Via della Salute

With the decree of 2 December 1856, the Duchess Maria Luisa di Berry gave the go-ahead to the construction of a road in Parma along which, on both sides, comfortable and sanitary houses for the population had to be built.

For the first time, the State decided to transform the areas south of the inhabited area in the Oltretorrente district, which were used as market gardens. The definition of the functional, formal, typological requirements for the new homes was delegated to the Academy, which published a notice of competition.

With this, the general characteristics were established, which had to have the following dimensions: the road had to be 170 meters long and 10 meters wide; the front of each house from 6 to 12 meters. Some basic rules of hygiene requirements were also established and numbers in each home were set: no less than ten people, not more than thirty per house.

The competition was won in April 1857 by Gaetano Castelli, who proposed separate dwellings composed of three storeys houses, differentiated between each one.

In October 1857 the foundations of the first district were laid with 11 houses and in 1862 the entire project had already been fully completed, although Luisa Maria fled from Parma in June 1859 and never saw the completed works.