A journey inside (and into hell) the former Pietro Pisani mental hospital in Palermo at the beginning of the 1990s first becomes a journalistic investigation and then, more than 30 years later, a book-exposé in the form of a diary. The Palermo journalist Antonio Fiasconaro is the one making the journey and acting as Cicero for the readers in his new book entitled “Six days in a mental hospital”.
The volume, published by Nuova Ipsa Editore, made its debut in bookshops and online stores, was presented at Nuova Ipsa in Palermo during an event attended, among others, by Giampiero Cannella, deputy mayor and councilor for Culture of the Municipality of the Sicilian capital, Giancarlo Manenti, at the time president of the Management Committee of Local Health Authority 59, the one who made the reportage possible, of Toti Amato, president of the medical order of Palermo and of Franco Lannino who with his photographs along the avenues of Pisani, accompanied the journalist now book investigation.
A journey in which the reader relives the drama of that place, some symbolic stories of people “condemned” to remain for life within the walls, or at most, among the avenues of a hospital.
It was a week of old-fashioned journalistic investigation which found space in the newspaper La Sicilia for many weeks. A true denunciation of a dramatic situation that day after day was experienced in the silence and suffering of those who were hospitalized and of those who – like the staff of the facility – tried to fight to give a minimum of dignity to so much pain and desperation.
Among the stories, that of the poet Maria Fuxa also emerges, considered for several years the Alda Merini of Sicily but in the pages of “Six days in a mental hospital” there is much more.
Fiasconaro, “During the Pandemic I dusted off the archives”
The author of the investigative book, Antonio Fiasconaro, journalist for La Sicilia but also a writer who has written other volumes, explains the genesis of his new literary effort: “The idea – he says – essentially arises from a deformation that we journalists have: to preserve our working material. After many years, during the pandemic, I dusted off all the notes, notes and diaries from my archive during an investigative journey that I took in April 1991 inside the Pietro Pisani mental hospital in Palermo. I thought of making it a literary transport of that investigation I did 33 years ago and this work came out.”
“The Basaglia law arrived too late in Sicily”
And he continues: “It is not a story but a sort of diary that marks the days of my presence inside the mental hospital. I entered on Monday 22 April 1991 and left on 27 April. Six whole days inside the city within the city. It is a sort of diary that the reader can read every day to verify what I saw that week inside that mental hospital. Suffice it to say that in 1991, inside what was called the ‘former Pietro Pisani psychiatric hospital’, there were almost 600 patients. In 1978 when the Basaglia law came into force which sanctioned mental asylums there were almost 3000 hospitalized. An exaggerated number. It should be remembered that those who entered the asylum never left again.”
Fiasconaro then concludes: “The Basaglia law arrived too late in Sicily. The Palermo mental hospital closed in 1996. Throughout that period we had wrecks, internees, within those walls. It was a professional experience for me that made me grow from all points of view but whoever reads this book will receive many punches in the stomach.”
About the book
In the spring of 1991, Antonio Fiasconaro, a young journalist, decided to make an investigative trip to what was the largest mental hospital in Sicily and southern Italy: the “Pietro Pisani” in via Pindemonte. All of this found space on the pages of the newspaper La Sicilia correlated by the black and white photographs of the photojournalist Franco Lannino. The volume of approximately 170 pages also contains medical records, newspaper headlines of the investigation which shocked the consciences of many and put the spotlight on a reality unknown to most.
Nuova Ipsa Editore
Nuova Ipsa Editore was founded in 1981 to respond to a specific need: to fill the serious gap in scientific texts on Natural Medicines in Italian. Specializing in the sector of Low dose medicine, the principle of low dose medicine based on homeopathy, homotoxicology and PNEI, it has opened its horizons to writing of all genres for years now.
In 2000 Nuova Ipsa invested in the process of total expansion of the editorial line, strengthening its production capacity, which was enriched and completed with various non-fiction, fiction and poetry. The series Mnemosine, Augustali, Augustali pocket, Monotascabili, Colapesce, Saggi, Chordae, Bibliofilia, Politecnico Mediterraneo, EA, Qanun and Adab were born in this period.
Great interest is given to the history of Palermo and Sicily and to the characters and events that have made our land famous. Poets like Giovanni Meli, interesting characters like Prince Raimondo Lanza of Trabia, the Florio family and memorable and still current events like the Targa Florio. Ample space is also reserved for emerging authors, with works of fiction of great importance: detective stories, thrillers, noir, historical and coming-of-age novels. Furthermore, we still give voice to poetry, in a time in which it is very difficult to find sensitivity in this area.
