The Golden Age of Human Genetics in Italy

After the Second World War, human genetics in Italy had to cover a gap with respect to the International scientific community. Some older researchers were still tied to the old concepts of human genetics and eugenics, while a new generation of scientists slowly managed to introduce the new concepts and methods of human population genetics. The first part of the paper will discuss the “old school” of human genetics, while subsequent paragraphs will focus on three lines of research: immunogenetics, human medical genetics and human population genetics. These three strands mainly developed respectively in Turin (with Ruggero Ceppellini), Rome and Naples (with Giuseppe Montalenti), and Pavia (where the group headed by Adriano Buzzati-Traverso was). The paper describes the growth and the achievements of this small groups of researchers, characterising three different research lines that rapidly reached a level of international excellence and later became a major part of anthropological staudies. Notwithstanding enormous difficulties, these pioneering scientists managed to leave important legacies.