The opening is a definition of “neuropsychology”. The early stages of the development of Italian neuropsychology are then summarized, with a special mention of the methodological approach and the early activity of the “Milan Group”, started in the early 1960s by the neurologist Ennio De Renzi, in the Clinica delle Malattie Nervose e Mentali dell’Università di Milano. The birth of the “Milan Group”, with the systematic development of research on several relevant topics (aphasia and its rehabilitation, deficits of object recognition, intelligence and abstract thinking, apraxia, unilateral spatial neglect) gave to Italian neuropsychology an international visibility, never reached previously. Before the “Milan Group”, occasional neuropsychological reports had been published, mainly based on the major theoretical contributions of the French, German and Austro-Hungarian and British authors. No systematic development of original research programs and groups had taken place in Italy. Finally, the relationships of Marcello Cesa-Bianchi with members of the “Milan Group”, and the author of this article, are recalled.
Keywords: neuropsychology, Milan group, aphasia, apraxia, amnesia, unilateral spatial neglect