My aim in these notes is to bring my own experience in the field to the debate: after battling for twenty years as a psychiatrist to dismantle the mental hospitals, and then ten more years to build alternatives to them, I have spent the last ten years managing local health units: three years in the province of Caserta and now in the Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia. I’d like to offer you some reflections from this viewpoint, on the basis of the kind of problems I meet every day in my work. In the regional law of Friuli Venezia Giulia, the non-self-sufficiency fund is known as a «Fund for possible autonomy». Just a matter of terminology? Perhaps. only subscribers can see the full article

Following decentralization processes, many Italian Regions have been acting as policy laboratories, developing very different approaches according to their political attitude. On the one hand this gives rise to a scenario of fragmented policies and growing inequalities in the Italian welfare system. On the other hand, opportunities are opening for trying new institutional and organizational structures at regional level. In this article we focus on a pilot programme which aims to promote and implement innovative practices in health and social care services in Friuli Venezia Giulia. On the basis of this case study, we offer an analytical overview of some issues involving the development of «local active welfare» in Italy.only subscribers can see the full article