championship also features a food and music festival besides the giant game of hide-and-seek.