3 abandoned hospitals and healthcare facilities in Piedmont
Piedmont preserves numerous testimonies of 20th-century healthcare history: hospitals, sanatoriums, rehabilitation centers, and psychiatric facilities that played an important role in the life of local communities for decades.
Some of these structures have changed purpose, others have been restored, while others have remained unused for years, transforming into interesting examples of medical archaeology.
In this article we look at 3 abandoned or disused healthcare facilities in Piedmont , selected with a focus on buildings that are still recognizable and architecturally present, and avoiding complexes now reduced to ruins.
In this article
Former Maria Adelaide Rehabilitation Center – Turin
On the hills of Turin, along the San Vito-Revigliasco road, lies one of the best-known abandoned healthcare complexes in Piedmont: the former Maria Adelaide Functional Rehabilitation Centre .
The building's history begins in the late 1920s. The complex was built between 1927 and 1929 and originally served as a summer camp for approximately 300 war orphans and children of disabled workers. The facility later changed its function and was used as a convalescent center for INAIL workers injured.
The health destination continued in the following years.
From 1981 to 2007, the complex was used as a functional rehabilitation center connected to the Maria Adelaide Hospital in Turin. In 2007, the center was permanently closed and the structure remained unused. The building is also particularly noteworthy for its size.
The complex comprises a main building with three levels above ground and two underground levels , with a total floor area of approximately 6,014 square meters, as well as a second office building. Overall, the area includes several buildings and outdoor spaces.
Over the years, abandonment has left very evident signs.
The structure has been repeatedly described by the local press as a progressively deteriorating building targeted by vandals. Already in 2017, damaged interiors, the remaining fixtures, and a still-recognizable internal chapel were documented.
Despite its deterioration, the complex still retains its volume and allows us to clearly recognize the building's original function.
This is precisely what makes it interesting from an urbex point of view: not a disappeared structure, but a large twentieth-century healthcare building that has remained suspended in time .
Red Cross Sanatorium – Lanzo Torinese
Moving to the Lanzo Valleys we find a structure completely different in period and architecture: the Red Cross Sanatorium , also known as the Lanzo Hermitage structure.
The building was designed between 1950 and 1965 by architect Francesco Dolza. It is therefore a much more recent structure than traditional 19th-century hospitals, characterized by architecture inspired by the Modern Movement. However, the site's medical history predates the construction of the current building.
The Eremo di Lanzo was transformed into a sanatorium by the Italian Red Cross in 1918. Initially, it was intended for war veterans and later for the treatment of tuberculosis in women. In the 1960s, a new hospital building was built within the park. The facility enjoyed a long history of providing healthcare.
In 1995, the building was converted into a nursing home. This function continued until 2013, when the facility was finally closed. Since then, it has remained unused and has gradually fallen into disrepair.
From an architectural point of view it is one of the most interesting cases.
The building features a reinforced concrete structure, plaster and Luserna stone facades, large glass surfaces, and sinuous terraces. The design sought a direct connection between the healthcare facility and the surrounding landscape.
It is therefore not the classic nineteenth-century hospital structure made up of corridors and large pavilions.
The Red Cross Sanatorium represents modern healthcare architecture , designed with light, air, open spaces and the relationship with the mountain environment in mind.
Today, the building is abandoned and facing maintenance problems, but the main structure is still clearly recognizable. The Ministry of Culture's documentation describes a building marked by abandonment and vandalism, but not reduced to ruins.
It is probably one of the most interesting Piedmontese cases to understand how hospital architecture changed over the twentieth century.
Former San Giacomo Psychiatric Hospital – Alessandria
In Alexandria we find a still different story.
The San Giacomo Psychiatric Hospital represents one of the main testimonies to the history of psychiatry in Piedmont.
The institution's origins date back to the Middle Ages. Over the centuries, the hospital changed location and organization several times, until the asylum was moved, between 1871 and 1885 , to the former Capuchin convent on Via Venezia, dating back to the 17th century.
The complex was progressively expanded to meet the needs of the psychiatric facility.
In 1913, an old army powder magazine located near the city ramparts was also incorporated and transformed into an agricultural colony for internees.
The hospital thus became a fully-fledged complex, comprising departments, green spaces, laboratories, and service facilities. The institution's history ended only in the second half of the twentieth century.
After the Basaglia Law was approved in 1978 , the hospital passed to the Local Health Authority. Its operations ceased definitively on December 24, 1980 .
The peculiarity of the former San Giacomo is that it should not be imagined as a single large, completely empty building.
It is, in fact, a highly complex complex , composed of various structures and areas that have had different uses over time. Some parts have been reused, while others have remained unused and are still undergoing restoration projects.
A concrete example comes from the most recent activities: in 2026, CISSACA approved restoration and compliance work on a portion of the Via Mazzini complex intended for the construction of a new social facility funded through the PNRR.
This makes the case of Alexandria particularly interesting.
The former San Giacomo is not simply an “abandoned location”, but a piece of the city that is slowly moving from the healthcare function of the past to new destinations .
Its historical importance is further documented by the institution's archives, which preserve documents relating to its activities and the history of Alexandrian psychiatry.
Why are hospitals being abandoned?
Abandoning a healthcare facility can have many different causes.
Hospitals underwent profound changes during the twentieth century. New medical technologies, evolving regulations, and the need for more modern facilities led to the closure or relocation of many older facilities.
In other cases, it was changes in medicine that made certain structures obsolete.
The case of sanatoriums is particularly significant. The spread of new drugs and the progressive overdevelopment of large tuberculosis facilities have rendered many buildings designed specifically for that type of treatment unnecessary.
The closure of psychiatric hospitals also played a significant role.
Law 180 of 1978 , commonly associated with the Basaglia reform, initiated the abolition of psychiatric hospitals and completely changed the Italian system of psychiatric care.
All these transformations have left behind very large buildings, which are often difficult and expensive to convert.
A hospital is not, in fact, a simple building.
It features complex systems, large surfaces, technical facilities, security systems, and spaces designed for a very specific purpose. When that purpose disappears, finding a new use can become extremely difficult.
This is why some former hospitals remain empty for years, while others are gradually recovered and transformed into schools, offices, social facilities, residences, or new public services.
Conclusions
Piedmont's former hospitals tell a significant story of the region's transformation.
The former Maria Adelaide Rehabilitation Center is a 20th-century healthcare facility that remained unused after its operations were relocated. The Lanzo Red Cross Sanatorium tells the story of the fight against tuberculosis and the evolution of modern healthcare architecture.
The former San Giacomo Psychiatric Hospital in Alessandria offers a glimpse into the history of Italian psychiatry and a glimpse into how a large healthcare complex can span different eras and uses.
Three different buildings, three different stories, but united by the same phenomenon: the transformation of healthcare has left behind an architectural heritage that today risks being forgotten .
And that's precisely why these places are also interesting from an urbex perspective. Even before being abandoned buildings, they are testaments to the history of the people who built, lived in, and used them.
Note: Abandoned buildings do not mean they are freely accessible. Some of the structures cited are fenced off, unsafe, private, or under conservation. This article is for informational and historical purposes only and does not provide guidance on unauthorized access.
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