Vincenzo Chiarugi - Recognition

Recognition

Chiarugi was known in Italy for his psychiatric theories and teaching more than for his humanitarian approach. His publications on mental illness were not widely translated or disseminated elsewhere, although the first volume of "On Insanity" was translated into German.

Chiarugi did not enjoy the renown bestowed on Philippe Pinel, a French psychiatrist who introduced similar reforms several years after Chiarugi. It has been suggested this was partly because late 18th century revolutionary France received greater attention. In addition, the support Chiarugi had enjoyed from the state of Florence faded, and he had no natural successor to continue to develop and publicise his work, by contrast to Pinel in France and William Tuke in England. It has also been noted that while Pinel expressed empathy and admiration for his patients and enlivened his work with individual case material, Chiarugi's writing, while never disdaining the mentally ill, did not highlight his humanitarian reforms and was characterized by a benign impersonality.

Following the building of a new psychiatric hospital at the end of the 19th century, the Bonifacio was turned into a hospital for other conditions, then an education office, and since 1938 it has been the site of the police headquarters in Florence, Tuscany.

Through the 20th century there was a slow re-evaluation of Chiarugi's contributions. Further translations were made of his psychiatric work. Original language versions were republished in Italy. He became recognised as an early contributor to a movement that became known as moral treatment and his work said to "constitute a major landmark in the history of psychiatry".

The main importance of the Regolamento may be that it helped establish the mental patient as a 'modern public person'.