This article explores the function of the asylum in Italian fantastic literature, considering three examples by Ugo Tarchetti, Matilde Serao, and Giuseppe Tonsi. I argue that the asylum is a space that serves to delegitimize the extraordinary claims of patients and that thus confines the subversive potential of fantastic literature. In this way, the asylum also allows for the fantastic to exist without upsetting the social order. I look at how patient testimonies are framed and at the crimes committed that factor into incarceration. I conclude that the subversive potential of the fantastic is considered more important than the violence that is committed by the patients, but that the fantastic itself is always elsewhere, at a remove from the alleged perpetrators and witnesses who are locked up.

本文探讨了庇护在意大利奇幻文学中的作用，并考虑了Ugo Tarchetti，Matilde Serao和Giuseppe Tonsi的三个例子。我认为，庇护所是用来使患者的非凡诉求合法化的空间，从而限制了奇妙文学的颠覆潜力。通过这种方式，庇护也可以使幻想存在而不会破坏社会秩序。我看病人的证词是如何构成的，以及构成监禁的犯罪。我得出的结论是，幻想的颠覆潜力被认为比患者施加的暴力更为重要，但幻想本身总是存在于其他地方，与被锁定的作案者和目击者相去甚远。