After days of torrential rain, comforting sunny skies greeted the editors and readers of the Rivista di Psicoanalisi who gathered in the hospitable Semi home in Venice to discuss a topic which, despite its vast implications, is seldom dealt with in psychoanalytic writing: “Writing Psychoanalysis.”

The day's program focussed on discussions around introductory presentations by Semi (“Writing Psychoanalysis”), Bion Talamo (An “Ethical Code” for Authors?), Petrella (Experiences and considerations of a “reader” of psychoanalysis), Barale (The evaluation of psychoanalitical texts and the imaginary scenario in which their writing takes place: observations of an editor), and Sacerdoti (Psychoanalytical visions of reality and styles of writing).

From the very titles of the introductory papers it was clear that our objectives were both diverse and interrelated. It seemed that the manifest objective was to address ways of communicating the impalpable and special quality of the analytic relationship through