Italian Ballerina Embraces Art Therapy Program

An Italian ballerina, Carla Fracci, is asking fellow artists to support a program that utilizes different forms of art therapy to help cancer patients.

She was named as the spokeswoman for the project, and accepted, offering great praise to the program and its achievements.

The project began in 2003 at the National Cancer Institute (INT) in Milan by an oncologist named Carla Ripamonti.

“Studies have shown that patients suffer less pain when they are engaged in artistic activities and many cancer patients here take part in such activities before undergoing cycles of chemo treatment,” Ripamonti said.

The artistic lab which has been set up at the INT “is a place where patients like to be because they can join with others in creating something together. Even after completing their treatment, some patients return to the lab to lend a hand”.

“What is important is for patients to review their lives through art therapy, using their illness as a means to highlight the positive aspects of their existence,” observed lab therapist Tiziana Manusardi.

“Being part of an artistic process is very important for those who suffer. Working with others helps patients create a sense of ‘normality’ and to achieve a serenity with which to confront the pain of their illness and its treatment,” said INT Chairman Carlo Borsani.

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