The former total institution as a potential space of urban regeneration

Giovanni Michelucci’s theoretical and design proposals for Florence

The paper examines Giovanni Michelucci’s theoretical and design contributions to transcending Florence’s former total institutions and marginality in a broader sense, with a focus on the San Salvi asylum.

Outlining the environmental issues that, according to Franco Basaglia and other psychiatrists of the time, have an impact on transcending the psychiatric hospital, the paper aims to demonstrate continuity between Basaglia’s thought and Michelucci's design actions. Several issues of the journal La Nuova Città under Michelucci’s supervision, particularly in the IV series (1983-85), bear witness to his research, thanks to the contribution of prominent personalities in Democratic Psychiatry, along with eminent architects and thinkers. Michelucci reflects on the architect’s responsibility in conveying the indistinct boundary between reason and madness within architectural space. The contemporary city allows collective insanity but not individual madness, which is caused by environmental factors. Thus, the city, where the mentally ill inhabit, constitutes the focus for intervention.

In the case of Florence, Michelucci advocates for a reevaluation of some core components, avoiding the transformation of separate areas, and pursuing a new system of relationships between the urban structures representing confinement and isolation. The Santa Croce district is the focus of Michelucci’s urban development proposals, which he drafted from 1966, the year of the Florence flood, until he died in 1990. The design highlights San Salvi and the Murate Prison as two significant points of an urban axis that can be regenerated through cultural initiatives, including new university facilities. Instead of zoning the city, the proposal envisions a “polyphonic” system that attracts cultural, recreational, and scientific interests. This vision pioneers culture-led regeneration, considering former total institutions as the poles for developing a new urban system.

Italy has gained international recognition as the first country in the world to abolish psychiatric hospitals. The normative and cultural revolution happened with the adoption of the so-called Basaglia Law, No. 180 of 13 May 1978, which was drafted by the Christian Democrat politician and psychiatrist Bruno Orsini. This legislation institutionalized the closure of civil asylums and regulated the compulsory health treatment by establishing the public mental health services¹. Nevertheless, the process of definitive closure was not uniform across the national territory and required several years because the 180 Law did not allocate public funding and delegated operational responsibility to the regions. 

To comprehend the implications for architecture and the city, one must reflect on the Basaglia revolution in connection with institutional places. The decision to abolish asylums stemmed from the increasing awareness that mental institutions were not intended for care but rather for social control – tools to dominate the most impoverished segments of the population, who could express only survival-related suffering rather than existential distress. Basaglia believed that the essential issue involved going beyond “institutional madness” and acknowledging madness in its origin, which is inside life. However, this approach was insufficient for transcending the psychiatric hospitals, as “opening the institution” entails more than simply “opening the doors”: the total institution persists in various contexts and places and is embodied by the political figure of the doctor².

If we shift the question to the environmental context and interpret Basaglia’s thought from an architectural perspective, we might consider the asylum’s building as the representation of institutional madness. On the other hand, the city must also be acknowledged as the original site of madness because, as Aldo Rossi writes, it is the place of the event and hence of life³.

In her book Il parco della guarigione infinita⁴, Giuseppina Scavuzzo conducts a thorough analysis of Basaglia’s thought on architecture. The psychiatrist believes that closing the psychiatric hospital is the final step in the fight against mental illness segregation. The city itself should be regarded as the site of healing, embodying life. Basaglia strongly criticizes the actions of the architects, who had historically sought to define a place suitable for mental illness. The psychiatric hospital failed in its role as a machine à guérir, and only the community can rehabilitate the mentally ill. Basaglia’s opinion about the architecture of psychiatric hospitals is radical: they must self-destruct to change. However, Basaglia does not intend “destruction” to mean “disappear”; rather, it is the outcome of an implosion process that begins within the hospital among the patients. Their actions must be supported by architectural modifications to the hospital’s internal spaces, leading to subjectivation, in contrast to objectivation and the individual annihilation (institutional neurosis) induced by the asylum setting⁵. Daniele Calabi’s project for Gorizia’s psychiatric hospital demonstrates this possibility, as the institution is transformed into temporary residences for individuals lacking homes after the asylum’s closure, while medical rehabilitation is carried out in a distinct diagnostic center.

The closure of psychiatric hospitals and the reintegration of individuals labeled as “insane” into society made the environmental factor crucial, since challenges related to integration and acceptance emerged for those who have spent their lives in asylums. These developments, on one hand, led to the establishment of alternative places where various forms of confinement or enforced residency are implemented, diverging from the desired regional expansion of psychiatry; on the other hand, they contributed to the stigmatization of former psychiatric hospitals, which the city struggles to access.

During the 1960s, San Salvi psychiatric hospital began to show signals of reform, coinciding with the emerging renewal movements in Europe. The city of Florence developed a relationship with the asylum thanks to two key figures: the community of citizens and Carmelo Pellicanò, the last director of the institution and a psychiatrist close to Basaglia’s thought. Pellicanò had already coordinated the deinstitutionalization process in the Volterra asylum, promoting theater activities and fostering artistic expression. For his will, San Salvi’s dismissal – definitely reached in 1998 – was accompanied by a “germ of community”: in 1997, he demanded the theater company Chille de la balanza to form a permanent cultural presidium, which is still operational today⁶. Pellicanò argued that transcending the mental hospital was fundamentally a cultural issue, focused on reclaiming mental illness as a concept intrinsic to both the individual and society. As the dominant culture did not accept madness, it ghettoized and removed the asylum structures from the urban context by situating them on the periphery. Consequently, it was imperative to adopt an interdisciplinary approach, involving architects and urban planners, to rehabilitate psychiatric hospitals and reintegrate them into the city. The ancient structures must be reused, ensuring the occupants remained in them during the transitional period⁷.

Carmelo Pellicanò, like other prominent personalities in Democratic Psychiatry – among whom Franca Ongaro Basaglia, Giuseppe Germano, Agostino Pirella, and Giuseppe dell’Acqua are included – participated in the debate on transcending the total institution through the journal La Nuova Città, supervised and edited by Giovanni Michelucci. The journal extensively examined the topic of transcending marginality in the urban environment, focusing specifically on total institutions and contexts of isolation. The IV series, released from 1983 to 1985, dealt with the subjects of “Prison and city” (no. 1, April 1983), “School and peripheries” (no. 2, November 1983), “City and madness” (no. 3, April 1984), “Order and disorder” (no. 5, December 1984), and “The unfindable city” (no. 6/7, December 1985). During the 1980s, Bettino Craxi’s administration advocated for the establishment of hospital institutions, perceiving the psychiatric reform as a failure. Consequently, the discourse around the implementation of Law 180 and its implications for treating mental illness at a regional level remained relevant, with the editorial line of La Nuova Vittà seeking to adopt a decisive stance.

Michelucci considers the architect’s responsibility in defining a fundamental principle: the ambiguous demarcation between reason and madness within the architectural space. The contemporary city allows collective madness yet provides no space for personal insanity⁸. Environmental factors contribute to mental instability; therefore, the city, where individuals with mental illness reside, constitutes the focus for intervention. He wrote:

È apparsa, ad esempio, su un giornale di Firenze l’immagine di un uomo in pigiama, a piedi nudi, nel mese di febbraio, vagante per il parco del manicomio di S. Salvi. […] Ciò che fa riflettere è soprattutto la complessità di situazioni che si possono nascondere dietro una foto inserita con intenti scandalistici. Un primario dell’ospedale, dopo avere sottolineato che in ogni caso è preferibile lo scandalo al disinteresse e all’abbandono, ha testimoniato la difficoltà di cercare di convincere quel paziente a calzare un paio di scarpe; alla fine si è giunti al compromesso che avrebbe potuto camminare a piedi nudi nel parco, ma non superare il cancello dell'ospedale, come se questo non stesse a indicare solo il luogo della reclusione, ma anche l'accettazione di un confine, tra la città e la follia, che si è rivelato assai difficile da valicare. Lo stesso confine invalicabile mi sembra riscontrare, in Italia, tra la elaborazione concettuale di ogni nuova legge riformatrice e le sue possibilità di attuazione⁹.

Michelucci considers the conflict between madness and society as a criticism of the contemporary city, characterized by marginalities and disruptions that foster both collective and individual psychosis. The mental health services established by the 180 Law correspond to a functional urban logic that may result in a segregated urban setting reminiscent of those of asylums¹⁰.

The only possible answer lies within the urban structure: rather than spreading asylum facilities throughout the territory, it is essential to envision an “educational city” capable of addressing health, cultural, and productive needs without weighing on families; a city focused not on the treatment of illness but on fostering environmental and interpersonal relationships that may contribute to mental health.

During the illness, one remains isolated from the city. The city should forgo hospitals and regard health as an integral aspect of urban issues, rather than comply with the distancing process through the hospitals’ implementation. A city structured to function without hospitals can be characterized as an “invisible city” due to the absence of identifiable health facilities. However, the “invisible city” must not devolve into the “unfindable city”, which acknowledges hospitalization as a model to avoid but is unable to provide an alternative¹¹. In the issue of La Nuova Città dedicated to the “unfindable city” (fig. 1), Michelucci offers four examples as proposals for re-evaluating the interplay between society, public space, residential space, and urban form: the psychiatric hospitals of Como, Trieste, Pistoia, and the psychiatric services of Livorno¹².

In the wake of the closure of the San Salvi asylum, the debate regarding the area’s future and its incorporation into the urban setting increases. Giuseppe Germano’s words highlight the primary question: 

E infine, deve questo spazio ‘potenziale’ essere in qualche modo omologato allo spazio della città (ma quale città?) o si può più ambiziosamente pensare che diventi lo strumento (o uno degli strumenti) per costruire una nuova città che si ponga concretamente alla ricerca della salute?¹³.

Michelucci promotes a reassessment of Florence’s fundamental components, avoiding modifications to separate areas, and pursuing a new system of relationships. The principal objective in this context is to transcend the limits of confinement and isolation. Among these, the former asylum of San Salvi represents the last outpost of exclusion.

Michelucci envisioned Florence as a polycentric city with three nuclei inside the historic area: the old town, Santa Croce, and San Frediano neighborhoods. This area, representing the city’s core, should be devoid of vehicular traffic and focused on pedestrians. In the adjacent urban areas of the 18th and 19th centuries, new centers and connections for pedestrians and vehicles must be identified¹⁴.

The Santa Croce district is a crucial component of Michelucci’s urban development proposals that the architect drafted from 1966, the year of the Florence flood, until he died in 1990. In this district, Michelucci is particularly interested in the transformation of the Murate Prison, which will be carried out in the municipality of Florence with the contribution of the Renzo Piano Building Workshop in the early 2000s after its abandonment in 1984.

Regarding the former Murate Prison, he considers the perimeter walls as an architectural feature to be conserved, wholly or partially, while emphasizing its potential for penetrability. He asserts that a spatial transformation must always retain the memory of its ancient form, in accordance with the principle of “insistence of the form”, so allowing history to be integrated into the new design. However, it would be challenging to release the weight of the ancient function unless the new one has an explosive vitality capable of transforming the memory from restraint to an opportunity for the city to grow¹⁵.

While examining the Santa Croce area, Michelucci drew sketches aimed at highlighting key themes. Three designs depict San Salvi as the endpoint of an Eastern urban axis for rehabilitation, crossing the ring boulevard established by Giuseppe Poggi. The centers along this axis can be merged due to their relationship with the Arno River, which is reassessed as the vital element that the city should face (fig. 2).

For Michelucci, the future of Florence depends on a substantial urban revitalization extending from the former Murate Prison to the former asylum, which cannot be considered as distinct urban zones, as such an approach would accentuate the division that the ring boulevard already creates. These two structures exemplified the old concept of order and social control within their respective areas, representing the synthesis of order and chaos, rationality and insanity within confined spaces¹⁶. The resolution of the urban problems does not lie in suggesting diversified facilities for their respective districts: the former Murate Prison cannot address the issues of the Santa Croce area, nor can San Salvi handle those of the Alberti Square area. Architecture ought to regain the historic capacity to connect different episodes. Order means assigning significance to each space in relation to the next one, beyond the notions of limit and delimitation¹⁷. The proposals, indeed, provided Florence with the opportunity to transform its image as a city confined within old walls and to expand toward the periphery (fig. 3).

Rather than placing the university outside the city center, Michelucci advocates for integrating university services within these two urban structures, thereby using culture as a catalyst for the uniform and intensive use of the space: university research, pedagogical approaches, and the housing system for the academic community can embody the most dynamic aspect of the city. The architect referred to a “mobile center” that can adapt according to different circumstances and interests: the design should envision the city as a “polyphonic” system that attracts a multitude of cultural, recreational, and scientific pursuits, integrating the theater and the market instead of dividing the areas into distinct zones (fig. 4):

Progettare oggi può significare anche progettare questa possibilità di incontri di attività scientifiche, sanitarie, artistiche, sportive, ricreative. Come se il territorio, invece di essere diviso in più centri di interessi separati, potesse essere visto come una compresenza, nello stesso luogo, di più sistemi. Tale tessuto polifonico, a mio parere, consentirebbe di poter continuare a parlare della città in termini unitari, rispettando contemporaneamente la specificità di ogni singola funzione¹⁸.

Beyond being a definite project, Michelucci’s idea might be seen as a perspective on the city by identifying some leading themes¹⁹. Carlo Cresti²⁰ regards the proposal for the Santa Croce district as evocative visual exercises, wherein a visionary character is present in the river-facing squares-terraces and the internal urban areas to be revitalized, situated between the streets-trenches. The design seeks to restore a closer relationship with the river: walkways link the two banks, and interconnecting pedestrian pathways meander through the courtyards and internal gardens, including those of the former Murate and Santa Verdiana Prisons. Elevated walkways connect these former jail structures with other buildings across the boulevard, preventing interference with vehicle traffic²¹. 

Rejecting a deterministic approach, Michelucci proposed a “variable city”²² that evolves through human action, perpetually rising and re-emerging in search of a “promise space”. It may be a utopian vision; however, it is the only city where the marginalized and the ill can become citizens like all others.

Facing the problem of choosing between restoration and demolition of a crumbling architectural complex, Michelucci always opts for the preservation of the ancient form²³. And this is valid for the former psychiatric hospital, too. Apparently, this approach seems to be distant from that of Basaglia, who claimed for the self-destruction of the mental institution. However, as seen, Basaglia intended a sort of implosion started by the asylum’s inhabitants. Therefore, the focus is on life inside the structure. In this context, Michelucci’s stance aligns with Basaglia’s views: he considers architecture as inseparable from its essential social dimension, which allows transformation.

In a 1968 ministerial report²⁴, Basaglia asserts that architects should design hospitals as open places in continuous interpenetration with the exterior, with the aim of making them dynamic. He advocates for “elastic”, polyvalent spaces that, like therapy forms, should adapt to the patient’s needs. This approach also reveals elements akin to Michelucci’s idea.

According to Basaglia, “freedom is therapeutic”²⁵; for Michelucci, “the therapy is the space”:

Ho detto che lo spazio del manicomio era segregativo, ma sono arrivato a concludere che lo spazio della città non lo è da meno. L'uomo oggi è necessariamente portato ad usare la città più nelle sue specifiche funzioni che come libera successione di spazi. Mi sembra invece che l'ambiente più confacente alla malattia mentale sia quello arbitrariamente definito, momento per momento, attraverso un oggetto, un'associazione di idee, uno stato emotivo […]. Costruire dunque la città a misura del folle è impossibile, ma continuare a costruirla così com’è conduce alle più svariate forme di psicosi collettive e individuali²⁶.

Through the criticism of the existing city, Michelucci envisions a new idea of the urban environment, conceived as a logical succession of spaces with different functions that are not isolated from each other. Consequently, the concept of limit indicates an essential aspect in the design-oriented approach. Although the city cannot be deemed limitless, the urban project should not pursue a definite form just by defining boundaries. Instead, it should explore the potential future of the city in its unrealized possibilities. The design process should search for a complex and dynamic order until it finds in something new and disordered an impulse to modify its form²⁷. In conclusion, we could consider Michelucci as the precursor of a theory of the culture-led regeneration of places, beyond the constraints imposed by the presence of total institutions, which, instead, can represent the centers for developing a new urban system.