Carceri storiche nell'Ottocento in Sicilia

The text depicts the reality of prisons in 19th-century Sicily through a reconstruction focused primarily on the buildings—or parts of them—used as small municipal jails, scattered throughout the region and little known. This reconstruction was carried out thanks to material found at the Gancia and Catena State Archives in Palermo. These archives preserved documents (mostly correspondence) and floor plans that made it possible to outline a lesser-known reality compared to the prisons in the provincial capitals, which have always been better known and studied. The study of these documents has allowed for the identification of several still-existing palaces or castles that once housed cells for criminals, whose current occupants are often unaware of their past function. From their origins up until the unification of Italy, the study attempts to identify aspects—sometimes known but often surprising—of the management of these small local realities, which nevertheless marked a part of Sicily's history for decades.