Silent Light

• Photographer
  Simone Tramonte

This project is a statement of a place that does not exist anymore, a place intentionally forgotten. Since 1887, the ancient Psychiatric Hospital stands hidden in the wood of the hill above Volterra. In 1978, the law 180 stated its closing, and since then the hospital is abandoned. Walls neglected and hidden, where mental insanity grew and loneliness killed their souls. It is a story made of silence, an intimate path through the anguish of those who dwelt this place. Away from the city, as to preserve people to see the madness, a cry of oblivion echoes in this hill and may be heard afar. It is a stifling place, where air is heavy, as the past it reminds of. A huge degrade. Wherever traces of broken dreams and misery. As soon as I enter, anguish fills my veins, and a sense of anxiety surrounds me. I must confess myself that I want to run away. A dark place stares in front of me, a place made of sorrows, but enlightened by a warm, soft light, that shines the rooms seeping through what remain of the windows. It seeds through memories. It is a dim light. A silent light. This light drives me into a travel of memory, as the glimmer of hope of those that here lost their lives.