GESTALT THEORY IN ITALY – IS IT STILL ALIVE?

In writing about the present status of Gestalt psychology in Italy, a reference to the picture of it recently published by Ian VERSTEGEN (2000) is a ‘must’. He concludes his paper with the statement: “Psychology in Italy by the 1990s had been completely internationalised and ‘Americanized’. There is no fourth generation of Italian Gestalt psychology of which we may speak”. It is my impression that this last statement, although it may, in some sense, be true, is not altogether correct. In order to understand the present situation, one must take into account how the institutional situation and the theoretical debate in Psychology have evolved since the time of MUSATTI’s, METELLI’s and KANIZSA’s “schools ” of Gestalt theory. But fi rst let me point out how lively still is the interest for Gestalt theory. When, last October, I was asked to describe the situation of Gestalt psychology in Italy today, I thought I needed to interview various people, and that would have required a lot of time. So I sent around an e-mail saying that a meeting would be held in Padua in mid February on “The recent developments of Gestalt theory in Italy”. More than twenty people answered the call for papers and a two-day meeting wa