The mural by Milo Manara at the Institute of Human Anatomy

To celebrate the centenary of the Paduan Anatomical Institute (1922–2022), during the celebrations for the 800th anniversary of the University of Padua, the atrium of the Institute of Human Anatomy was enriched by a work by the artist Milo Manara.

The Chair of Anatomy of Padua boasts a long and prestigious tradition, enriched by the contribution of some of the most celebrated anatomists in the history of medicine, from Bruno da Longobucco to Andrea Vesalio and Giovan Battista Morgagni. This legacy was taken up by the anatomical institutes built in 1922 to a design by Fondelli, near the Giustinianeo Hospital, which still constitute a fundamental resource for anatomical research and education today. Inside the Institute of Human Anatomy is the Falloppio Hall, a magnificent anatomical theatre which, despite its historical value, continues to host the morphological practice par excellence: cadaver dissection.

The three walls of the stairwell of the Institute of Human Anatomy at via Falloppio 50 in Padua, covering a total of approximately 225 square metres distributed over three flights and accompanied by the ceiling, were decorated using the Tattoo Wall technique, which transfers digital inks from a support onto a wall surface.

The mural develops from bottom to top as a symbol of the death–life continuum, interpreted as the pairing knowledge–care. The first wall leads up from the area of the autopsy rooms, the place of knowledge, to the floor with the classrooms. The second leads to the laboratories, spaces in which research takes shape and new knowledge is generated. The upper flight finally leads to the ceiling, where organ donation is depicted, a gesture that broadens the possibilities of care.

On the ceiling, in a reinterpretation of the sky of Giotto’s Cappella degli Scrovegni, primordial Adam and Eve appear, from whom life begins again cyclically after death.

On the first wall, the marvellous phrase “MORS UBI GAUDET SUCCURRERE VITAE” is depicted in an allegorical key; it refers to the ancient anatomical theatre of the University of Padua, where, by studying the bodies of the dead, people learned to heal the living.

On the second wall, Manara took inspiration from the title page of Andrea Vesalio’s sixteenth-century book, De humani corporis Fabrica. A number of the University’s most important teachers over the centuries, such as Eustachio and Falloppio, up to contemporary figures, have been added to the image. The third wall shows how the University today, more than ever, is committed to training new doctors, starting from its ancient heart, the anatomical theatre. All this ideally projects humanity towards a hypothetical eternity, metaphysically illustrated on the ceiling, which, while remaining within the ancient tradition, reproduces the starry vault, albeit updated through the vision of modern telescopes.

Giovanni Battista Morgagni (1682- 1771), professor of anatomy, is the founder of modern pathological anatomy. “It is not possible to put forward the nature and causes of any disease without confirmation from cadaveric dissections.” In his work and teaching he refers to the Vitruvian Man, placing man at the centre with reference to the foundations of architecture for the training of the physician.

Antonio Maria Valsalva (1666 – 1723), physician, anatomist and surgeon, favourite pupil of Marcello Malpighi, was the teacher of the celebrated Giovanni Battista Morgagni. At the Archiginnasio di Bologna he graduated “magna cum laude” with a thesis entitled “On the superiority of experimental doctrine”. Valsalva realised that the studies of the time led only to the image of truth: to investigate the symptoms of diseases, their course and the effectiveness of therapy, it was not enough to examine patients carefully, but it was necessary to study the alterations in diseased parts on cadavers.

Bartolomeo Eustachio (between 1500 and 1510 – 1574), anatomist. He investigated cadavers with great acuity in order to understand diseases. His most famous work is the Tabulae Anatomicae of 1552, which earned him the title of “Prince of anatomy”.

Gabriele Falloppio (1523 – 1562), in 1551 accepted the chairs of anatomy, surgery and botany from the University of Padua. Among his distinguished pupils were Girolamo Fabrici d’Acquapendente, Marcello Capra, Antonio Minutoli and Volcher Koyter. He was the author of remarkable anatomical discoveries, with fundamental contributions to osteology, myology and splanchnology. In addition to having been one of the most important scientists in the history of anatomy, he also made important contributions to comparative anatomy, botany, physiology, pharmacology and thermal medicine.

Andrea Vesalio (1514-1564) is the founder of modern anatomy; he was the first to assert the need for a complete rewriting of the description of the human body and its parts, carried out through the assiduous practice of cadaver dissection and careful criticism of the sources of ancient knowledge. He wrote the fundamental book for medicine De Humani Corporis Fabbrica. Leonardo da Vinci (1452 – 1519) devoted about twenty years of his life to the study of the human body, divided into three periods: between 1480 and 1490, in Milano, he studied muscles and bones in depth; between 1502 and 1507, in Firenze, the mechanics of the body; from 1508 to 1513, between Milano and Roma, he analysed the internal organs and blood circulation. He was the inventor of anatomical illustration and of the exploded view, an illustrative method still used today.

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 – 1564), his drawings show the master's anatomical interest, which is expressed, for example, in muscle fibres sketched in detail. In his writings the artist often referred to the human body as a «mortal veil with divine purposes»: anatomy becomes an instrument of knowledge aimed at representing the body in its perfect form. It is an anatomy based on empirical knowledge, the fruit precisely of cadaver dissections.