Buongiorno a tutti!
This is the second summer I will be taking a group of HAPS members to Italy in a professional education program I call Anatomia Italiana. Many of us share an interest in the early days of anatomy in medical education. It is an amazing experience to visit the centuries old dissection theaters at the University of Padua and the University of Bologna (see HAPS members from Anatomia Italiana 2012 pictured here in Bologna). The wax anatomical collections at the University of Florence are perhaps the most visually compelling artifacts of our discipline.
Connecting anatomy in the early universities with the dissections conducted by the Renaissance masters is another element of Anatomia Italiana. The profound nexus between art and science is best demonstrated by the genius of Michelangelo. Indeed, the wooden crucifix he carved in gratitude for secret access to corpses from a conventʼs hospital still hangs in the Basilica of Santo Spirito in Florence. It is a moving experience to stand before it. Gathering in the room where Leonardo dissected in Rome is quite a moment as well.
While HAPS members (along with anyone interested in connecting art and anatomy) are welcome to visit Italy with me in the future, I am pleased to say that the HAPS Institute (HAPS-I) has approved Anatomia Italiana as a three-credit course for Summer 2014! HAPS members now have the option of also enrolling in a HAPS-I course while traveling with Anatomia Italiana. President Valerie Dean O’Loughlin and Executive Director Peter English have asked me to post a few blogs from Italy during this year’s tour starting Sunday, July 21. Keep an eye out for posts from Rome, Florence and Venice.
If the 2014 HAPS-I Anatomia Italiana course is something you are considering, you can download the syllabus by clicking here. Details are also on the HAPS-I registration page, which can be visited by clicking here. The entire travel program can be reviewed at the Anatomia Italiana webpage. Keep in mind that it is also an option to travel with Anatomia Italiana and not enroll in the HAPS-I course.
I’ll be sure to post a photo or two of the Anatomia Italiana 2013 HAPS members thoughtfully examining historic anatomical specimens. I’ll save the wine tasting and gondola riding photos for another day!
Buona giornata, e ci sentiamo da Roma!
Kevin Petti, Ph.D.
San Diego Miramar College
The HAPS Blog 
Have you ever wondered:
Who was the famous Lady anatomist ?
How the anatomical wax techniques differed in Bologna from Florence ?
How mesmerizing are the paintings of Titien, besides the ones from
his students that you all have seen in De Corporis Fabrica ?
What Leonardo’s Da Vinci invention you might find
during a Chianti’s degustation ?
All these questions will be answered along this marvellous trip where you’ll also have a chance to go through some of the same paths as Robert Langdon in Inferno’s Dan Brown but even more interestingly, meet in Rome, Gaspare Baggieri who discovered recently an etruscan heart almost 1000 years old B-C, with an inscription of the coronary vessels !
As you probably guessed… I highly recommand this well organized trip to anyone who is interested in Anatomy, Art & History of science. It was a real pleasure to travel with Kevin Petti, his beautiful family and great HAPS members. Laura’s Bianconcini contibution and availableness was also very appreciated during these unforgettable days in Italy.
Buon viaggio to this year’s travelers and all the future ones….
P.S. You’ll find some other highlights of this experience on my blog:
http://lmoussakova.wordpress.com/category/voyage/page/2/
as well as posts on the Anatomy & Pathology and Josephinium museums in Vienna
and the famous Sedlec Ossuary not far from Prague:
http://lmoussakova.wordpress.com/category/voyage/page/3/