The building that houses the elementary schools, named after Pietro Scalcerle (Thiene 1830 - Rome, 1849, a Garibaldian and hero of the Italian Risorgimento), was inaugurated on November 4, 1932, but welcomed students as early as October 17 of the same year.
The designer was engineer Adelchi Zuccato. The structure is characterized by a long main facade, marked by three projections (one in the center and two at the ends). The side projections of the building allowed entry for students, who were once separated by gender. It features a rusticated base, pilasters that define the modules of the facade, string courses, obelisks, spheres, and other stone decorations that crown the frontons of the projections.
The school, with its imposing presence, significantly characterizes the urban fabric of the City: its long facade borders one side of the overlooking Piazza, also named after Pietro Scalcerle.
Before the construction of the Scalcerle schools and until 1890, the boys' schools were located on Santa Maria Maddalena Street, in the building that once housed the Hospital of Pilgrims, in the courtyard behind the Church of Santa Lucia. The education of girls, on the other hand, took place in some rooms of the Collegio delle Dimesse, on De Muri Grandesso Street.
It was later decided to gather the boys' and girls' schools in the current Municipal Headquarters in A. Ferrarin Square, a building constructed in 1890.
As evidenced by a resolution of the City Council in 1915, the newly built structure was already deemed inadequate to accommodate the growing number of students. It became necessary to construct another building since the ideas of expanding the building in A. Ferrarin Square were discarded, as was the one considered too costly economically, to create two distinct school buildings (one to the North and one to the South of Thiene). A decision was therefore made to build a single large building in the center of the City.
It was thus resolved to purchase the land owned by Mr. Riccardo Crovato on which the building would rise (8,529 sqm for the sum of 19,190.25 Lire).
The issue was taken into consideration in the years immediately following World War I, also at the request of the Prefectural Commissioners (1920, 1923) who urged the construction of a new school building. As early as 1923, the then mayor of Thiene, Luigi Rossi, met with engineer Zuccato to request a project for the new imposing building, which was to house 8 boys' classrooms and an equal number for girls. The project was presented in 1924 and, in 1930, a loan of 900,000 Lire for the construction of the school was granted to the Municipality of Thiene by the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti.
Various reports from 1924 indicate that the project was to be considered notable for its various aesthetic, hygienic, and constructive merits: the structure develops over two above-ground floors and has a linear arrangement of 120 meters compared to a more limited cross section. It features contiguous classrooms with a rear gallery for obligation, a long corridor, a hall measuring 20 by 7.5 meters for meetings and conferences. The basement of the central body is used as a refectory and kitchen. Additionally, a courtyard for recreation and gym exercises was created in the northern part of the building.
During World War II, from early October 1943 until May 1944, the Scalcerle schools were occupied by German troops, later joined by other German units along with collaborating units from other nations. From February 1945, the building was occupied by the Castagnacci and Freccia battalions of the X MAS. The soldiers settled in the boys' wing of the school (toward the “Conca” neighborhood), in the central entrance hall, and in the Aula Magna. The school also hosted the Investigative Office of the X MAS, which aimed to interrogate those suspected of being partisans. It was in this school that the surrender document was signed on April 29, 1945, by the command of the X MAS of Thiene, along with the Mazzini Brigade.
After the Liberation, American troops arrived in Thiene, as well as British ones, who in turn occupied the Scalcerle schools. During their stay, the British troops organized various meetings with the citizens, often reserved for children and young people, who, in the upstairs Aula Magna, could participate in gatherings where sweets, pastries, drinks, and tea—a new beverage for the youth of the time—were dispensed.
Only in May 1947 did ten classrooms (out of twenty) of the Scalcerle schools return to occupy students: it was not possible, due to time and costs, to set them all up with what had been destroyed during the war, and until 1961 (the year the schools were constructed in the Ca’ Pajella neighborhood), the Scalcerle were the only elementary schools in Thiene.
In more recent times, it is worth noting a restoration of the building that concluded in 1982, involving the remodeling of all systems and the creation of new educational spaces (music room, projection room, library, meeting room, and gym in the basement).
