The truth

The dark room, with no door, in which i entered is very small, not bigger than 5 square meters, and it leads to another room even darker and misterious. I can’t see absolutely nothing. The only light comes from the underpass, dark itself. The only way i have to find out what in here is to take pictures using the flash. The scene i’m into reminds me of a horror movie or of one of my nightmears. First nothing, then only glimpses of disturbing images. It must be an old bathroom, cause there are four sinks, one worse than the others. It’s incredible my surprise of catching these images, where i had no idea of where i were. It’s like i didn’t even get into the place, but as if i saw a movie of it. An old radiator, dirty and encrusted with paint, broken wooden boards, a bottle of beer leaning on one of the sinks in a too diligent way, out of tune with all that mess, a sink that hasn’t been used in years and a pink soap on it, right where it’s supposed to be, as if somebody stopped using this bathroom from one day to the other, with no apparently good reason. Contrasting with the care od the bottle and the soap, an opaque window is leaning against the sink, with wrought iron decorations and a big hole in the middle, as if someone threw  something against it with violence. One of our doubts gets stronger: what if it is a mental hospital? This may be the reason there is no sign on the gate and no patients walking around. On the right side of the room there are two more sinks: a small one e a long one, like the ones we have in schools. The triple sink is disgusting: is full of dirty pondy rusty water... is it obstructed or someone years ago forgot to take the plug out? Spiderwebs decorate the wall and the pipes. A mirror is still in its place intact. On the small sink somebody negligently left a jar of yogurt. It looks full, which disgustes me with no end, but after all this time there should be much more than just mould. At least i have the feeling that there are no mice to eat the yogurt. I go back to the normal time passing by: i go out. The air i breath under the pass reminds me who i am, where i am and where i’m going. It takes few seconds to get back to reality: coming out from a dark room leaves a soporific sense. Once i feel better we go towards the other corridor exactly in front of the dark room. From the underpass the view is wonderful. It’s not really abandoned, but for sure is a way used by very few people: i’m sure doctors and patients don’t use this passage. Soft withered lights accompany the way through walls of bricks, reminding me of prisons and castles. We don’t hear nor see anybody in front of us, so we go on with no fear. Alessandro is now convinced too that it was worth to visit this place. On the left a dirty old light comes from forgotten windows every now and then. Here and there we meat strange recesses, which make our walking more interesting, cause every time we think there is something behind. After about 20 meters the corridor turns 90° right, becoming much larger and changing the scenary: now it really looks like we are in an antique cellar with arched ceiling. After few steps the path takes new directions, leading to new visions. The apparentlly desolated scene leaves space to a more dynamic view: there are clear hints of work in progress for restoration. Perhaps we are underneath the buildings we saw from outside that are being restored. All we could hear before were our steps, now we can hear people working, the concrete being mixed and steel beams being moved. Feeling satisfied we turn back, and at about ten meters from the entrance, on the right i notice a black pipe, with the isolating scum all around it, telling us goodbye. The coloring of the wall here is quite unusual: at a certain point the grey of the concrete leaves space to a strange reddish pink. My fierce thoughts as usual make me think to faded blood, but i’m sure i’m wrong. We leave behind macabre feelings and we go back to reality: we must find out what this place is, finally. We go back up the way we came from, but this time once outside we turn left. There’s movement around, it’s lunch time and cars are coming and going and people are walking towards the main gate. Protected by a barrier which goes up only if you have a password. We stay inside the area and go on. Behind the yelloish building there is anotherone, much bigger and dark. To reach the entrance there’s a small uphill like the ones you usually find in the emergency of the hospitals. Here we have one confirmation: there’s an old man getting inside a car, and others standing in front of the entrance. I look at the building and it looks like it’s divided in small appartments. Is it a resting home? We go back to the main gate, ready to go away, not before asking some information. We realize that there’s no way out is somebody doesn’t open the barrier for us. We go behind a car and follow it out. I’m almost asking information, when i look at the top of the dark building and there i see it, a great big sign on the roof: “Rehabilitative Geriatric Institute”. This happens when you walk staring at the ground. You find yourself visiting places you didn’t really care to see. A question comes to my mind: are there so many people that can fly in Milan? If i hadn’t raised my head to the sky, i would have never seen that sign.