The itinerary from the Palazzina Liberty to the Carcere Spagnolo or Spanish Prison proceeds through an old underpass known as Su Porci and past stone houses with wrought iron balconies and carved wooden doors. The prison, built in the first half of the seventeenth century, is surrounded by tall private homes that block the view of the surroundings. It is a square structure with two storeys, each with its own entrance and a partial attic known as su staulu farzu. This building is a tangible example of the administration of justice in this zone of the Barbagia region for no less than 300 years, up to 1975. It contains nineteenth-century furnishings, kept in the guardians' lodgings, in the kitchen and in the three cells - one for women, one for men, and one used for solitary confinement. In the kitchen, fitted out with period furniture, there is a small fireplace built in 1910 that, along with the two stoves incorporated in the walls, replaced the central fireplace (su fogili), which had no cowl for the discharge of the smoke. The floor of the women's cell is made of chestnut beams and boards that also serve as a ceiling for the room below, which is the solitary confinement cell or sa cella de su pei in tipu. This latter, measuring only a few square metres, has a dirt floor and no windows. It was also used as a torture chamber. The tour ends with the section with documents concerning the transfer of prisoners from the Seui prison, accompanied by armed guards, a journey almost always made on foot and, from April 1894 on, by train. Of interest are the studies made on the prison physician's work and on the remedies the pharmacist prepared for the entire community on behalf of the city.

Società Cooperativa S'Eremigu
Via San Giorgio, 101/103 - 08037 Seui
Tel. 0782.539002
Mail: mailto:eremigu@tiscali.it

(source: Guida ai Beni Culturali della provincia dell'Ogliastra)