The main building was designed in 1789 by Filippo Castelli and was originally intended to house a charitable hospital and charitable work. Construction took place between 1825 and 1828, but soon after its completion, it was converted into a boarding school for the children of former military personnel. The boarding school, inaugurated in 1834 by King Carlo Alberto, was closed in 1868.

From 1870 onward, the building housed a psychiatric institution, housing approximately two hundred patients. It was not only an internment facility but also a center for neurosurgical studies, with an operating room and extensive medical equipment. Dr. Oscar Giacchi, director from 1880 to 1907, was convinced that mental illness was due to an imbalance between the volume of the brain and the skull. Therefore, the nature of the problem was assumed to be solely mechanical, and experimental surgeries were performed to enlarge the skull and create more space for the brain.

Over time, the institution was expanded with the addition of the Marro Pavilion, for "quiet men," the Tamburini Pavilion, for "quiet women," and the Morselli Pavilion, which housed the cells for patients classified as "dangerous." The more than 16-hectare estate also included an agricultural colony for occupational therapy, a clinical research laboratory, a pathology laboratory, a radiology laboratory, an electrotherapy laboratory, and, as already mentioned, an operating room for nervous system surgery. There were also kitchens, a bakery, a heating plant, and various other buildings, and it was completely self-sufficient . Approximately 500 people, including doctors, clerks, and nurses, worked here.