Giant boulder crashes through house owned by Catholic Church

4,000 cubic meters of rock fell from nearby cliff

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.