The time of its construction

At the time the prisons of "District of the seven towns" had to exist (even if you are not sure what part of Asiago were located), because the historian Giuseppe Nalli (1830-1895) testifies that in 1868, following a police operation involving the Army (by two years the Veneto had been joined to the Kingdom of Savoy), were stopped on "crime scene" woodsmen 173 (Woods of Galamarara owned by the then consortium of seven municipalities which had inherited from the glorious Reign) "which closed on each side are declared under arrest and then escorted between two rows of soldiers at the district prisons." The author himself informs us that in 1890 the Mayor Dr. Domenico Blows "gets to build new Prisons Mandamentali". There were also signs that, in fact, somewhere the old ones. By Gilmore in 1910 (Asiago and the Altopiano dei Sette Comuni. Illustrated guide) it says instead that the new building would be opened in 1887. But this is certainly a typo: the year should have been the 1897, consistent with the initiative of Shots as in 1890 obtained the funds to build new prisons. As rebuttal, the thesis of engineer Francis Rigoni (1987-88) indicates that in 1891 was divided the parcel on which was built the building, right in 1897, was introduced in the book of matches between State-owned assets.

The structure

The eventual ruin that the building may have suffered with the great war, involved a reworking of the structure: it remained as such, fact documented by photos of the era. Was (and is) consists of two volumes taken, forming a T-shaped plan, with a distinctive circular element-onion-shaped roof-tangent to the building on the South side and used as a toilet. The front, access, is about 70 square meters and was used as a residence of caretaker (roughly until 1973). The House was separated from the actual prison from a single door, equipped with a large retractable. The place of detention (without a heating system!), was constituted to about half by a large entrance hall, the top two floors and paved with slabs of local stone. Those who want to visit the complex, will notice that the entrance hall facing the cells, four downstairs and two upstairs, the latter connected by a staircase and a balcony, made with similar floor slabs and protected by a railing made with wrought iron, at the time very presentable. The building was enclosed by a high wall. Architecturally significant is the entrance: the outer wall had a single opening, a stone arch arches (1.5 meters RADIUS) vaguely neoclassical style, on whose cornerstones engages a mighty wrought iron gate. Can be seen even today but not as it was. The earthquake of 1978 made it unsafe on wall, located near the curb. You must therefore take urgent action. The municipality-in a time when the State was trying to reuse the small prison buildings in order to avoid the concentration of subjects considered particularly dangerous (terrorists)-decided to demolish the wall to avoid the possibility of reusing the prison, partly by keeping it at a very low level to remain memory, while was completely torn down the side behind the original. The junta was uncertain if earmark proceeds from there to make it a garden space or a parking lot. It was decided for the latter (not without grumbling).

The building reuse

Prisons for some time they had ceased their function. It has been mentioned to abandonment of housing service took place in the early to mid 70 's. Who could read the registry of convicts, now missing, informs that the last was a woman: year 1969, a Gypsy.
In the early ' 80 it was planned to use the building for the Hospice. This led to the building's Interior and exterior architectural upheaval, what inappropriate and impossible. Later, at the end of the past years ' 80, began to take shape the idea of creating a museum. The intervention was not so simple. The district prison, in fact, was the seven old Municipalities of Highland (except the eighth, Conco). Asiago was involved in a complex negotiation because it gave clear signs of weakness in the building, while none of the co-owners wanted to bear the substantial renovation expenses – share – or at least of consolidation and reconstruction of the roof, already collapsed. The same Municipality wanted to buy 6/7 owned but the price offered was not considered appropriate by other interested parties. The agreement intervened with the commitment of each (Asiago included) to allocate the proportion of the price of property 1/7 (20 million pounds) for social purposes and excluding destinations of speculative building, indeed pointing to the aim of creating an ethnographic museum. This was approved by the Board of Asiago on November 25, 1996, but the conclusion of the purchase was possible only in 1999.

The work of restoration

The project was developed by architect. Muraro and the work was completed in 2001. Perhaps for budgetary reasons, the roof was made with shingles instead of the original red tile Marseillaise. The restoration still respected the original conformation.
Were preserved details and structures that leave no doubt as to the original destination of the building: the entrance hall, the balcony, the entrance doors of the cells, the bocca di lupo (1 St floor) that allowed the inmate to look, at most, a bit of heaven chess ...
The boundary wall basically remained intact only the entrance while porphyry slabs mark the existing profile.

Prisons and prisoners

Already, the prisoners! in the hope of finding the registry, some small piece of information comes from the photos that made Lorenzo Cisola just before the restoration. Meanwhile, as can be seen in the ' 20 and ' 30 days ' imprisonment signatures predominate, calendars. One senses, in later years, that the stay was not long, but it must have seemed endless to certain "today 4 November 1949 year are already 5 days of cell". There are also drawings of silhouettes of vans (with dates: symbolize the flowing time "inside"), a hammer and sickle, the figure of a soldier, grids, an elegant Monogram (SP). Then signatures, declarations: "I'm innocent" or "Linnet Rosario is located in this prison for his stupid people who signed" or likely nods to a class party, perhaps too exuberant, there concluded: "W 26" and thoughts to the beloved. They reflect, inter alia, two dates and an invocation. The first (20.1.36-20.2.36) remind us of the cold suffered (the Windows had just railing, not Windows!). The second makes me cringe: "O Mother that suffers, your son".
Who knows! Someone could well have been jailed just for having procured this meat that poverty did not buy from the butchers and that was offered by the generosity of the Woods and pastures, subject however to the hunting license and the gabella; but also by someone else during ' 44-' 45, the next day would have been waiting for a firing squad.