Villa Tanzi Lugaro, the second of the two original buildings, is located on the lower part of the hill, and can be seen from the city centre.

They were originally purchased by Agostino Sbertoli, a doctor at the San Benedetto mental hospital in Pesaro, as his private residence.

The hospital grounds eventually covered 51,000 ha (130,000 acres) and held over 20 structures, with 9 serving as villas to house patients.

After Agostino Sbertoli's death in 1898, his son Nino, also a psychiatrist, inherited his father's work, continuing the expansion process.

[4] Various mental illnesses were treated in Ville Sbertoli, including depression, epilepsy, alcoholism, hypochondriac disorders, chronic delirium, manic exaltation and madness.

[3][8] In 1944, Silvano Fedi and other partisans fighting the fascist regime attacked the buildings and released 54 males, 3 females (2 Jewish).

[4] The prime minister of Italy, Alcide de Gasperi, inspected Ville Sbertoli, determining it to be unsuitable.

This was due to the low level of patient treatment, lack of equipment, poor record management, overcrowding and decaying premises.

From 1978, Ville Sbertoli started taking care of non-mental health treatments until the structure was gradually closed, at which point the buildings were abandoned.

The original patients' rooms retain interesting drawings on the walls, including illustrations of guns, people and trees.

[7][14] The original villas: Increasing demand from new patients resulted in 20 years of expanding construction work, which started in 1880.

[14] Architects Carlo Livi and Francesco Azzurri based the redesign on "littered pavilions", a specific model aimed at the creation of an environment different from the typical idea of hospitals.

[4] In 1898 Nino Sbertoli continued expansion, including a greenhouses, warehouses, food storage areas, carpentry, the raising of the Villini buildings, and a power station.

A covered hallway was also built to connect the main structure to the other buildings, so that doctors and nurses could move more easily from one place to another.

[4] The new area was characterized by an eclectic style which consisted of two 17th century villas, surrounded by a garden with fountains, lakes, tree-lined avenues, a building for pool and lawn tennis.

In honour of his death, the father decided to donate all his wealth (including the villas) to whoever could help cure people with the same type of mental disorder.

Another story claims that the old piano found in the central hall of the structure is still played by Sbertoli's son.