Island of Ventotene Italy: it is the prison of Santo Stefano.
-The project of construction of the prison, and its realization, are due to the major of the genius Antonio Winspeare, commissioned by Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies to install a penitentiary on the island that would serve to strongly separate the prisoners from the rest of society. Winspeare availed himself of the collaboration of the architect Francesco Carpi, who, for the execution of the work, used the Enlightenment principles advocated by the English philosopher Jeremy Bentham, according to which "in the attempts to recover prisoners. … it was possible to obtain the domination of one mind over another mind … through an adequate architectural structure ".
-On August 26, 1797, there was a mass escape attempt in the prison, which could only be tamed thanks to the arrival of reinforcements from Naples and left two dead and numerous wounded on the ground. Another attempt was made in 1798, and the following year the structure gradually welcomed the mass of the revolutionary uprisings of 1799. The revolutionaries of 1848 had the same fate.
-In 1860 there was a new and violent revolt, during which the 800 prisoners, mainly Camorra members of the Beautiful Reformed Society who had been exiled to the island by the Bourbon government, took control of the prison. The opportunity was given by the departure of the detachment of the Army of the Two Sicilies to join the resistance organized in Capua after the Sardinian invasion. Once the 40 guards were put in a position to do no harm, the Camorra established the so-called Republic of Santo Stefano, whose reins were offered to the capintrito (gang leader) Francesco Venisca.
-The ephemeral Republic, which had time to adopt a statute of coexistence between the former prisoners and the inhabitants of the island, however, had a life limited to a few weeks, and was defeated by the arrival of Sardinian troops.
-Even after the fall of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the prison maintained its role under the Italian government. During this period, the prison continued to accommodate common and special inmates, including the best-known post-Risorgimento chieftain Carmine Crocco and the anarchist Gaetano Bresci who had killed King Umberto I of Savoy and in all likelihood was hanged in his cell by the guards and buried hastily
-During the Fascist period, the prison continued to be a privileged place for the placement of political dissidents. Famous inmates of this period were Umberto Terracini, Mauro Scoccimarro, Rocco Pugliese and Sandro Pertini, who later became President of the Italian Republic.