The former military hospital of La Maddalena turns 130: it has been abandoned for 15 years, after the failed G8

Inaugurated in 1894, the Military Hospital of La Maddalena would have celebrated its 130th anniversary. In fact, its history, as a Navy healthcare building, ended in 2008, when the Government entrusted it to the Civil Protection Mission Structure to adapt it and expand it to accommodate the 35th G8 summit, that of 2009. So it was done, but the world summit was diverted to L'Aquila. And the structure has remained, and still is, unused ever since.

Its construction dates back to the times of the establishment of the La Maddalena fortress at the end of the 19th century, commissioned by the Crispi government. The military doctor Salvatore Grisolia was the first to direct it. The Royal Hospital was equipped with adequate healthcare equipment (for the time) and 150 beds. In addition to Navy and Army soldiers, members of the Financial Police, Police, Prison Guards and, if necessary, even civilians were hospitalized there. The most recurring diseases were malaria (over 300 hospitalizations in 1895 alone), cholera, typhoid fever, measles, whooping cough, trachoma, tuberculosis. There were also venereal diseases, widespread due to the presence of brothels, which were quite popular.

Two years after the inauguration, i.e. in 1896, the Vincentian nuns began to serve, taking care of the nursing organization, managing the cleaning, cooking and distribution of meals. The Vincentians remained there, almost continuously, for a century, until January 1, 1996 when the agreement between the Navy and the congregation was renewed.

In the First World War, given the distance from the theater of operations, the La Maddalena stronghold was only marginally involved. This one in La Maddalena (one of the six hospitals of the Navy, together with those of La Spezia, Taranto, Naples, Venice, Pola) was used for the rehabilitation and subsequent re-employment of wounded soldiers. In those years it had 200 beds and a staff of several dozen military doctors (medicine, surgery and orthopaedics, pharmacist), around thirty nurses and other staff, in addition to the nuns. Let's look at some numbers: In 1914 there were 1636 hospitalizations, which rose to 2234 in 1915; in 1916 there were 2090; 1885 in 1917 and there were 2050 in 1918.

Spiritual assistance was ensured within the hospital, either with the presence of a military chaplain or in his absence of the priests of La Maddalena. Subsequently classified as a Secondary Hospital (like that of Pola), during the Second World War the La Maddalena Hospital found itself on the front line in 1943 . On 10 April of that year the fortress suffered its first heavy bombing. There was destruction, deaths, injuries. In addition to the civilian part of La Maddalena, the Royal Arsenale, other military structures and the ships Trieste and Gorizia were hit. The director, medical lieutenant colonel Giuseppe Greco, improvised makeshift operating rooms, mobilizing all the island's healthcare personnel: the hospital square, the corridors and even the kitchens were filled with injured people. After these events it became clear that the war operations also affected the naval base of La Maddalena and it was therefore decided to decentralize the hospital to existing structures in Luras and Arzachena. Only one emergency center remained on the island. Once the war was over, the hospital's activity slowed down although it continued its activities also because, in 1952, a department was set up for civilians, men and women. The early 1970s saw the opening of the Paolo Merlo hospital which consequently led to the closure of the pavilion dedicated to the inhabitants of La Maddalena at the military hospital and consequently also a reduction in activity. Furthermore, as the civil hospital increased in number of departments and some specialists, the military also benefited from this, resulting in a further reduction in the activity of the military hospital. On 14 October 2002, a decree from the Ministry of Defence, "recognizing the need to adopt, for a more effective and economical articulation of the military instrument", ordered that with effect from 1 November 2002 the Autonomous Maritime Military Infirmary of La Maddalena would be "downgraded in the Infirmary of the Non-Commissioned Officers School of La Maddalena.

What was that structure, first the Main Hospital during the First World War, then the Secondary Hospital during the Second and subsequently the M. Peruzzi Autonomous Infirmary, at that point became the Mariscuola La Maddalena Infirmary and the II Section of the CMO (Hospital Medical Commission) of La Spice. The two organizations insisted on the same structures and made use of the same medical-military, nursing and bureaucratic personnel (both military and civilian). Nonetheless, this hospital or rather, the M. Peruzzi Autonomous Infirmary, Marinferm, continued to have its importance, as a consequence of the presence of the American Navy, which began in 1972, and in particular of the nuclear-powered submarines that were stationed in Santo Stefano. At a certain point a Nuclear Decontamination Station was installed there.

After the departure of the Americans in 2008 and a significant reduction in the presence of our Navy, it occurred to someone that the world summit of G8 heads of state and government could have been organized in La Maddalena. As part of this idea it was thought that that building could, renovated and enlarged, accommodate the great people of the world. Inside the Non-Commissioned Officers Schools, a new Infirmary was built in record time which housed what was the residual activity of the historic building. And the structure of the Military Hospital, Marinferm, thus became available to the Civil Protection which began work. The rest is already history, an ugly, bitter, history, so far, of useless expenses, waste of public money, unused structures.