Abstract
Over the last ten years or so growing attention has been paid in Italy and Europe to so-called social agriculture both in the academic institutional context and in legal framework terms. Generally speaking the term ‘social agriculture’ denotes initiatives which use agriculture’s characteristic activities and resources for therapeutic, social and educational ends. The theme has been approached from a range of analytical perspectives. In the case of proposals specifically or primarily targeting people with mental health problems, social agriculture seems to show potential in therapeutic terms within an interpretational framework centred on healing and health promotion. This article seeks to extend this vision to a wider context which acts as a backdrop to these initiatives in particular in the sense of the role of work in the therapeutic process. I believe that the work of Italian psychiatrist Franco Basaglia and certain sociological considerations on the subject of changes in the world of work can make a further contribution to clarifying social agriculture initiatives which are analysed here using a qualitative methodology via multiple case studies. Seen in this way, social agriculture shows innovative characteristics within the panorama of mental health services just as it supplies a potential experimentation scenario for forms of inclusive production.