THE FORMER GORIZIA SANATORIUM (1933): A PROTOTYPE OF FASCIST HEALTHCARE ARCHITECTURE. REFLECTIONS ABOUT ITS RESTORATION AND REUSE.

abstract. The Italian sanatorium network, focal point of the social and health policy during the fascist regime, saw its birth in 1927 thanks to the decree no. 2055, which established compulsory anti-tuberculosis insurance. A new building typology was introduced by revising Italian and European experiences from the mid-nineteenth century: it consisted of a central service body and two symmetrical lateral wings (for hospitalization), with continuous balconies facing south, splitting into smaller loggias serving the rooms. Parks were an integral part of this building typology, created to ensure walks in a healthy, green and protected environment in peri urban contexts. The new type of sanatorium spread fast throughout the country: Gorizia hosted the frst prototype in northern Italy. It soon lost its original function thanks to the advent of antibiotic therapies in the 1950s. It was sold to the National Health Service in the 70’s, and gradually became obsolete. Underused and deprived of its original function, it entered a state of abandonment and decay, both in its architectural features and in its landscape and park components. The exceptional character of the Gorizia sanatorium requires new visions for the revaluation of the building and for the city itself, not only to respond to emergencies like the recent pandemics, but also to ofer new solutions to a changing local multicultural society, which is becoming more and more health-conscious, culture and sustainability enthusiast.