Communication

Board of Editors,

Psychoanalysis and the Psychoanalytic Review

Dear Sirs:

I have read the note by Richard Robertiello “Psychoanalysis in Florence, Italy,” which appeared in the Spring 1962 issue of  Psychoanalysis and the Psychoanalytic Review. (Vol.  49, No. 1, pp.  137-138.↗) I should like to take some exception to what is reported in the note.

According to Dr. Robertiello, the city of Florence has only one small group of pre-professional and would-be analyst looking for some sort of affiliation to improve its training and community status. The group is described as being compelled to fight a desperate battle comparable to that which Freud fought when he was alone in Vienna in 1890.

Now what Dr. Robertiello seems have overlooked is that in 1962 Italy there exists the Italian Psychoanalytical Society, which is now in its thirtieth year and which is a component society of the International Psychoanalytical Association. The Italian Psychoanalytical Society offers ample training to psychoanalytic candidates who fulfill certain necessary requirements and who sincerely want training and affiliation. There are training centers and training analysts of the Italian Society in Rome and in Milan. There are training analysts also in Bologna, which is one hour from Florence by train or by car, and in Palermo.

As for the city of Florence itself, a trained analyst, Dr. Hautmann, M.D., has been working there for quite a long time. A former trainee of mine, Dr. Maria S. Manfredi, M.D., also does some analytic work in Florence, although her residence is in Pistoia, near Florence.

The “isolation” of the small group described by Dr. Robertiello is apparently due to the fact that this group has, for some reason, disregarded the existence of the Italian Psychoanalytical Society with its facilities, members, publications, etc.

Finally, may I remind you that I belong to the Board of Consultants of Psychoanalysis and the Psychoanalytic Review, and, as such, I should be very happy indeed to act as you