Italian Fascism’s Forgotten LGBT Victims: Asylums and Internment, 1922 – 1943

The book Italian Fascisms Forgotten LGBT Victims explores the repression of LGBT people through psychiatry during the fascist regime in Italy, drawing together archival records and contextualising them within psychiatric theory. It sheds light on the life stories of ordinary LGBT individuals and their families under the regime, a topic that has not been investigated until now.

Format: Hardback
Length: 264 pages
Publication date: 22 February 2024
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

This book delves into the suppression of LGBT individuals through psychiatry during the fascist regime in Italy, a subject that has received limited attention until now. By meticulously assembling a comprehensive archive of patient records, medical professionals, and fascist authorities, the book reconstructs the intricate behind-the-scenes dialogue and documents the regime's repressive measures against LGBT lives during this period. The book focuses on three psychiatric hospitals located in Rome, Florence, and the small Calabrian town of Girifalco, each with its own unique attitudes and therapeutic approaches. Through archive research, Gabriella Romano contextualizes the findings within the psychiatric theory of the time, revealing significant discrepancies between theory and the actual practices of mental health institutions in Italy during the fascist regime. By drawing from a diverse range of sources, Romano contributes to the existing knowledge of Italian psychiatry, while also shedding light on crucial aspects of medical history, the history of Fascism, and queer history. Most notably, this original and well-documented study illuminates the personal narratives of ordinary LGBT individuals and their families under the fascist regime, a topic that remains largely unexplored.

Weight: 548g
Dimension: 163 x 242 x 21 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781350377080