Gabriele Falloppio a Pisa nel cinquecentenario della nascita del grande anatomista

On the occasion of the fifth centenary of his birth, the figure of the great anatomist Gabriele Falloppio (1523-1562) is examined, with particular reference to his Pisan period. After spending the first years of his research activity in Modena, his hometown, and Ferrara, he was called Studio Pisano by Cosimo I de' Medici in 1548 to remain there until 1551, when he moved to Padua. The Pisan period was particularly fruitful, thanks also to his friendship with the botanist Luca Ghini, with whom he had the opportunity to deepen his interests in medicinal plants. Studies on the human body, also conducted with controversial dissections on persons sentenced to death subjected to experiments with opium, allowed many discoveries and anatomical observations. Among these, there is the description of the uterine tubes and the facial canal that bear his name. His research was collected in the famous Observationes anatomicae, the only work published when the author was still alive, in 1561. Many other works were published posthumously, thanks to the initiative of colleagues and above all students who had followed his innovative lessons.