Two international symposia and three oral presentations. Thirteen contributions promoted by the Antonio Meneghetti Scientific and Humanistic Research Foundation were accepted for the official scientific programme of the 31st International Congress of Applied Psychology – ICAP 2026, held at the Fortezza da Basso in Florence from 21 to 25 July. The work involved scholars from Switzerland, China, Italy, Latvia and Brazil. This work was further complemented, as a satellite event of the congress, by one of the readings in the touring series marking the ninetieth anniversary of Antonio Meneghetti’s birth.
The sessions were organized in collaboration with the International Association of Ontopsychology and the Baltic Ontopsychology Association, with the contribution of the Sociedade Brasileira de Hipnose.
Held every four years by the International Association of Applied Psychology (IAAP), and organised for the Italian edition in collaboration with the Italian Association of Psychology (AIP), the Congress brought together nearly 2,600 participants from every continent, with particular attention to psychology’s contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda.
23 July — Hortus Lizori: Rural Regeneration, Wellbeing and Sustainability
The symposium was held in the year marking the fiftieth anniversary of the launch of the Borgo Lizori project. Fifty years of work in an Umbrian rural village were brought into international scientific discussion as a living laboratory: a long-term experience exploring what rural areas can contribute to research, education and the development of sustainable models of living and growth.
The experience was related to Goals 4, 11 and 17 of the 2030 Agenda — quality education, sustainable cities and communities, and partnerships for the goals.
Chair: Pamela Bernabei. Discussant: Gabriella Palumbo.
- Philosophical Roots and Intellectual Traditions — Paolo Bianchi (Antonio Meneghetti Scientific and Humanistic Research Foundation, Switzerland)
- Architecture and Design for Wellbeing — Giancarlo Russo (Sociedade Brasileira de Hipnose, Brazil)
- Measuring Human-Environment Interactions — Pamela Bernabei (Antonio Meneghetti Scientific and Humanistic Research Foundation, Switzerland) and Ai Min (International Association of Ontopsychology, China)
- Pedagogy and Transdisciplinary Education — Nina Linde (Baltic Ontopsychology Association, Latvia)
- Sustainability, Partnerships, and Civic Ecology — Gabriella Palumbo (International Association of Ontopsychology, Italy)
23 July — The Reading on Psychosomatics, a Satellite Event of the Congress
On the same day, Casa Italia MindLab hosted a reading dedicated to Antonio Meneghetti’s La psicosomatica nell’ottica ontopsicologica (Psychosomatics from an Ontopsychological Perspective), as part of the series organised to mark the ninetieth anniversary of the author’s birth.
The reading took place as a satellite event of ICAP 2026.
The work begun in Florence will continue at Borgo Lizori with a course on psychosomatics starting on 10 October 2026.
24 July — Three Studies in Clinical and Psychosomatic Research
The three oral presentations reported on ongoing research promoted and supported by the Foundation, within the framework of the scientific agreement between the International Association of Ontopsychology and San Filippo Neri Hospital – ASL Roma 1. The studies brought to the attention of the international scientific community findings concerning dream activity, psychosocial factors and the psychosomatic dimension of cardiac and oncological diseases.
- Dream Pattern in Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction: Retrospective Observation from the STEP-IN-AMI Trial
- Dreams and Correlations with Temperament, Character and Distress: The Ontopsychological Contribution
- Psychosomatic in Oncologic and Cardiac Disease Study: Psychosocial Factors and Short-Term Ontopsychological Psychotherapy Early Intervention
25 July — Ontopsychological Pedagogy and Contemporary Adolescence
The second symposium addressed several conditions associated with contemporary youth distress: social isolation, the Hikikomori phenomenon, the situation of NEETs, identity fragility and digital hyperconnectivity.
Ontopsychological pedagogy was reconsidered in relation to these current issues, examining its possible contribution to the development of personal responsibility, autonomy, creativity and the capacity to participate actively in social life.
Chair: Pamela Bernabei. Discussant: Gabriella Palumbo.
- Theoretical Foundations of Ontopsychological Pedagogy — Nina Linde (Baltic Ontopsychology Association, Latvia)
- Overcoming Adolescent Isolation: Hikikomori — Paolo Bianchi and Pamela Bernabei (Antonio Meneghetti Scientific and Humanistic Research Foundation, Switzerland)
- From Idleness to Responsibility: Rebuilding a Scale of Values — Gabriella Palumbo (International Association of Ontopsychology, Italy)
- Digital Fragility and the Importance of Everyday Miricism — Giancarlo Russo (Sociedade Brasileira de Hipnose, Brazil)
- From Adolescents to Leaders: Responsibility and Historical Vocation — Pamela Bernabei (Antonio Meneghetti Scientific and Humanistic Research Foundation, Switzerland) and Ai Min (International Association of Ontopsychology, China)
Participation in ICAP 2026 reflects the work that the Foundation intends to continue: supporting research and creating the conditions for methods, themes and results to enter international scientific discussion.
Bringing different disciplines, institutions and countries into dialogue means turning support for research into a concrete responsibility: accompanying ideas and studies into the contexts in which they can be discussed, verified and further developed.
