Ongaro, Franca

Born September 15, 1928 in Venice , collaborated with a number of publications writing about the Italian and world psychiatric experience, and with the constant participation of her husband, she edited a number of books on these topics, in particular, “Class Death” and “Unrest” ^{[2] [3 ]} .

Early interests after graduating from school in his hometown were mainly related to literature. From 1959 to 1963 she published a retelling of Odyssey (with illustrations by Hugo Pratt) and Louise May Alcott's novel Little Women , entitled Letters of Little, as well as several stories of her own for children.

Her life as a woman and as a writer changed after her acquaintance with Franco Basalia, which ended in 1953 with a marriage, which began in the second half of the 60s of the 20th century with the psychiatric hospital of Gorizia, a “psychiatric revolution”.

With a group of psychiatrists and intellectuals who rallied around her and her husband, she was engaged in writing, editing and translating texts, which later became documentary material about the first stages of work, thanks to which Law 180 of several years later was destroyed in Gorizia . that ended the era of mental hospitals in Italy .

She took part in the revolutionary experience of introducing an open door in psychiatric hospitals and left her memories of it:

In any case, and I saw what value and what result for really suffering people are involved in the project, shared hope for life, concluded in joint actions, where a lot of practical, intellectual and emotional difficulties fall on you, in which seriousness and joy are mixed , and your problems are solved and dissolved in the problems of other people with whom you share them. At the same time, health and illness can be combined with the quality of life worthy of a person, social connections, relationships, acceptance of oneself and others, participation in a community project that can unite us rather than divide and leave in isolation ^[2] .

Original text (ital.)

Pure ho visto anche cosa vuol dire e cosa ed allegria si mescolano ei problemi tuoi si sciolgono e fanno parte anche dei problemi di altri con cui li condividi. E allora anche salute e malattia possono mescolarsi con una qualità della vita che sia umana, con legami, rapporti, riconoscimento di sé e dell'altro, complicity nel progetto comune che potrebbe unirci anziché maréra del isolare ^[2] .

After the sudden death of her husband in 1980, she was engaged in preserving his legacy, continuing the struggle for the humanization of psychiatric care, primarily at the political level. From 1984 to 1991, two terms were members of the Senate of Italy of the ninth convocation from the Independent Left ^[2] and, as the author of the draft law on the implementation of Law 180, on the basis of which the main text of the first Mental Assistance Target Project was created in 1989 , played the leading role in parliamentary and cultural debates about the application of principles established by psychiatric reform.

She starred in the film “Figures of Science: Franco Basalla”, dedicated to her husband, ^[4] , where she said several important words about the significance of the reform of psychiatry in Italy:

It was not about changing the theory, about changing the view on the concept of the disease. It was about a concrete change in life opportunities, opportunities to improve the relationship between the sick and others, opportunities to participate in the project, life opportunities. Therefore, the question was not to give different definitions of mental illness, to find different practical methods. The question was to try to make changes by forming a different concept of health, a different concept of illness, a different concept of relationships, acceptance, possible coexistence in specific areas of daily life that are closer to home than to hospital. The mentally ill does not need a hospital bed: this was a great insight ^[4] .

Original text (ital.)

Non si è trattato di cambio di teoria, di un cambio di interpreta sione concetto di malattia. Si è trattato di cambiamento concreto delle possibilità di vita, delle possibilità di rapporto, delle possibilità di progetto, delle opportunità di vita. Quindi non si è trattato di definire diversamente la malattia mentale, di trovare degli strumenti tecnici diversi. Si è trattato di cercare di modificare attraverso la costruzione di di altro concetto di di salute, di di altro concetto di di malattia di di altro concetto di di cropetiro all'ospedale. Un malato di mente non ha bisogno di un letto di ospedale: questa è stata la grande intuizione ^[4] .

She took part in the preparation of various regional regulations, which primarily concerned the culture of receiving psychiatric patients in various parts of the country.

Franca Ongaro Bazalieu also wrote a number of reports on the women's issue, collected in 1981 in the book The Voice ^[2] .

Along with numerous national and international awards, she received the Yves Peliser's Award from the International Academy of Law and Mental Health in July 2000 and an Honorary Degree in Political Science from the University of Sassari in April 2001 .

Frank Ongaro Basalla died after a long illness on January 13, 2005 at the age of 77 in Venice ^[2] .

Her works, either own or written in collaboration with her husband, relate to the philosophical and social problems of modern medicine and medical institutions, bioethics , the living conditions of women and the practice of transforming institutions.

Works written in collaboration with Franco Bazallea

• Che cos'è la psichiatria , Einaudi, Torino ( 1967 );
• L'istituzione negata , Einaudi, Torino ( 1968 );
• Morire di classe , Einaudi, Torino ( 1969 );
• La maggioranza deviante , Einaudi, Torino ( 1971 );
• Crimini di pace , Einaudi, Torino ( 1975 ).

Most important translations

• Goffman, Erving, Asylums , Einaudi, Torino ( 1969 );
• Goffman, Erving, Il comportamento in pubblico , Einaudi, Torino ( 1971 );
• Bermann, Gregorio, La salute mentale in Cina , Einaudi, Torino ( 1972 ).

Own works published in collections and individual books

• Le parole della medicina , Einaudi, Torino ( 1979 );
• Salute / malattia , Einaudi, Torino ( 1982 );
• Manicomio perché? , Emme Edizioni, Milano ( 1982 );
• Una voce: riflessioni sulla donna , Il Saggiatore, Milano ( 1982 );
• Vita e carriera di Mario Tommasini burocrate scomodo narrate da lui medesimo , Editori Riuniti, Roma ( 1987 );
• Eutanasia , in "Democrazia e Diritto", nn. 4-5 ( 1988 );
• Eutanasia. Libertà di scelta e limiti del consenso , in Dameno, Roberta e Verga, Massimiliano (a cura di), Finzioni e utopie. Diritto e diritti nella società contemporanea , Guerrini, Milano ( 2001 ).

In addition, she performed editorial work in preparation for the publication in the Einaudi publishing house “Works” by Franco Basaglia in two volumes ( 1981 - 1982 ), as well as the biographical book “Franco Basalla: Utopia embodied in reality” ( 2005 ).

• Democratic Psychiatry
• Basalla, Franco
• De-institutionalization of psychiatry
• The second shadow (film, 2000)
• Once upon a time there was a city of madmen ...