Costigliole d'Asti - Serratrice Palace, the Town Hall and the Theatre

Serratrice Palace

The kindergarten of the charity association Serratrice was housed, from 1871 to 1881, in the original seat of the institution the "Ricovero" (Rest Home), where a specific floor of the nursing home was dedicated to children. On 11th November 1870 the local surveyor Pietro Gallino signed an expert report for the extension of the Fountain Square, that included a large part of the seat of the current town hall at the time not yet existing, and for defining the erection site of the new kindergarten Serratrice, approved by the municipality in 1871.

In 1872 King Vittorio Emanuele II decreed as of public utility the enlargement of the Fountain Square and the expropriation of private plots for the construction of the nursery school. Despite the approval of the municipality to the final project, the Pessagno brothers refused the compensation offered them for the expropriation of their lands. Anyway, in 1878 the Municipality of Costigliole unanimously decided to remise to the building of the Serratrice kindergarten the necessary land in the measure of 1100 square meters. On 28th June 1878 the engineer Vincenzo Adorni of Asti signed the plans for the new kindergarten and the necessary land was purchased directly by the municipality in 1879. In the same year, after the erection of the new kindergarten was contracted to the construction company of Luigi Ginella, the first stone of new building was placed on July 13rd. Completed in September 1880, the new Serratrice kindergarten was opened to the nuns-teachers and children on April 25th, 1881, and the well-deserved institution educated many generations of children. On 4th July 1881 and 22nd September 1890 the two marble busts donated by the town of Costigliole, representing the brothers Giuseppe and Gioacchino Serratrice, were solemnly inaugurated.

In November 1971 the Serratrice kindergarten passed from private into state institution with the creation of the new department of State Nursery School. The building remained property of the charity association until February 20th, 1984, when it was officially sold to the municipality of Costigliole. The property, expertly restored between 2007 and 2009, following the design by the architect Luigi Duretto, now hosts the headquarters of the Hilly Community "Tra Langa e Monferrato” (Between Langa and Monferrato), the council room of the Municipality and of the Hilly Community and other public offices.

The Town Theatre

The construction works of the town hall, the shed and the municipal theater began on April 15th, 1883 and ended on December 11th, 1884, but only on July 28th, 1885 the municipality declared all the works finished, with the paving, window frames and exterior and interior paintings. During the construction phases, the Municipality made several changes to the initial project. In fact, at first only the porticoes on the side bordering Regina Margherita street (now Roma street)were planned, and not those concerning the square, and an oak wood floor was layed in the vast hall-theatre on the ground floor, instead of the planned terracotta tiles. To the hall was then added an "upper gallery" in 1885. 

Cesare Ginella completed the hydraulic works, the smiths brothers Visone and Massano made the iron works, the carpenter Gerolamo Borio worked on the doors and windows and Perosino and Nattino realized the decorations; they were all workers from Costigliole. Testing of the new municipal theatre was performed by engineer Antonio Debernardi from Turin on November 25th 1886, who was then succeeded by engineer Giuseppe Tonta from Turin.

In 1891, engineer Giuseppe Bertinaria from Turin reported about serious stability problems, related to the large hall of municipal theatre, which led to a new project, issued between 1892 and 1893. The restoration works were committed to the entrepreneur Alberto Prunotto of Costigliole while the rich and sumptuous decorative apparatus was executed by the Modenese painter Guglielmo Tellini.

The Town Theatre was then subjected to enlargement works, based on the design made by the architect Bonaudi in 1981, with the creation of the foyer of the theatre hall and a new portion of building aimed at accommodating the new stage and the facilities rooms. On the lower floor, until 2011, there was space for the Municipal Library, then moved to the adjacent Serratrice Palace, following the renovation of that building. Between the years 1985 and 1988 new works, managed by the architect Duretto, allowed the transformation of the theatre hall into a cinema involving some offices of the Municipal Palace. In 2019, the new City Council started major works on the exterior façade with painting, lighting and soundproofing of the hall, based on the design by architect Morando Fabrizio and executed by the company Bellio; all works were completed in 2021.