Museo della Fondazione Mario Tobino

The Mario Tobino Foundation Museum preserves the history of the former psychiatric hospital at Maggiano and the rooms where the writer and psychiatrist lived and worked. Its collections connect the history of mental health care with Tobino's literary life.

Why it matters

The hospital operated from 1773 to 1999, spanning a period of major change in psychiatric care. Mario Tobino joined its women's section in 1942 and served there as a doctor from 1947 to 1980. His novels, including Le libere donne di Magliano, drew on his experience at the hospital. The foundation established by his grandchildren in 2006 preserves this medical and literary history.

What to notice

The complex retains wards, cloisters, a church and spaces associated with the hospital's daily life. The Museo G.B. Giordano holds historic medical and scientific instruments alongside material from the hospital archives. In Casa Medici, the two rooms known as the Stanzette preserve the setting where Tobino lived and wrote.

Context and history

Opened in 1773 on the hillside above Lucca, the hospital grew into a large institution before closing in 1999. Tobino remained connected to Maggiano after his retirement, living in Casa Medici. The foundation now conserves the site, its archives and instruments, and presents the history of the institution and its patients.