Vittorio Madia and the Legacy of a Compassionate Model for Treating the Criminally Insane

Abstract

Vittorio Madia (1895-1954) was the director of the Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto (Sicily) criminal asylum from 1929 to 1954 and an important figure in the history of Italian psychiatry. He studied Criminal Anthropology and Lombrosian Theory in Naples, which led him to develop a rehabilitation model based on freedom and work and the introduction of Occupational Therapy. His tenure in the asylum was characterised by methodological and organizational precision, vision of the potential of the institute for rehabilitation and treatment, and individual treatment for the inmates; in just a few years, under his direction the criminal asylum in Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto became unrivalled for excellence in Italy and was acknowledged as being as well run as similar institutions in the United States of America and in Europe. His son Aldo (1920-2005) worked closely with his father and succeeded him as director of the asylum, continuing his father’s work to further the inmates’ moral and psychic rehabilitation. This narrative review describes Vittorio Madia’s personal and professional career in caring for the criminally insane.

Keywords

• Manicomio Giudiziario, Barcellona P.G., Vittorio Madia, ergoterapia, riabilitazione