This interview is aimed to collect, from a historical point of view, a contribution that allows better defining the identity of the "Analytic Large Group" (ALG) as it is known today. The experience and research on the ALG started in 1991 with Alice von Platen, who set up the Organising Committee for the Analytic Large Group together with Carmela Barbaro, Lisa Di Gennaro, Aldo Lombardo and Horst Wirbelauer, in order to launch and manage the project. The presenter recalls the early stages of the ALG and its further development - thanks also to the presence of Leonardo Ancona in the working group - within various organizations: CIGA, Il Cerchio and COIRAG. The presenter looks at the past events and professional collaborations through both a historical and emotional perspective and tells how aspects about the project design, setting, competences of the group’s conductors, participants’ features, and the dual role of observers - as a bridge to the social environment and as a training function - were studied during the ALG’s foundation experience. It’s pointed out how the ALG was designed both as a means to enhance a deep understanding of the individual’s role in the society and as a training tool for young psychotherapists. Eventually, the presenter describes the subsequent evolution of the ALG that have been implemented during the activities of the Scuola Romana Balint Analitica.
Keywords: Analytic Large Group, Psychosocial dynamics, Training, Social role, Organisations, Plurality