Who was Franco Basaglia really? An exhibition in Gorizia tells the story of the man, his revolution in mental hospitals and the cultural legacy that changed Italian psychiatry
Many know him for the Basaglia Law, which bears his name. However, few know the man, his dreams, his history in depth. And on the occasion of the prize awarded to Gorizia as European Capital of Culture 2025there is an exhibition that wants to bring attention to a figure who has profoundly marked the history of the city and, with it, that of the entire Italian society. Let’s talk about Franco Basaglia.
One of the greatest cultural revolutions in Italy was born precisely in Goriziaa revolution that forever changed the way we look at mental illness. For this reason, at the Santa Chiara Museum, thephotographic exhibition Franco Basaglia. Where the eyes could not reach brings to light a very delicate theme, a source of inspiration for literary masterpieces (such as Don Quixote of La Mancha) and cinematographic (impossible not to think of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest).
The exhibition dedicated to Franco Basaglia
Three internationally renowned photographers recount that extraordinary era: Gianni Berengo Gardin, Raymond Depardon and Ferdinando Scianna. With their goals and their sensitivity, they knew more than anyone else how to capture the humanity that was hidden behind the walls of a mental hospital. Their images convey the most authentic sense of Basaglia’s intuition: theidea that treatment cannot exist without freedom, and that the dignity of the person comes before any diagnosis. This is precisely the true meaning of the exhibition in Gorizia.
Basaglia carried out a commitment that went far beyond medicine. His work was a cultural and political battleconducted with conviction in one’s own ideas and with a courage that few at the time were able to understand. It was thanks to them that the way we talk about mental illness began to change, if the words “sick” and “person” began to coincide again.
The story of transformation
Franco Basaglia gets the management of the psychiatric hospital of Gorizia in 1961. There he was faced with the dramatic living conditions of the inmates, people treated like inmates rather than patients, often subjected to inhumane practices. In those years, in fact, those who suffered from mental disorders were considered a danger to themselves and others and therefore isolated from the rest of society. Asylums, closed and forgotten places, were spaces of segregation where inmates were often abandoned to their own devices.
In Gorizia, Basaglia begins a profound transformation: together with a group of young psychiatrists, he works to restore dignity and rights to the internees. It eliminates the use of restraints and electric shock, promoting a new way of understanding the relationship between doctor and patient – no longer hierarchical, but based on listening, dialogue and mutual recognition. It also introduces moments of sociality and creative activitiessuch as parties, trips, artistic and theatrical workshops, breaking the rigidity of mental hospital education. His initiatives, however, meet resistance from bureaucratic and political structures.
In 1971 he took over the management of the psychiatric hospital «San Giovanni» of Triestewhere he can finally fully implement his project of overcoming the mental hospital and building a territorial psychiatry. Basaglia begins to reorganize the staff, open the departments and promote contact between the asylum and the city. Its goal is to restore freedom and autonomy to patients, building a network of services and social and work opportunities.
In 1977 the closure of the psychiatric hospital was announced and the issue of overcoming mental hospitals finally reached Parliament. Until May 13, 1978, when Law 180 was approved. The law revolutionizes the concept of mental illness, places the person at the center of treatment and sanctions the closure of mental hospitalsreplacing them with local services such as mental health centres, hospital psychiatry departments and family support structures.
A moving flight
An emotional anecdote from his years in Trieste testifies to the love that Franco Basaglia felt for the mentally ill, and the commitment he put into making their lives normal. In August 1975, Franco Basaglia organized a scenic flight for the patients of the San Giovanni psychiatric hospital. The plane took off from Ronchi dei Legionari airport, flew over Trieste and Grado, and then returned to Ronchi. The director Silvano Agosti dedicated the documentary «Il volo» to Franco Basaglia’s initiative, which tells the story of the journey, the expectations and emotions of people who had never flown before. Agosti explains the idea behind the film like this: «Basaglia invited me to Trieste, where he managed to borrow a plane: he wanted to fly in the sky with those patients who had always lived in isolation. The film tells the simple story of a happy day.”
Who was Franco Basaglia
To better understand who Franco Basaglia was and the extent of his revolution, one could not help but start from the words of his closest collaborators. Of him, Michele Risso he said: «He hadn’t “observed” patients for twenty years. He wasn’t “diagnosing”. Someone reproached him for it. He had other things to do, he wanted to give back voice, dignity, life plan to those human beings who had been deprived of their speech and their right to existence.” Also Giuseppe Dall’Acqua: «I would like it to be understood that Franco Basaglia is not the one who closed the mental hospitals, but is the one who strenuously fought to restore rights, citizenship, dignity, singularity, care. This is Basaglia. And it’s in all his work.”
In Basaglia Alda Meriniwho had known the suffering of mental hospitals, wanted to dedicate one poetry very touching. It was found again after years by Professor Giuseppe Dell’Acqua who had collaborated side by side with Basaglia. It is necessary to report it here in full:
The wind, the bora, the ships leaving
tonight’s dream
and you are the eternal helper
that from behind the omnivorous plants
you watched at a young age
our absurd kisses
to the old barks of life.
How we were in love, we,
down there in the mental asylums
when we hoped for one day
to flourish again
but the most unusual thing, believe me,
that’s when we found out
that we had never been sick.
