 Francine Saillant and Serge Genest assert that Basaglia's reform of psychiatry in Italy, renewed vision on Italian society, and radical critique of public institutions made him one of Italy's greatest, most progressive intellectuals and a leading figure of the second half of the 20th century.Thomas Szasz had a radically critical opinion about the work of Basaglia.In 1986, in the preface to the book by Giorgio Antonucci 'I pregiudizi e la conoscenza critica alla psichiatria', Szasz writes the following words about the misunderstanding of the ideas of Basaglia