The Forensic Psychiatric Hospital of Barcellona Pozzo Di Gotto

The first section of this chapter provides a historical review of the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital of Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto in the province of Messina, Sicily, and an account of the illuminated work of Vittorio Madia, the director of the institution from 1929, who documented its construction and first years of activity. The author shares his diary of his visit to the hospital, his meetings with the director, and his experiences in Father Insana’s Halfway House with some of the inmates. The second section is dedicated to the inmates’ own accounts and the author’s reflections: Marino and the Korsakoff syndrome; Giancarlo and involuntary commitment; Matteo and the monster in the medicine; Luigi and the old man; Virginio and injustice; Francesco and his attack on his father.