It seems like amusement parks are as vulnerable to competition from other activities as anything else nowadays. The recipe of a successful amusement park thirty years ago, traditionally made up of ingredients like a roller coaster, carousels, love-boats and mini-golf has probably undergone radical changes. I believe today’s park managers have to drive a constant innovation- and renewal process to attract visitors. Just letting the years go on is not an option anymore.

Without really knowing exactly what went wrong at this particular Italian park, I very much guess that although its owner probably made good profits in the 1980s, it gradually became too lame and small relative to competition. I know with my own kids that it take something special to get them up from computer games, TV, water-lands, springboards and other cool stuff that they more or less take for granted.

Just like how people abandon the traditional un-spiced local grayish stew in favor of some cross-over spiced and fashionable food, I guess traditional parks like this one are doomed to follow a trajectory downwards. One can then guess that as the income from the park diminished over the years, less money was spent on maintenance and new attractions, which in turn made matters worse. Topping that with one or two holiday seasons with bad weather and a bankruptcy is inevitable. Probably it survived one bankruptcy, but when the new owner did not make it even without the debts, the vegitation started to grow beyond control.

Just a guess... Like usual in cases like this 8-)