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The city of Trieste is home to an internationally known episode that started in 1971 under the direction of the great figure of Franco Basaglia, and resulted in the first closure of a psychiatric hospital in Europe, more than 35 years ago. The Mental Health Department has been recognized as a WHO collaborating center for many years and it is considered as a sustainable model for service development without any psychiatric hospital support. Trieste has demonstrated a different approach to innovative community mental health, moving from a narrow clinical model based on the illness and its treatment to a broader concept that places the whole person at the center of the care system, with the highest attainable level of freedom and respect for their powers of negotiation. The emphasis is on recovery, but also on human and citizens’ rights, so as to respond according to needs, to integrate care in people’s lives and aspirations, and to foster participation in service development. The organization is based on 24-hour CMH centers with a few community beds in each center, a very small GH unit, a large number of social cooperatives, supported housing schemes, and other innovative programs in the area of recovery and social inclusion. Results show a demonstrable cost-effectiveness as well as a capacity to combat the stigmatization, discrimination, and exclusion of people suffering from mental health issues.