Plans to revitalise Italy’s Alcatraz revealed
Italy’s former Alcatraz, now crumbling and abandoned, is being revitalised with an ambitious restyle project.
The tiny volcanic island of Santo Stefano lies between Rome and Naples, and was once the home of criminals, bandits, anarchists and political dissidents from Ancient Rome all the way through to the Fascist regime during World War II.
But the jail has been closed since 1965 and the island has been long abandoned.
Now, the Italian state is spending 70 million euros ($110 million AUD) to revive Santo Stefano and transform it into an open-air museum and tourism hotspot just like the infamous Alcatraz. Maintenance works are underway in key areas, and a call for proposals on how to renovate the jail will be launched.
Silva Costa, the government commissioner in charge of the restyle, told CNN the aim is to recover all of the original colony - from the barracks to the original cisterns - by taking “an environmentally friendly approach that takes into account the uniqueness of the island’s natural habitat.”
Sitting inside a protected marine park, Santo Stefano has no dock and can only be accessed by an ancient Roman harbour on the nearby island of Ventotene. Its current visitors include fishermen, sunbathers, scuba divers and snorkelers lured by giant groupers and barracudas, while the seabed is full of archaeological wonders and a shipwreck dating back to World War II.
Visitors can also tour the horseshoe-shaped prison built by the Bourbon rulers during the 18th century. Along the 40-minute hike up the path, three signs greet visitors: “This is a place of suffering.”, “This is a place of expiation.”, “This is a place of redemption.”
The restyle will see Santo Stefano hosting a multimedia open-air museum detailing the history of the prison and its inmates.
The former home of the jail director and changing rooms of the inmates’ football field will be turned into low-cost hostels with about 30 rooms.
A restaurant cafe is expected to take the place of the bakery where prisoners made bread everyday, with a panoramic terrace garden that will be replanted with flowers and plants that once grew there.
The inmates’ orchards will also be revived.
“We want the island to draw visitors all year-round, not just during the crowded summer months,” Costa said.
“Tourism must be sustainable, but Santo Stefano will be more than that. It will be a hub for world academics uniting on key issues such as green policies, human rights, freedom of speech, European citizenship and Mediterranean dialogue.”
The renovation is expected to be finished by 2025.