In the metropolitan area, about 60 camps were used for Allied POWs. They were not all the same, did not always operate at the same time and were unevenly distributed across the peninsula. They were sometimes located in existing and readjusted buildings, such as convents and monasteries, industrial and residential structures, castles and orphanages. In late 1942, as the number of prisoners arriving in Italy began to exceed the number of places available, disused barracks, such as the one in Chieti, were put to use.