The most prominent figures of the armed struggle were transferred to a prison on Asinara Island in Sardinia: Giuliano Naria, Alberto Franceschini, Roberto Ognibene, Sante Notarnicola, and the fascist Bertoli. On May 13, 1977, Renato Curcio, the historic leader and ideologue of the Red Brigades, who had previously escaped from Casale Monferrato prison in 1975, arrived. All these inmates were placed in the Fornelli branch, where the Bunker was located, a maximum-security structure constructed of reinforced concrete and surrounded by barbed wire. It was the same place where, almost a century earlier, the agricultural penal colony had been established, housing 50 inmates, 20 prison guards, and 12 oxen. The prison was closed on December 31, 1980, due to the difficulties in providing medical care to its inmates. The now deserted Fornelli branch will remain closed for over ten years, when it will be renovated and transformed into a maximum security prison, with the construction of a veritable “bunker” to house inmates convicted of mafia association.
