Franco Basaglia (Venice, March 11, 1924 - Venice, August 29, 1980) was an Italian psychiatrist known for his public denunciation of the deplorable and inhumane conditions of mental hospitals. He is counted among the most influential psychiatrists of the 20th century in Italy, having led an intellectual and political movement in mental health and advocating the gradual closure of Italian psychiatric hospitals since 1978. He was the promoter and initiator of the promulgation of Law 180, which prohibits the hospitalization of people against their will in Italy and founded the Democratic Psychiatry movement. In addition, and although he himself did not use that term, he is considered the highest representative of the anti-psychiatric movement in his country.