Intro
They were called Fools. We didn’t know what to do with them, so we locked them up in the Asylum.
Then we realized that “Asylum” was not politically correct. So we changed the name to Psychiatric hospital.
We have also changed names to the Fools, and we have called them “Psychiatric patients”.
So the evolution has been that we have gone from the Fools closed in Asylum to Psychiatric patients closed in Psychiatric Hospitals. Nothing had changed, but “normal people” felt much much better
On May 13, 1978 (yes, I had just turned 18) in Italy all this changed, with a law that required the state to reform and close the Asylums. Suddenly the madmen were no longer mad, but people who needed to be heard and helped
I am very proud to have been in those streets to protest, and I am proud both my country is one of the few in the world, if not the only one, to restore dignity to the mentally ill, or at least to establish a principle for starting a path of “equal dignity”. A long journey, and not yet completely completed, but which has changed a lot for the lives of these people and their families.
Now that the madmen are no longer mad, what happened to the asylums?
Some have become museums, so that we can remember the horror and suffering that many sick people have suffered, others … Well, the purpose of this post is to tell the story story of one of these Asylums
Sant’Artemio is the name of a countryside area, on the northern edge of the municipality of Treviso. When the people of Treviso spoke of Sant’Artemio, however, they did not refer to the area, but to the asylum, which shared the name with the area
“If you are not good they will take you to Sant’Artemio” was a way to scare the too lively children. “That one should go to Sant’Artemio”, it was said of those who seemed a little “strange”. Sant’Artemio, the house of the mad, was a large complex of buildings in the middle of the countryside, next to a large plot of cultivated land, where “the madmen a little less mad than the others” were sent to work, helping the peasants.
After closing, the asylum remained closed and abandoned for almost 10 years. The recovery began in 1987, with a study for the transformation of the agricultural area into a park, with full access for the disabled. It took 22 years to make the project effective, with the opening of the Storga park in 2009
In 2005 the Public Administration of the province of Treviso decided to buy the entire structure, to transform it into the seat of the public offices of the province, also giving space and headquarters to voluntary associations and support activities for the population.
However, until the end of 2020 I had never entered it, or rather, I had always refused to enter. The memory of the meaning of that place, of what that place had been, was too strong.
In December 2020 I had to go there, summoned for the Vaccination from the flu which, due to Covid, was carried out en masse right in the headquarters of the Public Administration offices.
And this is how, for the first time, I saw the new Sant’Artemio
An architectural recovery that has kept the original buildings, now connected by elevated glass corridors that cross parks and green areas.
Completely eco-sustainable, the structure is entirely powered by a photovoltaic system
A huge garden, green lawns, wide tree-lined avenues, the park of the Provincial Administration is open every day, and directly connected to the Storga park.
And it is right inside the Storga park that you can discover some of the beautiful initiatives in the area, such as the wildlife recovery center.
But the most beautiful thing, in my opinion, are the Urban Gardens
It is a community garden, a series of small portions of land where to grow your own vegetables, which is given in concession to the residents of the province who do not have land on their own, with priority to elderly people with low income, and to people with disabilities.
From spring to autumn the gardens are crowded and full of life, with families working to grow vegetables. Even now, in the middle of winter, you can see manicured gardens and plants that are growing
As I said, the park was created to be “accessible”, so we’ll be back soon with another Accessible Life story.
