In the first chapter, the young psychiatrist Elena Fermi arrives at the abandoned mental asylum of Oltrecolle, a building surrounded by a dark and decadent atmosphere that seems to guard unsolved mysteries. The structure, marked by time and legend, presents itself as a place where the past still seems alive among the shadows and whispers of the wind. Welcomed by the silent custodian, Elena is accompanied to the library, where the diaries of a famous and controversial psychiatrist, Dr. Fausto Morandi, await her. The chapter focuses on Elena's first impressions, on the sense of uneasiness that envelops her and on the unresolved questions regarding the origins of evil and madness. Between gothic suggestions and suspended atmospheres, the protagonist prepares to embark on a psychological and human journey into the depths of the mental asylum and into the mind of its most enigmatic inhabitant.
Elena Fermi's arrival in Oltrecolle: Gothic atmospheres, psychological puzzles, and the dark allure of Dr. Morandi's diaries
The Gothic spires of the Oltrecolle asylum stood out against the leaden sky like skeletal fingers clawing at a firmament pregnant with omens. It was a building from another era, built between two tormented centuries and forgotten on the outskirts of the city, on the hills where the beech and oak forests thin out, giving way to exposed rocks and wild ivy. The valley wind, cold and biting even in summer, carried with it the echoes of old cries, indistinct voices, and a pain that seemed embedded in the very stone of the walls.
A bumpy road, covered in gravel and green moss, spiraled up through abandoned fields and rows of twisted trees. Elena Fermi, wrapped tightly in her rough wool coat, could feel its icy breath slipping between the folds of her clothes and seeping under her skin. Her dark eyes, usually mobile and questioning, now seemed to reflect all the desolation and solemnity of the place.
Every step on the gravel echoed like an unresolved question. Every now and then she turned, as if fearing that someone—or something—might be following her from the shadows of the woods.It wasn't the first time she'd visited a psychiatric facility: she'd visited other abandoned asylums, modern centers, and silent hospital wards, but none seemed imbued with an almost physically oppressive history like Oltrecolle. As a student, she'd read about this place in medical history textbooks, and in particular about the enigmatic figure of Dr. Fausto Morandi: a man both celebrated and feared, whose story had become the subject of legends whispered in university corridors.
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