“See you from the Old Schools”, “I expect you from the Old Schools” are common for the Trisobbiesi, also “from the Old Town”; especially at a time when people used to agree verbally to meet each other without being able to use mobile phones or even to provide a known meeting place.
These habits indicate the importance of the building in daily life, it stands on the highest point of Via Roma, dominating the entrance to the town. The position makes it not only an excellent point of reference but its shape makes it easily identifiable even for those who have never visited Trisobbio.
The structure looks like a square-shaped building, with a portico on the street level on which 3 large arches open, the central one as passage, while the two side ones, closed by a small wall, are the favorite benches for waiting friends, chat or just enjoy the sun.
Above the three arches, the facade continues with a small balcony and two windows on the first floor and another 3 small windows on the second floor.
In a document from the Trisobbio’s Archive we read that “this project would satisfy all the needs of the Municipality both for the Municipal Hall and Archives, both for the male and female elementary schools, and for the Guard Corps of the National Guard“.
Were also added dedicated spaces for Nursery school (closing part of the portico) and “office of the tax collector of the epochs for collection and for the sessions of the Conciliator“.
The first projects of the building date back to the mid-19th century, a period in which Trisobbio had to face two urgent situations.
The first was to have a space available to the Municipal Administration for council meetings, the Archives and offices. The second requirement was to provide the country’s youth with a place to go to go to school.
For this reason, the building was built with the idea of satisfying both needs, a purpose that is recalled in the expressions shown at the top of the page as evidence of how it has kept faith for it
.
Before the construction of this building, meetings were held in the Castle, which at the time was owned by the municipality but in need of major maintenance work which favored the decision to sell it to private individuals.
While waiting for the building, both the Council meetings and the lessons took place in rooms rented by the citizens.
As a historical note, in the mid-1800s Trisobbio had a population of around 2000 inhabitants (about 4 times the current one) and towards the end of the century there are 280 pupils, divided into three schools: masculine and feminine, for those who belong to the historic center and a mixed school in the hamlet of Villa Botteri.
At the beginning of 1900, the legacy of Cav. Dogliotti provided the Municipality with the current seat of the Town Hall, thus leaving our building for the exclusive use of the schools from which the name derives, due to the memories of those who studied there.
In about 1970, the construction of a new school structure also put an end to this function, leaving the building empty.
In 2002, the restoration began which brought the building to its current appearance, redoing the facades, the balcony, adapting the spaces and technical systems and installing the lift in an external “column”. Following the restoration, the building resumed its multifunctional role, hosting the tourist office, the medical clinic, a “meeting” room and, in recent years, a dental laboratory that currently occupies most of the structure.