Villa Sbertoli was built in the early 1800s by wealthy merchant Agostino Sbertoli. According to some sources he decided to turn the villa into a psychiatric hospital because he had a disabled son, whom he tried to cure all his life. On his death bed he decided to devote all his possessions to a charity for the mentally ill. The villa was inaugurated as a psychiatric hospital in 1868. During World War II it was used by the Nazis to hold prisoners but afterwards was sold to the province and used as a psychiatric hospital again. In 1978 "Law Basaglia" (a reform of the Italian psychiatric system) was passed and the hospital was forced to close. By 1990 it was abandoned completely.
One thing we noticed about European urbex is the heat. This place is located at the top of a large hill, so hiking up the windy, overgrown road wasn't fun but worth it once we made it to the top, and were surrounded by many colourful buildings that made up this complex. I liked a lot of parts of this exploration, except for the clearly set up shots in some of the rooms, most of which I just ignored. The architecture was great though!
The main building
Wish I could go back to this room now with my wider lens, as shooting with my old camera was painful. The hall on the other hand, was amazing...
Mortuary
The other buildings we had time to see
Here's the link to my documentary styled video on this one - we cover the site's past, present and future through cinematics and narration:
