Italian Psychiatrist Franco Basaglia: His Life, His Impact, His Legacy
A conversation with Professor John Foot
Season 3 | Episode 5 | April 18, 2022
John Foot is a professor of Modern Italian History at the University of Bristol in the U.K. He is an expert on the life of Dr. Franco Basaglia, the visionary psychiatrist whose lasting impact on the Italian mental health system continues to inspire the world.
We will explore Professor Foot’s journey into this avocation, which was sparked by the chance viewing the film San Clemente (1982) while on a trip to Trieste.
Professor Foot is author of Franco Basaglia: the Man who Closed the Asylums. He is a co-editor of compendium of essays about the impact of Trieste in other counties that emanated from a symposium held in Oxford in 2018. It is titled Basaglia’s International Legacy: From Asylum to Community.
We also explore in this interview the plan to translate into English a book that was originally published in 1968, L’istituzione negata (The Negated Institution), which had seminal impact on advancing the Basaglian revolutionary school of thought in Europe and South America.
That one man could have such profound impact on advancing a human-centered, community-based system of care for people living with mental illness is astounding. This interview will provide some insights into Basaglia, who is relatively unknown in the English-speaking world.
Resources for this episode:
Documentary (1968) I giardini di Abele
Book (1969) Morire di classe
Documentary (2013) Dentro le proprie mura