In the photograph: One of Marco Cavallo's descendants, still "living" at San Giovanni in Trieste (photograph by Serena Sillitto)
In 1971, Franco Basaglia arrived at San Giovanni, the sprawling psychiatric hospital complex in Trieste. He came to revolutionize how psychosis was understood and treated, restoring to patients their fundamental rights—including the right to freedom and human dignity. He brought with him the experience of the asylum in Gorizia, a group of devoted young followers, and a conviction: "The moment a patient crosses the walls of confinement, he enters a new dimension of emotional emptiness. He is placed in a space that, built ostensibly to make him harmless and cure him, functions in reality as a place designed for the complete destruction of his individuality."
In 1972, a workshop was organized to build a horse—made of wood and papier-mâché—named Marco, after an actual nag who had worked at San Giovanni since 1959, hauling carts of dirty laundry and refuse through the hospital. The animal was beloved by patients. When age made it necessary to put him down and replace him with a truck, a letter was sent to the provincial authorities asking that instead of slaughter, the horse be given "a dignified retirement in recognition of his years of service." The request was granted. Meanwhile, the other Marco Cavallo was complete: towering four meters high, designed to hold all the hopes and desires of the hospitalized and those who believed in them, painted a brilliant blue—the color of dreams. In February 1973, the sculpture rolled out of the asylum on a wheeled platform, ready to carry into the streets a symbol of the humanity that had been hidden and forgotten within those psychiatric walls. The blue horse led a procession of students, staff, patients, and artists through the streets of Trieste. It was a celebration—despite the deep fear of an adventure without precedent.