When first constructed it was originally intended to be used as an Orphanage but was quickly converted to be used as a POW Camp in World War II.
Described in Wikipedia as “a large brick building with stone facings and neo-classical features” it is today used as a Centre for Neurological Disorders.
Rex (my partner) and I were driving from Lucca to Verona in July 2019 and I was just starting out on my journey to find out where my father had been a POW in Italy during World War II. We had to go a little out of our way to get to Fontanellato but it was well worth the detour as the prison camp I had imagined bore no resemblance to what stood in front of us.
It will be interesting to one day unearth the International Red Cross Report held at The National Archives undertaken by a Swiss Delegation which looked into conditions at PG 49 at Fontanellato in 1943.
PG 49 at Fontanellato in Italy - The Story of allied servicemen who were held prisoner of war in this town in Italy in World War II 