The eight families still living there have received an eviction notice from the State Property Agency, and the former barracks has been listed for sale. Resident Paolo Gatto, the soul of the mobilization: “I invested all my savings here”
By Maria Ducoli
July 4, 2025
“The only certainty I have is that I’m not moving from here.” Paolo Gatto, a 72-year-old former nurse from San Pietro di Castello, says this with shining eyes, standing amidst the greenery of the garden that he takes care of with dedication every day. Gatto says he has no intention of leaving his apartment in the former Sanguineti barracks, where he has lived since 1981, the year he married Daniela Alfier.
“She lived here, she always lived here,” he says, “she was the granddaughter of a soldier. We couldn’t find a house and we decided to stay here, with her parents.”
Those were different times, and the former Barracks was full of life, home to thirty-two families who animated it simply with their presence. That memory is a stark contrast to the current image, with the cloister at the mercy of weeds, fenced off after the latest works by plywood panels, with squares and wire in place of windows.
Today, there are only eight families remaining in the complex overlooking campo di San Pietro di Castello, many of them elderly, and since they received notice of eviction within 180 days in a letter from the State Property Agency – which last spring published the former barracks on its list of properties for sale, in an attempt to attract investors interested in purchasing the complex – they have not slept anymore.
“For twenty years, we have repeatedly had to face the risk of having to leave our homes, and we can’t take it anymore,” Gatto comments. The first notice of eviction from the complex dates back to the late 1990s, when a leak in Gatto’s mother-in-law’s apartment led firefighters to define the accommodation as unsafe. That’s when the nightmare began for the families of the complex, which seemingly ended when the TAR ruled in favor of the tenants in 1998.
“And yet, since then, eviction letters have continued to arrive periodically. How can we stay calm or sleep soundly when we don’t know if we’ll still be living here tomorrow or not? And then, where are we to go? How can they think of evicting elderly people who have lived here all their lives?” he asks, thinking of his neighbor, who is in her nineties.
All of the families there are long-time residents, people who have invested their own money in Sanguineti, personally taking care of the building maintenance and renovations, even though the property is state-owned, and transforming it into their own homes.
“Once, it was full of brambles here,” says Gatto, looking at what is now a well-kept garden with swings, gazebos and flowers, flowers everywhere, and two vegetable gardens where tomatoes are the main attraction. “It’s a little corner of paradise,” he smiles, “I invested my life savings in this house, to renovate it, and I can’t think of losing it, of leaving.”
In a small room overlooking the garden, Gatto and the other members of the Salviamo San Piero committee, equipped with spray cans, prepare sheets to hang from the windows bearing the words “Salviamo San Piero e Sant’Anna”.
Paolo Gatto began mobilizing with the rest of the group in 2022, but his commitment to the city dates back much further and has always accompanied him in everything he has done.
It cannot be otherwise, he says, because he is Venetian, and safeguarding his city, fighting so that it can remain as such and not be transformed into a sprawled hotel, or a Disneyland full of attractions but without a soul is not only a duty, but it is also the only thing that can be done.
“We cannot help but fight for the Sanguineti, this is a battle that must be won – we have no alternatives. We must not leave,” he reiterates.
Sometimes, however, despair takes hold of him. The fatigue of continuing to fight, the constant uncertainty, not knowing what will happen the next day, the next year. There are moments when he thinks it would be better if he was assigned another place to stay. He’d be losing his own home but gaining peace of mind. Then he thinks again and says no, it’s not possible. Giving up, stopping the fight, is not an option.
Source: La Nuova di Venezia
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