Vincenzo Chiarugi - Enlightenment Context

Enlightenment Context

In Chiarugi's early career, the Italian state of Florence was ruled by Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo. He was a young man of the Enlightenment, keen to introduce wide-ranging social and economic reforms across Florence. This included an institution for the rehabilitation of juvenile delinquents, and the abolition of torture and the death penalty. Leopoldo also directed his attention to the mistreatment and neglect of the mentally ill, which was continuing despite progress in other areas of medicine and science. In 1774, the "legge sui pazzi" (law on the insane) was introduced, the first of its kind in Europe, allowing for steps to be taken to hospitalize individuals regarded as insane. A wing of the public hospital, the Bonifacio, was rebuilt for the purpose, and the young physician Chiarugi was put in charge.

Indeed, it was Leopold's government that published the new humanitarian regulations ('Regolamento'), covering both the Santa Maria Nuova hospital and the Bonofacio Hospital. Ten pages of the work concern psychiatric patients. Although Chiarugi shaped the guidelines, there is perhaps less justification for listing the work under his name. It also appears that Chiarugi was not alone in promoting psychiatric reform in Italy. There was a hospital in Florence run by the Brothers of Charity providing custodial care for the mentally ill, which Leopold had attempted to subordinate to the Santa Maria Nuova. In Naples, Antonio Sementini (1743 - 1814) instituted some reforms at the Holy Home for Incurables.