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Antonio Gramsci was born in 1891, in Sardinia. His father was imprisoned after being unjustly accused of fraud, and the family became destitute. Gramsci had to leave school and work until his father was released. Gramsci had a malformation of the spine, rumoured to be caused when a nursemaid dropped him, and grew up impaired and frail. He was a brilliant student, and went on to the University of Turin, where he became involved with the revolutionary factory councils movement after the first world war, although poverty and poor health meant he had to abandon his studies.

In 1921, Gramsci was one of the founders of the Italian Communist Party, and in November 1926 the Fascists arrested him, despite his immunity as a member of Parliament.

At his trial, the prosecutor chillingly demanded 鈥淲e must stop this brain from working for twenty years鈥�. Gramsci was confined in a series of prisons where, despite his declining health, he worked away at political theory, cultural analysis and an extraordinary series of letters to his family and comrades: he called himself 鈥渢he dead man on holiday鈥�.

On April 27 1937, Gramsci died in Rome, after having been released on the grounds of poor health.

Italy is an extraordinary country, unique in Europe and with all sorts of problems: corruption, bureaucracy, organised crime, a controversial tycoon as prime minister and a poverty stricken south. But I鈥檝e learned recently that it also stands out for remarkable achievements in the field of disability.

For example, in 1978, Italy reformed its psychiatric services, shutting the institutions and introducing community-based care: it now has fewer psychiatric beds than comparable countries, lower use of psychotropic drugs, and less than half the compulsory admissions of the UK. Laws passed in 1971 and 1977 guaranteed all disabled children the right to attend mainstream schools. Today, the vast majority of children are included in the mainstream, with only a few special schools for those with visual impairment or deafness.
Labelling is rejected, and non-disabled children learn to accept difference. In particular, people with intellectual impairment have benefitted from the resulting inclusion and improved employment prospects. The success of the Italian model was influential on Article 24 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Oblivious to all this, my friend and I drove through the stunning rocky landscape of Sardinia to Ghilarza, the small country town where Gramsci spent his childhood. In the Casa Gramsci, there were photographs, letters, even the stone dumbbells which he made to build up his strength, and finally his death mask.

To see it all, I had to climb out of my wheelchair and crawl up the stairs, but that seemed the least I could do in honour of a man who had suffered so much. A hero to the Left, Gramsci has rarely been celebrated as a disabled role model, or a hero to the disability community. I found it very moving to see the relics of his life, just as I have always been inspired by the motto he chose: 鈥淧essimism of the intellect, optimism of the will鈥�.

It鈥檚 not hard to find a reason to go to Italy on holiday: the sun, the food and the culture are persuasive enough. But away from the tourist resorts and heritage sights, there are other reasons to celebrate, and experiences to learn from. In my ongoing quest to find the best places in the world for disabled people to live, Italy is a leading candidate. In the remote village where we stayed, there were ramps up to the supermarket and the post office, and at the train station, the man with the ramp was there at the right time and place. Even the Swiss don鈥檛 always get that right.

So this autumn, I鈥檓 wearing my Gramsci tee-shirt with pride, and dreaming of pecorino sardo (ewe鈥檚 milk cheese), cinghiale (wild boar), culingionis (ravioli) and of course, cannonau (red wine). Ciao, Sardinia ! Avanti popolo!