Viale Jenner, the fortress

At the beginning i think of studying only the building i’ve baptized “the fortress”, because it’s in a good position, visible and safe, and so fascinating that it could easly represent the whole area, althought it is the one in worst conditions. The covering is almost completely crumbled, specially next to the pillars, that stick out a bit. The bricks can see the air, whitened by the traces left by the lime. The arched windows are in couples, as to form a sort of bifor (?), with the arched part very simple but visible with it’s red bricks as decoration, in opposition to the coating of the rest of the building. The inside part of the arches is the only trace left of what the windows used to look like, althought the glass is so dirty that i can’t be sure it is glass at all. The metal structure around the building it bacame part of the building itself, dividing the whole thing into modules. The climbing weeds are an element that makes everything seem more fantastic and misterious, beside disturbing the regular division of the metal structure. I get closer to one of the entrances, left free by the weeds, to study the interior conditions. The room is completely dark, except for a ray of light projected on a wall, coming from the façade on the street. The shape of this ray of light marks the presence of the climbing plants, that don’t let the windows project their fancy design. Humidity has taken place all over on the walls, revealing all the possible causes of degrading due to it. The coating is completely wet and all the salts have crystallize. The bricks seem to have pushed away all the layers, to find some breath. In the inside too there’s the metal structure to prevent the building from collapsing. The impression is that if no one restores this place it will crumble anyway to the ground. The metal poles are rusty. The floor is so full of stuff that i can hardly see it. It’s not rubbish, but wooden axis, pieces of bricks and concrete, lime and metal poles. The feeling is that the ceiling collapsed, which brings me to raise my head and look at it. The ceiling is another proof of how old this place is. It’s made of wood, tecnique that it’s not used anymore around here, because it deforms, it ruins and it burns so easly. The wooden ceiling have been used for ages in the past, because it works good with flexible strains. I’ve seen a similar ceiling before, when i had to survey an old cowshed for the restoration course. The different layers are visible, and i can see everything is in very bad conditions, which doesn’t make me want to go upstairs and proof the supporting capacity. I walk around the building from outside, to reach another entrance. To reach it i have to step on high weeds and what i see in front of me doesn’t invite to go inside. The floor is covered with junk, plastic bags full of stuff i don’t want to find out, glass bottles, cans and dead leaves. Althought i’m not a fussy person this really is disgusting, and i can’t imagine the quantity of germs flying in the air. The stairs are beautiful and it seems like it has been taken out from the rock, the humidity deformed so much. The walls are like the ones in the previous room. From here i can see the frame of a door, of rotten wood, but that probably used to be a nice decorative element. The handrail of the stair is so rusty that the reddish colour is infiltrating on the steps. The metal structure here is not on the perimeter anymore, but it holds the ceiling from the middle of the room, as to underline the precarious state.