Influential Figures:
Valeria Egidi Morpurgo (1947 - 2019)
Valeria Egidi Morpurgo was one of those people who leave an indelible mark on everyone who had the good fortune to know her. She was born in 1947 and, after graduating in philosophy from the University of Turin in 1972 she specialised in Psychology at the Cattolica University in Milan.
So began her professional life, which was dedicated to exploring the most vulnerable areas of the human psyche, and investigating questions connected with the ethics of individual responsibility in situations where historical events brought about collective tragedy.
Her colleague and friend Anna Ferruta wrote this about her:
"The capacity to clearly observe and powerfully denounce the great historical tragedies of the last century make the work of Valeria that of a participating witness, who is not satisfied with observing these human outrages with indifference, but adds life and a voice to them."
As a psychoanalyst and psychotherapist, she managed to have particularly empathetic relationships with her clients, who were often prisoners in their own solitude. Some of the areas that she focused on in her books and addresses to international conferences were the following;
Developmental years and maturity, collective historical trauma, alcoholism, Nazism, narcissism, listening to pain, resisting hatred, hero and antihero, intimacy in the analytic relationship, prejudice, racism and antisemitism.
Her second husband was the neuropsychiatrist and psychoanalyst Enzo Morpurgo, who came from Jewish origins, and who became a first person witness of the Jewish culture.
For many years she was involved in the organisation of the ´Day of Memory´ in Milan, which invited significant figures from different cultures worldwide. She edited the series ´Psychoanalysis, Psychotherapy and the Psychoanalytic´ for the publishing houser Franco Angeli which had been jointly founded with Enzo Morpurgo.
Valeria, who was described by the New York psychoanalyst Audrey Kavka, as "a warm, generous, vibrant soul" passed away on 2nd November 2019.
Interview with Valeria Egidi Morpurgo Phd Psychoanalytic on Ageing, International Psychoanalytical Association
IPA (International Psychoanalytical Association) Committee on Ageing
Italian Translation of Valeria Egidi Morpurgo's Biography
Valeria Egidi Morpurgo è una di quelle persone che lasciano un segno indelebile in quanti hanno avuto la ventura di conoscerle.
Nata nel 1947, dopo la laurea in Filosofia a Torino (1972), si specializza in Psicologia alla Cattolica di Milano. Inizia così il suo percorso professionale volto a esplorare le aree più vulnerabili della psiche umana e ad approfondire le questioni legate all’etica della responsabilità in tutte le situazioni in cui gli eventi storici hanno creato tragedie collettive.
Anna Ferruta, sua collega e amica, nel ricordarla, scrive: “La sua capacità di guardare con fermezza e denunciare con forza le grandi tragedie storiche del secolo scorso qualificano l’azione culturale di Valeria come quella di una «testimone partecipe», che non resta ad assistere indifferente a queste offese all’umano e che ad esse dà voce e vita”.
Come psicoanalista e psicoterapeuta, riusciva ad avere un particolare rapporto di empatia con le sofferenze dei pazienti in analisi, spesso prigionieri della propria solitudine.
L’età evolutiva e la maturità, i traumi storici collettivi, la guerra, la solitudine, l’alcolismo, il nazismo, il narcisismo, l’ascolto del dolore, la resistenza all’odio, eroi e antieroi, l’intimità nella relazione analitica, pregiudizio, razzismo e antisemitismo: sono alcuni dei temi affrontati nei suoi libri e negli interventi ai congressi internazionali a cui ha partecipato.
Ha sposato in seconde nozze il neuropsichiatra e psicoanalista Enzo Morpurgo, di origine ebraica, diventando in prima persona una testimone della cultura ebraica: da anni, partecipava all’organizzazione del “Giorno della Memoria” a Milano, invitando personaggi di spicco della cultura mondiale.
Dirigeva la collana “Psicoanalisi Psicoterapia Psicoanalitica” per l’editore Franco Angeli, avviata insieme a Enzo Morpurgo.
Il 2 novembre 2019 è scomparsa una donna che Audrey Kavka, psicoanalista neworkese, ha definito «a warm generous vibrant soul», un’anima vibrante calda e generosa.
Family & Friends
Professional
Valeria's Life in Pictures
Valeria with her cousins Isotta and Oliviero Fiorenzi, 2019 - Milan
Valeria with her cousins Isotta and Oliviero Fiorenzi, 2018 - Milan
Conference Coa with Silvia Vegetti Finzi and Riccardo Bettiga of 27/01/16
With Anna Ferruta, SPI and IPA psychoanalyst, and Roberto Jarach, President of the Shoah Memorial Foundation of Milan - November 2016.
SPI training day Rome 12 October 2019 with: Malde Vigneri, SPI training director Anna Nicolò, SPI President Ronny Jaffé, CMP president