At the end of the 19th century, this town already housed an asylum for the insane, one of four in the Piedmont region. When the need for expansion and renovation arose, the necessary land was acquired, and construction began in the early 1930s. The new complex, consisting of 20 similar, and even identical, pavilions built around a centrally located chapel, was completed in 1937. Together with the adjacent agricultural colony, it covered an area of ​​no less than 28 hectares, making it one of the largest psychiatric institutions in Italy.

Even during the construction phase, Adamo Mario (Amarro) Fiamberti was appointed to head the complex. Fiamberti became famous and infamous as a psychiatrist, having been the first to perform a "transorbital lobotomy" in 1937, which involved accessing the frontal lobes of the brain through the eye sockets.

The asylum remained active until 1978, when the Basaglia law came into effect, leading to the closure of psychiatric hospitals. It remained partially in use as a regular hospital until 1991, when it was finally abandoned.