Museo storico nazionale dell'arte sanitaria

About the museum

The museum grew out of the collections of the former Museo Anatomico and the idea of the doctors Capparoni and Carbonelli, which matured after the retrospective art exhibition staged at Castel Sant'Angelo in 1911 with General Mariano Borgatti. In 1920 the Istituto per il Museo Storico dell'Arte Sanitaria was founded, transformed in 1934 into the Accademia di Storia dell'Arte Sanitaria; the museum was inaugurated in 1933. In 1929 the Pio Istituto Santo Spirito granted it the former Corsia Alessandrina of the hospital of the same name, in the seventeenth-century wing of the building.

The collections grew with the donations of Capparoni, of Carbonelli (1931) and of General Cavalli Mulinelli (1939), to which the collections of Giuseppe Ovio and Orlando Solinas were added later. The material documents the passage of medicine, surgery and pharmacology from magic to science, from the age of imperial Rome to the present day.

The route includes the Sala Alessandrina, the Sala Flajani with seventeenth-century anatomical preparations and wax models, the Capparoni and Carbonelli rooms with ex-votos, surgical instruments, microscopes and a plague doctor's costume, and the reconstruction of a seventeenth-century apothecary and an alchemical laboratory. The library holds over 10,000 works on the history of medicine.

Highlights

• Sala Flajani with seventeenth-century anatomical preparations and wax anatomical models
• Reconstruction of a seventeenth-century apothecary (spezieria)
• Alchemical laboratory with the hermetic door
• Plague doctor's costume and period surgical instruments
• Library with over 10,000 works on the history of medicine

Permanent exhibition

• Collezioni storiche di arte sanitaria – Thematic rooms on anatomy, surgery and pharmacy with the Capparoni, Carbonelli, Ovio and Solinas collections, and a reconstructed apothecary and alchemical laboratory.

Founded

1929

Operated by

Accademia di Storia dell'Arte Sanitaria

Admission & discounts

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Accessibility

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Kids & families

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Getting there & parking

The museum is located at the Ospedale di Santo Spirito in Sassia.

Amenities & dining

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Events & venue rental

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Plan your visit