Orio, the former preventorium remains shrouded in decay

Mayor Ponzetti: “We have our hands tied, unfortunately INPS does not talk”. Once it was the castle of the Sallier De la Tour counts, today it is prey to vandals and thieves

ORIO CANAVESE. Nothing is moving, after a study aimed at the recovery and enhancement carried out ten years ago by an ad hoc working group, in the large area of ​​about thirty hectares of the former preventorium of Orio Canavese, which was built in the castle, formerly the home of the Sallier De la tour counts to treat children sick with tuberculosis, and which includes a park with old trees. The property, abandoned around the 90s, is owned by the ASL / To4 and INPS, always indifferent to the recovery, despite the numerous reminders of the municipal administrations that have followed over the years. For the moment, an auction sale (with tenders always deserted) affects only the former manor, which towards the end of the 90s seemed destined to become a psychiatric and rehabilitation center. Then he did nothing and for the ancient palace, plundered by thieves, the decline began as the park became a thick bush. And the suggestions dictated by the abandonment and the former use of the place, tell stories of ghosts. The studio had also dusted off a project concerning the plant census, carried out by the students of the high school Piero Martinetti in Caluso.

The new mayor Sara Ponzetti knows the situation well, but spreads her arms: «We are waiting to know the moves of the ASL and INPS. We have our hands tied and certainly do not have the resources to buy or the park in the former preventorium ». The working group had completed the long narrative of the complex and the actions implemented by the Municipality. «It is not really conceivable – underlines Ponzetti – that such a structure will remain abandoned to decay. A deterioration that creates safety problems: collapses of roofs, slabs and cornices, now completely dilapidated, and numerous acts of vandalism have already occurred. In fact, anyone can access the castle on foot and in complete tranquility, along what was once the access ally. And to say that we had proposed at least to be able to use the park ».

The first auction started from a request for one million and seven hundred thousand euros and the proceeds were to be used for the construction of the clinic in Ivrea. “With the INPS, on the other hand, we are unable to communicate at all. Adds the mayor. We understand that it should divest part of its assets. But the words do not follow the facts. In fact, INPS limits itself to intervening at our request to cut the plants that die ».

The building, which in the past was the summer residence of the Sallier De la Tour counts, had the dignity of a castle until the early decades of the twentieth century. In more recent times, at the turn of the last war, the building was used as a dispensary for the treatment of tuberculosis of a provincial nature, gradually changing its destination (always in the health sector) until the nineties, when it was still managed by the ‘then Usl. Then the disposal, with an increasingly marked deterioration. «That area – concludes Ponzetti – must return to bring benefits to our community as it has been in the pastto».