Ospedale Italiano Umberto I

Italian Hospital of MontevideoThe Italian Hospital of Montevideo
The Italian Hospital of Montevideo
Geography
Location	Parque Batlle, Montevideo
History
Founded	1890

The Italian Hospital of Montevideo, whose official name is Ospedale italiano Umberto I, (Spanish: Hospital Italiano de Montevideo) is a clinic and sanatorium founded in 1890 near Parque Batlle, Montevideo. It lies just to the north of the 1830 obelisk and the Hospital Pereira Rossell. The building, of the late neoclassical style, is the work of architect Luis Andreoni.

The structure, as well as the pillars supporting the basis on which the original model, are the result of a process of construction tardío en a city that, in essence, had just started to expand in the last part of the 18th century, with the arrival of immigrants from Europe after the end of the internal wars and the independence war of the new country.

The hospital functions, since then, almost continually for more than 110 years. Its deterioration in time has brought the need for restoration to many of its facilities, including the side and rear facades, which was done with funding supplied jointly by the Uruguayan and Italian governments in 2003.

After the war of independence, Uruguay retained gaps in its political, economic and social development. Not until the mid-nineteenth century, did Uruguay manage to put an end to a series of irregularities that were not helpful in solving the internal party crisis.

The foundation of the hospital in a non-fortified area, commissioned by the Italian Embassy in Montevideo, was executed after nearly a decade of work. The initial objective of the institution created under the supervision and direction of the italo-Uruguayan architect Luis Andreoni, was to provide basic health services, to confront the high percentage of infant mortality, product of the scarcity of resources and of public access to hospitals. The opening ceremony, in 1890, attracted a large number of Uruguayan citizens and foreigners. Around the perimeter of Parque Batlle, were raised more than fifty flags of the former Kingdom of Italy.

The first Italian immigrants that arrived in the eastern province, did so in the times of colonial Spain. The majority of them originated from Genoa, Naples, Venecia and Sicily.