‘L’alienato nella cella è libero.’ Mario Tobino Between Le libere donne di Magliano and Per le antiche scale

Wissia Fiorucci analyzes Tobino’s fictional works, set in an asylum and based on his experience as director of the asylum of Maggiano, Lucca. Contrary to what has been said so far by the majority of scholars, Fiorucci endorses Andreoli’s claim that Tobino should be held responsible for the unprofessional and uncritical representation of institutional psychiatry, which, Fiorucci claims, are derived from his lack of institutional analysis and a romanticized and unscientific view of mental disorders.