Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Santa Maria Nuova Hospital

  • Antonio Benivieni, early anatomist and pathologist

    The Florentine Antonio Benivieni dissected corpses and recorded his findings some seventy years before Andreas Vesalius and even more so before Batista Morgagni. Yet though he has been called the “founder of pathology,” he never achieved the fame and recognition accorded to his distinguished successors. He was the eldest of five sons in an ancient…

  • The Spedale of Santa Maria Nuova in Florence

    Donatella Lippi Luigi Padeletti Florence, Italy   The spedale of Santa Maria Nuova was founded in June 1288 by Folco di Ricovero dei Portinari, father of Dante’s Beatrice, who bought some houses in the centre of Florence to receive poor people who needed help. At first the hospital could only accept men from the large…