Francesco Antonini: La vita e le intuizioni di un geriatra

Francesco Antonini is the Italian doctor who introduced during the 60s a completely new vision of geriatrics: the focus of interest is the elderly person as a whole, who has to be healed quickly and intensively in case of a severe event (generally a stroke or a heart attack), working at a later stage on his remaining capacities. The key factor is maintaining autonomy, the only thing that can guarantee freedom of thought and movement, together with the confidence in one’s own ability. Appointed at the University of Florence to the fist chair of Gerontology and Geriatrics in the world, Antonini has realized his ideas in many projects: hospitals where patients, relatives and doctors work in synergy, a great commitment to training specialized doctors, the creation of a school for physical therapists. A man of deep culture (not only medical), passionate and tenacious, he instilled in his students the enthusiasm they needed to implement and carry out his innovations.