Psychiatric Hospital of V.was a quasi-city intended for the shelter of the mentally ill.
Its birth dates back to 1887, but only in 1896 was there a real project for the creation of a psychiatric hospital.
Between 1896 and 1897 they built the first pavilion with a capacity of more than 200 people.
This is how the Psychiatric Hospital of V. begins its history in the early months of the 20th century with the illustrious psychiatrist L.S.
The good director does not have time and already 2 years transferred transferred to the Psychiatric Hospital of V. sick from northern Italy.
The transfer took place with a special train, and obviously also housed a large part of the sick from nearby cities.
Thus the number of patients increased, and the number of patients went from 150 in 1900 to 750 in 1910, reaching 2621 in 1930 and their maximum of 4794 in 1939.
All this necessitated the construction of new pavilions that are not symmetrical to each other to make the whole village look, and all connected by internal roads.
The new pavilions of the Psychiatric Hospital of V. bore the names of the most important scholars of the time.
This structure was truly modern by the standards of the time, and among the various buildings boasted an internal aqueduct, electricity, sewers, rails and taps.
But although apparently well built, as we have learned from history it was certainly not a paradise.
Psychiatric Hospital of V. is as if it had two faces.
On the one hand, director L.S. it contributed to what was called “occupational therapy”, but on the other hand there was a strong hierarchical regime and a prison climate, obviously to the detriment of the patients.
The “therapy of work” provided for the carrying out of work activities in the context of the therapy of the sick, so that they could then be reintegrated into society once healed or stabilized.
This practice was also accompanied by the practice of “no-restraint”, with limitation of the means of physical restraint and without fences that separated the patient from the outside of the asylum.
In short, a real village with a coin (founded in the 1930s), where the sick can work, get paid and shop at the psychiatric hospital.
There is no human relationship inside the Psychiatric Hospital of V.
The technical staff and the patient do not interact with each other and remain distant and separate.
The successors of Mr. S. have followed the indications and procedures, albeit with not a few management difficulties.
Closed with the Basaglia Law in the 1970s, it is now in a state of neglect.
Inside, in some rooms the darkness envelops and tightens you, making all those bars on the windows and doors even more visible.
There are still testimonies of the people who lived there, such as the graffiti by the artist NOF4 who tells his story and the violence suffered over the years for meters on the external walls of a pavilion.
The texts and drawings are carved out of stone with the buckle of his mentally ill uniform.
If you love abandoned asylums at this link you can see my explorations.
