Psychiatric reform in the northern Italian region of Piedmont following Law No. 180 is described. From 1977 to 1981 the overall psychiatric hospital inmate population is reduced from 5.544 to 2.396, the majority of patients discharged is now living in outpatient therapeutic communities, private psychiatric hostels and nursing homes. 76 community mental health centres with an average catchment area of 59.000 inhabitants and a medium of 250 patients as well as 21 psychiatric wards in general hospitals with a total of 253 beds are set up to substitute psychiatric hospitals. Inpatient admission and discharge numbers are stable in the years preceding and following law no. 180, private psychiatric hospitals decrease their proportion of total admission numbers from 49% (1975) to 40% (1980). Percentage of compulsory inpatient treatments falls from 30% (1975) to 6% (1980), duration of hospital treatment is drastically reduced. There is an integration of psychiatric services in the general health care system, utopic reform objectives have not been reached.