Preface:
I’m glad there’s not Lonely Planet book of urbex locations (yet). But if there was this place would read:
“A psychiatric hospital whose intriguing past includes being the temporary home of Napoleon Bonaparte, the location of early experiments in electroconvulsive therapy, and the resting place of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini’s illegitimate son. Open 24 hours a day. Entry is free.”
In summer time it must surely be divine, we must go...
Our first attempt at access would have made a champion ‘Ninja Warrior UK’ contestant proud.
Except it wasn’t the access. If only there were signage to help recreational trespassers….
I pointed out the obvious and we were in. Before we even saw the building we saw a group of kids with P3 masks and cameras. We were reassured.
History:
I do not speak lightly of the history of the Mombello Asylum...
It is a place of loneliness, and pain , the stories of which deserved to be listened to and understood, with respect for the people who lived there.
Our story begins in 1865, where following a cholera epidemic, there was an urgent need to move psychiatric patients who lived in the now overcrowded asylum Senavra
Following the restructuring, the asylum of Mombello between 1873 and 1878 housed over 1000 patients.
Built “in the village”, this asylum was divided into pavilions where the sick were detained according to the type of pathology: quiet, dirty, hardworking and agitated (kept in isolation and hidden from view). Much like the echelon / pavilion asylums we all know and love in the UK.
Among the… err, guests in 1935 of this hell hol… hospital, was also imprisoned Benito Albino, the illegitimate son of Mussolini who died following mysterious causes and in anonymity.
Now only sad memories remain of the asylum. It has been vandalized and looted to breaking point.
Among the bush surrounding the pavilions, you enter with bated breath. Unfortunately we felt even more ‘baited’ as we found several people living in these ruins. We avoided their living areas and photographed around them with dignity. Its kind of ironic that these people ‘between homes’ would have probably been held here against their will 150 years ago, and now they have chosen it as a place of safety. Disturbed daily, not by matrons, but keen urbexers.
The corridors are dark, the internal gardens uncultivated, some rooms have been burned.
You can still breathe the heavy depression of the relentlessly suffering patients...
Thanks for reading
I’m glad there’s not Lonely Planet book of urbex locations (yet). But if there was this place would read:
“A psychiatric hospital whose intriguing past includes being the temporary home of Napoleon Bonaparte, the location of early experiments in electroconvulsive therapy, and the resting place of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini’s illegitimate son. Open 24 hours a day. Entry is free.”
In summer time it must surely be divine, we must go...
Our first attempt at access would have made a champion ‘Ninja Warrior UK’ contestant proud.
Except it wasn’t the access. If only there were signage to help recreational trespassers….
I pointed out the obvious and we were in. Before we even saw the building we saw a group of kids with P3 masks and cameras. We were reassured.
History:
I do not speak lightly of the history of the Mombello Asylum...
It is a place of loneliness, and pain , the stories of which deserved to be listened to and understood, with respect for the people who lived there.
Our story begins in 1865, where following a cholera epidemic, there was an urgent need to move psychiatric patients who lived in the now overcrowded asylum Senavra
Following the restructuring, the asylum of Mombello between 1873 and 1878 housed over 1000 patients.
Built “in the village”, this asylum was divided into pavilions where the sick were detained according to the type of pathology: quiet, dirty, hardworking and agitated (kept in isolation and hidden from view). Much like the echelon / pavilion asylums we all know and love in the UK.
Among the… err, guests in 1935 of this hell hol… hospital, was also imprisoned Benito Albino, the illegitimate son of Mussolini who died following mysterious causes and in anonymity.
Now only sad memories remain of the asylum. It has been vandalized and looted to breaking point.
Among the bush surrounding the pavilions, you enter with bated breath. Unfortunately we felt even more ‘baited’ as we found several people living in these ruins. We avoided their living areas and photographed around them with dignity. Its kind of ironic that these people ‘between homes’ would have probably been held here against their will 150 years ago, and now they have chosen it as a place of safety. Disturbed daily, not by matrons, but keen urbexers.
The corridors are dark, the internal gardens uncultivated, some rooms have been burned.
You can still breathe the heavy depression of the relentlessly suffering patients...
Thanks for reading
