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In 2011, a book was released in Italy addressed to the many Italian colleagues who identify themselves as relational psychoanalysis, are close to it, or are simply curious to learn more about it. The book is entitled La svolta relazionale. Itinerari Italiani (The Relational Turn. Italian Journeys; Lingiardi, Amedei, Caviglia, & De Bei, 2011). It focuses on the impact that relational scholars and ideas have had on the Italian psychotherapeutic and psychoanalytic scene. In particular, the editors wanted to explore the most influential theoretical traditions affecting the contemporary Italian psychoanalytic debate; trace the history of relational psychoanalysis in Italy; describe how Italian clinicians and researchers from different theoretical backgrounds have accepted or refused the relational model or have integrated it into their theories and practices; present a tentative list of books they consider as the most influential—from a relational/interpersonal/intersubjective perspective—for the youngest generations of Italian practitioners; and describe the dialogue and interaction between Italian relational psychoanalysts and psychotherapists and the domains of attachment theory, psychotherapy research, and clinical cognitivism.
The book soon became a point of reference as an introductory text for Italian relational psychoanalysis. Featuring in Psychoanalytic Dialogues some of the articles synthetically derived from the more extensive chapters that make up this volume has special meaning for us because it carries forward authoritatively that project which was also intended as a ground for dialogue between the Italian psychoanalytic community and the broader international community.
In his introduction to the volume, Jeremy Safran underlines that the history and evolution of psychoanalytic thought in Italy and in the United States differ considerably. The development of North American relational psychoanalysis has inevitably been influenced by some typical cultural attit