Mednarodna Konferenca Franco Basaglia Beyond The Borders O Praksah Svobode In Sodobnem Duševnem Zdravju

The international conference will take place within the framework of the European Capital of Culture Nova Gorica–Gorizia GO! 2025, from 11 to 14 November 2025.

Franco Basaglia (1924–1980), a major Italian reformer in the field of mental health, began his work at the psychiatric hospital in Gorizia, where the state border formed the back wall of the institution. Later, in Trieste, he succeeded in closing the first asylum in Europe, triggering the Italian psychiatric reform law (1978), which restored patients’ rights and introduced community-based care as the primary model of treatment. This reform became a global reference point and inspired changes in many other countries.

The conference will emphasize the importance of freedom in mental health care and call for a continued shift toward inclusive, accessible, and community-based services. The event will bring together professionals, people with lived experience, caregivers, artists, researchers, and policymakers from around the world. In addition to discussions on mental health theory and practice, the conference will feature film screenings, book presentations, and field visits to key projects in Nova Gorica and Gorizia.

The Scientific Committee:

• dr. Roberto Mezzina, former Director Trieste Mental Health Service, Vice President (European Region) of the World Federation for Mental Health,
• dr. Franco Perazza, former Director Gorizia Mental Health Service,
• prof. Vito Flaker, Full Professor, Faculty of Social Work, University of Ljubljana,
• prof. Giuseppina Scavuzzo, Full professor in Architectural Design, Department of Engineering and Architecture, University of Trieste,
• Jošt Cafuta Maček, Researcher, Faculty of Social Work, University of Ljubljana.
  

DETAILED CONFERENCE PROGRAM

11 November 2025: Conference Opening

• 18:00: Film: E tu slegalo! (directed by Maurizio Sciarra) and presentation of the book Od blizu ni nihče normalen (No One Is Normal Up Close, selected works by Franco and Franca Basaglia, edited by Vito Flaker)

12 November 2025: Franco Basaglia “Beyond”: Message and Impact

Location: Gorizia, University, Aula Magna

• 8:00: Registration
• 8:50-9:10: Opening – Greetings and public addresses: Rodolfo Ziberna, Mayor of Gorizia and Stojan Pelko, head of the programme GO! 2025. 
  Chair and introduction: Roberto Mezzina (ITA),
  Mauro Barberis / Gianni Peteani: Nobel Prize Peace nomination to Franco Basaglia
• 9:10–10:00: Lectures on Basaglia at the border, including themes of architecture and institutions
  Franco Perazza (ITA): Basaglia and Gorizia: a restitution. The redemption of Gorizia experience
  Giuseppina Scavuzzo (ITA): Borders between the institution and its environment: reclaiming of the Parco Basaglia. Institutional architecture and psychiatry

Basaglia beyond the borders of institutions

• 10:00–11:00: Franco Basaglia: his work, the utopia of reality, the optimism of practice
  Chair and introduction: Michele Zanetti (ITA)
  Maria Grazia Giannichedda (ITA): Who was Franco Basaglia?
  Peppe Dell’Acqua (ITA): The transformation of the asylum to community services and the job of care
• 10:00–11:30: Coffee break
• 11:30–13:00: Round table: Basaglia beyond the borders of knowledge. The trajectory of life and ideas. Criticism of psychiatry, philosophical, sociological and political roots
  Chair and introduction: Vito Flaker (SLO) Panellists: Mario Colucci (ITA), Mario Novello (ITA), Fabian Freyenhagen (UK), Stojan Pelko (SLO)
• 13:00–13:45: Lunch
• 13:45–14:30: Basaglia after Basaglia. Trieste: utopia and reality. A paradigm shift
  Roberto Mezzina (ITA), Sashi P. Sashidharan (UK)
  Discussant: Paolo Peloso (ITA)
• 14:30–15:40: Round Table: On the frontiers of rights. From Basaglia until today: the subjects and citizenship
  Chair and introduction: Daniele Piccione (ITA)
  Panelists: Silva Bon (ITA), Gisella Trincas (ITA), Vahid Đulović / Esmina Avdibegović (Bosnia-Herzegovina), Michaela Moser (AUT)
• 15:40–17:10: 
  Parallel sessions:
  A. BASAGLIA'S LEGACY IN CURRENT POLITICS OF MENTAL HEALTH IN ITALY: FORUM SALUTE MENTALE - Aula Magna
  Chair and introduction: Giovanna Del Giudice (ITA)
  Panelists: Carla Ferrari Aggradi (ITA), Pietro Pellegrini (ITA), Tiziana Tomasoni (ITA), Andraž Kapus (SLO), Fabrizio Starace (ITA)
  
  B. ARCHITECTURE AND THE PSYCHIATRY - Conference Center
  Giuseppina Scavuzzo (ITA): The Park of Infinite Healing. The Interrupted Dialogue Between Architecture and Psychiatry
  Lucina Caravaggi (ITA) and Cristina Imbroglini (ITA): Mindscapes. Therapeutic Enclosures and Cultural Welfare
  Eliana Martinelli (ITA): Stages of memory. Strategies for the Regeneration of the Former San Salvi Asylum in Florence
  Anja Lazar (SLO): Spatial deployment of deinstitutionalization – a place to be
  Neža Čebron Lipovec / Jasna Fakin Bajec (SLO)
  
  C. NEW SUBJECTS AND SOCIAL FIRMS TODAY - University, Room 404
  Chair and introduction: Thomas Emmenegger (CH)
  Panelists: Stefania Grimaldi (ITA), Tatjana Dolinšek / Aleksando Tabaj(SLO), Pavel Novak (CZ), Marco Bertoli (ITA),
  Elena Cerkvenič (ITA)
  
  
• 17:10–18:40: Inequality and social exclusion
  Chair and introduction: Juan Carlos Fantin (Argentina)
  Panelists: Malik Gul (UK), Massimo Magnano (ITA), Piero D’Ingillo & George Suarez (USA), Paolo Zuttion (ITA), Darja Zaviršek (SLO)
  
  

13 November 2025: The Impact of the Basaglian Experience Worldwide and Cthe Contemporary Reality

Location: EPICenter and Super Osmica, Nova Gorica

• 8:30: Greetings and public addresses – Samo Turel, Mayor of Nova Gorica and Mojca Urek, Dean of Faculty for Social Work Ljubljana
• 8:40: Film: The journey of Marco Cavallo across Slovenia
• 8:50–10:00: Chair and introduction: Luciano Carrino (ITA): Mental health and human development through international cooperation
  Devora Kestel (WHO Geneva): The influence of Franco Basaglia on today’s WHO policies
  Norman Lamb (UK): Mental health, politics and human rights
  Raijah Abu Sway (WHO Palestine): Mental health in emergencies

Parallel session

A. BASAGLIA ON THE GROUND. INTERNATIONAL LANDSCAPE

• 10:00–11:30: Round Table: Deinstitutionalization in Europe: focus on current trends
  Chair and introduction: Gabriele Rocca (ITA)
  Panelists: Roberto Mezzina (ITA), Jan Pfeiffer (CZ), Theodoros Megaloeconomou (GR), Urška Sorta / Dragica Fojan (SLO)
• 11:30–11:45 Coffee break
• 11:45–13:15: Round Table: Reforms and policies in Europe and beyond
  Chair and introduction: Massimo Marsili (ITA/France) Panelists: Paulo Amarante (Brazil), Alberto Trimboli/Silvia Raggi (Argentina), Tim Kendall (UK), Andreja Rafaelič (SLO)
• 13:15–14:00: Lunch break
• 14:00–15:30: Round Table: New services and methods: reflections from today’s projects
  Chair and introduction: Alberto Salmoiraghi (UK)
  Panelists: Selvaraj Vincent (UK), Sheraz Ahmad (UK), Claudio Agostini (IT), equipe CSM Gorizia, Katja Kodelja (ITA/SLO), Jana Mali (SLO)
• 15:30–15:45: Coffee break
• 15:45–17:30: Round Table: New subjects of change: from North to Global South
  Chair and introduction: Sashi Sashidharan (UK) Panelists: Vandana Gopikumar (India), Anita Abu Bakar (Malaysia), Alan Rosen & Vivienne Miller (Australia),
  Jan Berndsen (NL), Juanjo Jambrina Martinez (E)

B. WAR AND PEACE CRIMES. ROLE OF THE PROFESSIONAL/TECHNICIAN IN A TROUBLED WORLD. AGAINST RESTRAINT AND COERCION
EPICenter – Main Room

• 10:00–11:30: Round Table: Professionals and services as social agents in war and peace
  (revisiting Gramsci)
  Chair and introduction: Vladimir Jović (Serbia)
  Panelists: Rajiah Abu Sway (Palestine), Renzo Bonn (ITA),
  Vera Grebenc (SLO), Maria Teresa Ferrazzoli (ITA/UK)
• 11:30–11:45: Coffee break
• 11:45–13:15: Workshop: Visual research methods against coercion
  Eeminia Colucci, ITA/UK)
• 13:15–14:00: Lunch break
• 14:00–15:30: Round Table: How to stop coercion and restraint
  Chair and introduction: Monika Bohinec (SLO)
  Panelists: Shulamit Ramon (UK), Thomas Emmenegger (CH), Lorenzo Toresini (ITA), Juš Škraban / Gal Prestor (SLO), Giovanna Del Giudice (ITA)
• 15:30–15:45: Coffee break
• 15:45–17:30: Round Table: Affirming rights, undoing wrongs – advocacy in action
  Chair and introduction: Mojca Urek (SLO)
  Panelists: Jošt Cafuta Maček (SLO), Tatjana Knapp (SLO), Katarina Mauch (SLO), Associazione 180 Amici Puglia (ITA), Sophie Thunus (B)

C. BASAGLIA, ART AND CULTURE – Super Osmica

• 10:00–11:30: Culture and art as means of deinstitutionalisation (an expression of freedom)
  Chair and introduction: Staša Prah (SLO)
  Panelists: Rajko Muršič (SLO), Sonja Bezjak (SLO), Pavel Berdon (ITA), Elena Cerkvenič (ITA), Maurizio Sciarra (ITA), Elisa Menon (ITA), Accademia della Follia (ITA), Giuseppe Pillo (ITA)
• 11:15–11:30: Coffee break
• 11:30–13:15: General discussion and assembly
• 13:15–14:00: Lunch break
• 14:00–15:30: General discussion and assembly
• 15:30–15:45: Coffee break
• 15:45–17:30: Preparation: Cultural intervention in the Europe Square
• From 18.00: Celebration and party with performances, Europe Square – Final Document for Europe

14 November 2025: Site Visits and Conference Closing

• Visits to Parco Basaglia (former psychiatric hospital), the Mental Health Center in Gorizia, the GECT cross-border project, and deinstitutionalization efforts at Dom Na Krasu (Dutovlje)
• An opportunity for direct engagement with local projects and innovative practices.

REGISTRATION TO THE CONFERENCE

The registration fee is 50 EUR. A reduced fee of 35 EUR is available for students and people with lived experience. The fee includes lunches, coffee breaks, and a gift bag.

More information and registration: basaglia.conference@go2025.eu

The conference is organized by the public institute GO! 2025, the European Grouping for Territorial Cooperation GECT/EZTS, the World Federation for Mental Health (European Region), the University of Ljubljana, and the University of Trieste.

More information about the program available on this link.