Italian Medical Univerities and Physicians in the 18th century

this is not a full listing but a general overview with prominent and popular facilites/people


The University of Turin (Italian: Università degli Studi di Torino, or often abbreviated to UNITO) is a university in the city of Turin in the Piedmont region of north-western Italy. It is one of the oldest universities in Europe, and continues to play an important role in research and training.


French domination (1739–1817)

Charles Emmanuel III continued the policy of innovation and consolidation commenced by Victor Amadeus II and created a University Museum in 1739. However, in the last decades of the 18th century, the course of events at the University, closely connected to international developments, led to great urban unrest and the lost of State prestige. The revolt of university students in 1791 joined by artisans who stormed the "Collegio delle Province" in 1792 causing numerous victims, was a clear instance of this conflict.

The University and "Collegio" were closed in the autumn of the same year when war broke out against revolutionary France. In January 1799, the provisional Piedmontese Government reopened the University under the control of the "Comité d'instruction publique" (Committee for Public Instruction). In summer, 1800, the second provisional Government transformed the University into a National University and replaced the Faculties with eight Special Schools, which were based on the existing pattern: Chemistry and Rural Economy, Surgery, Drawing and Fine Arts, Legislation, Medicine, Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Literature and Veterinary Medicine. Two years later, Literature was abolished, Medicine and Surgery were merged and many chairs were suppressed for financial reasons.

Another milestone in the Turin university system was the introduction of the new Imperial order, since Piedmont had become a French Department; this involved the personal appointment by Napoleon of a Rector to head each University. Because of its size, number of chairs, teaching staff and students the Piedmontese University became the second largest in the Empire after Paris.

A famous student of this age was Joseph-Louis Lagrange.




The Schola Medica Salernitana (Italian: Scuola Medica Salernitana) was a late Medieval medical school. Situated on the Tyrrhenian Sea in the south Italian city of Salerno, it was the most important source of medical knowledge in Western Europe at the time. Arabic medical treatises, both those that were translations of Greek texts and those that were originally written in Arabic, had accumulated in the library of Montecassino, where they were translated into Latin; thus the received lore of Hippocrates, Galen and Dioscorides was supplemented and invigorated by Arabic medical practice, known from contacts with Sicily and North Africa. As a result, the medical practitioners of Salerno, both men and women, were unrivalled in the medieval Western Mediterranean for practical concerns.




Universita de Naples The University of Naples Federico II (Italian: Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II) is a university located in Naples, Italy. Founded in 1224 it is the oldest public non-religious university in the world, and is now organized in 13 faculties. It was Europe's first university dedicated to training secular administrative staff,[1] and one of the oldest academic institutions in continuous operation. Federico II is the third University in Italy by number of students enrolled,[citation needed] despite its huge dimensions it still represents one of the best Universities in Italy


Universita di BolognaThe University of Bologna (Italian: Università di Bologna, UNIBO), founded in 1088, is the oldest university in continuous operation.[2]

It was the first place of study to use the term universitas for the corporations of students and masters which came to define the institution, located in Bologna, Italy.



The University of Padua (Italian: Università degli Studi di Padova, UNIPD) is a premier Italian university[1] located in the city of Padua, Italy. The University of Padua was founded in 1222 as a school of law and was one of the most prominent universities in early modern Europe.[2] Padua is the second-oldest university in Italy and the world's fifth-oldest surviving university.


The University of Parma (Italian: Università degli Studi di Parma, UNIPR) is one of the oldest universities in the world, founded in the 10th century.



The University of Pavia (Italian: Università degli Studi di Pavia, UNIPV or Università di Pavia; Latin: Alma Ticinensis Universitas) is a university located in Pavia, Lombardy, Italy. It was founded in 1361 and has thirteen faculties.


The University of Florence (Italian: Università degli Studi di Firenze, UniFI) is an Italian public research university located in Florence, Italy.


The University of Ferrara (Italian: Università degli Studi di Ferrara) is the main university of the city of Ferrara in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy.


The University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (Italian: Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia), located in Modena and Reggio Emilia, Emilia-Romagna, Italy, is one of the oldest universities in Italy,




18th Century Italian Physicians

Domenico Felice Antonio Cotugno (January 29, 1736 – October 6, 1822) was an Italian physician.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesco_Canaveri]Francesco Canaveri (1753-1836) was an Italian Physician and Professor of Anatomy.

Maria Dalle Donne (12 July 1778 - 9 June 1842) was an Italian physician and a director at the University of Bologna.

Luigi Aloisio Galvani (Latin: Aloysius Galvanus; 9 September 1737 – 4 December 1798) was an Italian physician, physicist, biologist and philosopher, who discovered animal electricity. He is recognized as the pioneer of bioelectromagnetics.

Paolo Mascagni (January 25, 1755 – October 19, 1815) was an Italian physician, known for his study of human anatomy, in particular for the first complete description of the lymphatic system.

Filippo Mazzei (Italian pronunciation: [matˈtsei], but sometimes erroneously cited with the name of Philip Mazzie; December 25, 1730 – March 19, 1816) was an Italian physician.

Giovanni Battista Morgagni (25 February 1682 – 6 December 1771) was an Italian anatomist, generally regarded as the father of modern anatomical pathology, who taught thousands of medical students from many countries during his 56 years as Professor of Anatomy at the University of Padua.

Pietro Moscati (June 1739, Milan - 19 January 1824, Milan) was an Italian doctor and politician.

Maria Magdalena Petraccini, or Pettracini (Florence, Tuscany, 1759 - Bagnacavallo, Ravenna, 1791), Italian anatomist and physician, professor of anatomy.

Giambattista Scandella (1770–1798) was an Italian physician and scientist who emigrated to the United States in 1796.

Tadini was an Italian itinerant ophthalmologist who lived in the second half of the 18th century.

Michele Troja or Michele Troya (23 June 1747 – 12 April 1827) was an Italian physician.

Eusebio Valli (1755–1816) was a physician from Lari, Pisa, Italy.