Studio Firmano per la storia dell'Arte Medica e della Scienza

The beginning: from Rome to Fermo in 1955

The Studio Firmano was founded in 1955 in Fermo by the medical historian Mario Santoro, who, between 1947 and 1948, attended the seminars of the celebrated Alberto Pazzini`s in the history of medicine at the University ‘La Sapienza’ of Rome where he became one of his most distinguished pupils.

Since its very beginning, the Studio Firmano has been very committed to promoting and advancing the study of the history of medicine. The first meeting of the Studio – tornata in Italian– was organized in Fermo at the ancient Palazzo dei Priori in 26-27 March 1955 featuring Adalberto Pazzini as the chair of it.

The historical archive of the Studio Firmano still keeps records of the correspondence between Santoro and Pazzini dated 1954 in which Santoro presented his project for the foundation of a new research centre dedicated to the history of medicine in Fermo aiming at renovating the town ancient medical faculty. The centre was organised on the model of contemporary European universities in order to draw from Italian and foreign scholars to the field of the history of medicine. As a consequence, throughout its history the studio attracted of the most reputed twentieth-century medical historians, who used to meet regularly in Fermo as part of the Studio’s biennal meetings; among them particularly important are the names of Mirko Drazen Grmek, Ladislao Münster, Adalberto Pazzini, Luigi Stroppiana, Enrico Coturri, Vincenzo Busacchi, Loris Premuda, Giuseppe Ongaro and Vivian Nutton.

In 2005 the Studio Firmano celebrated the 50th anniversary with an international meeting (held in Fermo on he 10th September) which resulted in the publication of the volume “Medici e Medicina nelle Marche. Lo Studio Firmano e la Storia della Medicina, Fermo, 1955 -2005” (Physicians and Medicine in the Marche. The Studio Firmano and the History of Medicine).