In 1873, in the Parma surroundings, a cholera epidemic broke out and therefore it was decided to temporarily move the local mental hospital to Colorno. The spaces designated to become the new hospital structures were the ex Ducal Palace and the old cloister of Saint Domenico, which both had been subjected to some restructing works in order to host the patients.
Once the sanitary emergency was over, the destination became final. The new purpouse of the institut was strongly criticised as it mainly played the role of a ghetto for people who were considered socially dangerous, such as homeless, orphans and drug addicts, rather than being a true healing place.
Due to these criticalities, in the 1960s a group of studentents of the Medicine faculty occupied the institute to point the attention on the dreadful conditions of the place - discriminatios, a strong hierarchical organization and the impossibility for patients to communicate with their relatives - and to claim the civil rights of patients.
