Ville Sbertoli

File:Villesbertoli.jpg

The health resort of Pistoia

Ville Sbertoli is the old asylum of the city of Pistoia and is composed by a unit of 3 Villas located in Via Delle Gaine in Pistoia, Tuscany. Villa Giovacchini (villa di Mezzogiorno), villa Franchini (villa di Mezzo) and villa di Levante are situated in Viale di Collegigliato up to the hills of Pistoia. The first one, Villa Franchini, is found on the highest point of Colle Gelato; patients could enter the building from an avenue of cypresses starting from Via di Bigiano, up to a big gate that faced on the garden. The second, older and more sophisticated in style, is located in a very panoramic position on the lower part of the hill.

	Ville Sbertoli
	Location
Country	Italy
Region	Lombardia
Town or city	Pistoia
Adress	Via Solitaria, 51100
Coordinates	43.953806,10.918222
	General information
Conditions	not in use
Designated	XVII-XVIII
Style
Use	asylum

History

Ville Sbertoli in the earlier years

Originally there were two villas, built between 1600 and 1700: Villa Franchini-Taviani and Villa Rosati; Agostino Sbertoli, who was a doctor at the San Benedetto mental hospital in Pesaro, bought the two buildings between 1868 and 1876 and turned them into a psychiatric hospital. The hospital soon gained popularity so Sbertoli decided to extend the facility to host more clients. Patients were divided according to sex, social status and the type of illness. The clinic dealt with patients suffering from various mental illnesses, as well as epileptic, alcoholic and hypondriac people, and this was one of the main reasons why it attracted clients from all over Europe. The hospital hosted also renowned people such as jurist Francesco Bonaini and poet Severino Ferrari. After the death in 1898 of Agostino Sbertoli, his Nino inherited his father work, he got the falicity expanded, he built a power station and a covered hallway to connect the main structure with the other buildings, so that doctors and nurses could move more easily from one place to the other. Around 1920 Nino Sbertoli ceded the mental institution to a private group from Pistoia which then sold it to The Province of Pistoia, that turned it into a neuropsychiatric hospital. In 1978 popular neuropyschiatrist Franco Basaglia made a reform which forced the closing of all mental hospitals across Italy on May 13th.

Location

Ville Sbertoli is an architectural complex located in the Tuscan countryside, in Pistoia, in Italy.

Architecture

The asylum also known as "casa di salute Sbertoli" was then recostructed with the union of the two villas: Villa Franchini and Villa Rosati. Villa Franchini prensents itsfel as a 21,5 x 17,5 m building, constructed on three floors with a 39 feets height. It the is reconducted to typical XVIII century villas, due to its characteristics such as the simple facade with a three rows windows decorated by a big balcony formed by a iron railing with the family's logo on top of it. The building is surrounded by a garden enclosed by a group of colulms with flowers boxes on top with a long irongate constructed by the architect Girolamo de Rossi. At the entrance the guests are welcomed by a big monument dedicated to Galileo Galilei. Villa Rosa presents itself as a 45 x 10,5 m building, constructed on three floors with a 42 feets height. Just like villa Franchini, the construction of Villa Rosati can be also Up to this day, the villa is not in a good condition anymore: due to the fact that there haven't been any renovating action, the bulding is in phase of collapsing. Inside, we find beautiful art painting throughout most of the walls. However, the ones which were constructed as being the walls of the patien's rooms are full of drawings such as guns, people or even trees which were drawed by the patients themselves who used mostly bright color such as gree, yellow or blue.