21.00 – AULA ABSIDALE DI SANTA LUCIA

THE SOUND OF SILENCE. GENIUS AND SUFFERING IN LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
Maurizio Giani
Antonio Pirodda
Fabio Regazzi
readings by: Nicola Bortolotti
introduced and coordinated by: Pino Donghi
Most people know that Beethoven was able to express his musical genius despite his deafness. Which illness affected him, what did he suffer from? Which diseases, and how many pathological stages did he go through before composing his Ninth Symphony, and his last, world-famous string quartets, in the almost-total silence of his mind? “By popular demand”, as the saying goes in show-business, and following the highly successful past edition, Beethoven’s compositions – as he presumably heard them as his disease gradually worsened – are again on the agenda at the Festival della Scienza Medica in Bologna. A touching testimonial and a happening/lecture to appreciate the complex relationship that can occur between disease and creativity.

09.00/10.30 – AULA DI ANATOMIA DELL’ACCADEMIA DI BELLE ARTI

ARTISTIC ANATOMY SCHOOL
Tour and workshop for primary school students
The aim of this educational activity is to introduce children to the special relationship between art and medical science typical of the study and the history of artistic anatomy. After a brief tour of the historic building of the Academy of Fine Arts, the students will take part in a workshop of anatomical design.
For 4th and 5th grade students. By reservation only (please reserve by email: festivaldellascienzamedica@genusbononiae.it)

09.00/11.00 – SANTA MARIA DELLA VITA 

BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH: GUIDED VISIT WITH STAGE DRAMA THOROUGH THE FAMOUS “PORTICO DELLA VITA” and “PORTICO DELLA MORTE”
An animated visit in the Sanctuary of Santa Maria della Vita to go through the places devoted to the study of medicine and the care of sick people, reaching the historic Palazzo of the Archiginnasio. A journey through the centre of Bologna accompanied by a weird student that will tell stories and anecdotes of the past university life.
Suitable for: lower secondary schools. By reservation only (please reserve by email: festivaldellascienzamedica@genusbononiae.it)

09.30 – TEATRO DELL’ACCCADEMIA DI BELLE ARTI

GIVING THE FLOOR TO THE JURY
Theater event and workshop
A medical case typified by a strong bioethical problematic aspect will be submitted to the students by way of a basic script. The ending of the story will be left “open” on purpose, in order to serve as the starting step for a workshop on the complex scientific, philosophical, and moral issues connected to the case. The students will work in groups, with the support of some expert coordinators, and will thus become the key players of a debate on bioethics. Just like a real jury, they will be summoned to choose the ending that they deem to be the “fairest” one, and will explain their decision to their schoolmates.
Suitable for: upper secondary schools. By reservation only (please reserve by email: festivaldellascienzamedica@genusbononiae.it)

11.00 – SALA DI RE ENZO

GENIUS ON BOARD
Eugenio Aringhieri
Sergio Pistoi
Andrea Vico
In collaboration with: Farmindustria
Innovation as the core of a special event that, following the activities suggested by Farmindustria during the Festival della Scienza Medica, offers a sound professional prospect to young generations. A report on the world of biotech drugs and the related job opportunities will open the event, to be followed by an experience shared with the students: a lively and witty investigation of frontiers and prospects of biotechnology and genetics, with the support of videos and simulated “genetic testings”. A true cross-media event that will involve the students and will help them reflect on their own future.

11.30 – SALA DEGLI ATTI

OPEN SCIENCE AND THE DATA-REVOLUTION ERA
Federica Rosetta

Today 80% of the data produced by scientific research go lost, and the possibility to reproduce scientific results and generate new discoveries is lost as well. The advent of new technologies, together with a new consideration towards transparent and open practices, i.e. Open Science, in carrying out research studies, is deeply changing such a trend. It is no coincidence that some speak of a true data revolution! The present report aims at encouraging a debate on data management and publication (Open Data) and on the meaning and importance of Open Science.

To follow:

HOW SUCCESSFULLY PUBLISH ON THE BEST SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS
Massimiliano Bearzot

Promoted by: Elsavier

16.00 – SALA DI RE ENZO

ASTER: A LIFE SCIENCE PLATFORM
Paolo Bonaretti
Promoted by: Intesa Sanpaolo
ASTER is a Consortium including universities and Italian research centers active in the area, Unioncamere, and the Regional Government of Emilia Romagna. The Consortium has been working for over thirty years for the enhancement of research and technological transfer. Since 2007, Aster coordinates the High Technology Network of Emilia-Romagna, which includes 82 labs devoted to industrial research in 6 primary sectors of the regional economy: mechanics and materials, agri-food, building, life sciences, ICT and design, energy and the environment. In the field of life sciences, a virtuous ecosystem of innovation set will promote research projects of great importance for the related industry, in view of improved quality and competitiveness of the regional production system, also through the implementation of deployment plans for strategic specialization in the field of public health.

17.00 – SALA DI RE ENZO

NUCLEAR MEDICINE AND BREAST CANCER TREATMENTS: FROM SENTINEL LIMPH NODE BIOPSY TO RECEPTOR CHEMOTHERPAY
Istituto Scientifico Romagnolo per lo Studio e la Cura dei Tumori (IRST) S.r.l. IRCCS
Giovanni Paganelli
Promoted by: Intesa Sanpaolo
The Istituto Romagnolo per lo Studio e la Cura dei Tumori IRCCS (IRST) stems from a certainty: the battle against cancer can be won. The constant advances in the prevention of tumors, the effectiveness of treatments, that can be estimated on the basis of the increased survival indexes, and the continuous achievements in research, prove that what up to some time ago was just a hope is now a reality. The Center opened in 2007 in Meldola, and is now the main hub for a network of functional interconnected operating structures. It hosts highly complex technological research activities and innovative treatments. It is the core venue for clinical research in the region and promotes the implementation of caregiving activities in local oncological structures. Following the best qualified examples set by the Organization of European Cancer Institutes (OECI) and the Association of American Cancer Institutes (AACI), the Istituto aims at being considered as a new modern model of Comprehensive Cancer Care Network in the oncological scenario of the NHS structure of the Romagna region, strongly committed towards the local population. While providing the necessary services, IRST complies with its own social responsibility towards patients, while focusing actions and projects on the safety and respect of the individual.

18.00 – SALONE DEL PODESTÀ

INAUGURATION WITH THE AUTHORITIES

19.00 – SALONE DEL PODESTÀ

Nobel lecture
THE INNATE IMMUNE RESPONSE: FROM INSECTS TO HUMAN
Jules Hoffmann
Introduced by: Fabio Roversi Monaco
Coordinated by: Alberto Mantovani
Insects are a formidable zoological group, representing an estimated 80 % of extant species and putting one third of humanity at risk of severe morbidity or deaths through their vector capabilities for various types of microbes. For a long time, insects have been known to be themselves particularly resistant to infection. We and others have undertaken an in-depth analysis of the mechanism underlying this resistance, and essential results with be given in the presentation. Unexpectedly, it appeared that stringent similarities exist between Drosophila antimicrobial defenses and innate immune reactions in mammals – extending to        such hallmark molecules as the Toll/ Toll-like receptors, the roles of which in immune defenses were first uncovered in Drosophila. The presentation will describe essential characteristics of innate immunity and  trace  their appearance back to the first multicellular organisms, probably a billion of years ago. Adaptive immune defenses however are absent from invertebrates (95 % of species to-day) and have appeared more recently, probably in cartilaginous fishes  some 450 millions years ago. Studies from several laboratories have conclusively shown over the last two decades that innate immunity is required to activate adaptive immunity, leading to a paradigm shift in our global understanding of immune defences.

09.00/10.30 – AULA DI ANATOMIA DELL’ACCADEMIA DI BELLE ARTI

ARTISTIC ANATOMY SCHOOL
Tour and workshop for primary school students
The aim of this educational activity is to introduce children to the special relationship between art and medical science typical of the study and the history of artistic anatomy. After a brief tour of the historic building of the Academy of Fine Arts, the students will take part in a workshop of anatomical design.
Suitable for: second cycle of primary schools. By reservation only (please reserve by email: festivaldellascienzamedica@genusbononiae.it)

09.00/11.00 – SANTA MARIA DELLA VITA

BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH: GUIDED VISIT WITH STAGE DRAMA THOROUGH THE FAMOUS “Portico della Vita” and “Portico della Morte”
An animated visit to the Sanctuary of Santa Maria della Vita to go through the places devoted to the study of medicine and the care of sick people, reaching the historic Palazzo of the Archiginnasio. A journey through the centre of Bologna accompanied by a weird student that will tell stories and anecdotes of the past university life.
Suitable for: lower secondary schools. By reservation only (please reserve by email: festivaldellascienzamedica@genusbononiae.it)

09.30 – TEATRO DELL’ACCADEMIA DI BELLE ARTI

THE JURY HAS THE FLOOR
Theater event and workshop
A medical case typified by a strong bioethical problematic aspect will be submitted to the students by way of a basic script. The ending of the story will be left “open” on purpose, in order to serve as the starting step for a workshop on the complex scientific, philosophical, and moral issues connected to the case. The students will work in groups, with the support of some expert coordinators, and will thus become the key players of a debate on bioethics. Just like a real jury, they will be summoned to choose the ending that they deem to be the “fairest” one, and will explain their decision to their schoolmates.
Suitable for: upper secondary schools. By reservation only (please reserve by email: festivaldellascienzamedica@genusbononiae.it)

10.00 – SALA DI RE ENZO

THE DNA ORACLE: WHAT WE CAN DISCOVER READING THE GENOME?
Massimo Delledonne
The extraordinary advancements of genetics laid the foundations for reading and understanding the information contained in our DNA, the genome. I “read” my genome for the first time in 2011 and I have been constantly working to decode it since then. It is a difficult but exciting process that, besides allowing me some advantages for the prevention of certain diseases, helps me to know myself better and to explain some of my behavioral attitudes.

10.30 – STABAT MATER  

PHYSICS HELPS MEDICINE
Herbert Welling
The laser is just a light source, but it turns out, that this light source can be a helpful tool in the discipline of medicine for diagnostics, surgery and research. Back to the roots. Already some decades before, the laser allowed the direct observation of thrombus formation in veins and arteries and was further developed as a bloodless scalpel for heavily vascularized tissues, like in liver surgery.  Later, the short laser pulses with femtosecond pulses were developed and applied for modern stent-fabrication or highly precise eye surgery.
For the future there are fascinating but realistic visions. In ophthalmology, the laser may be able to overcome presbyopia or age related macula degeneration. In generating artificial organs or hybrid implants, laser based techniques might be used for the generation of complex 3D tissues by laser printing of biological cells or even for optical control of basic cellular functions, like muscle excitation or insulin production.

11.00 – SALA DEGLI ATTI

VISIT TO THE WARD. EMERGENCY ROOM
Simulated hospital rounds with: Mario Cavazza
As it is by now customary, the Sala degli Atti of Palazzo Re Enzo will host the “visit to the ward”. A travel through time, from tradition to innovation, a tour guided by some leading figures of the Bologna Medical School, along the developments of the science of healing. An exclusive appointment by Bologna Medicina.

11.30 – SALONE DEL PODESTÀ 

INNOVATION AND EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS. WHICH PROMISES FOR NEURO DEGENERATIVE DISEASE
Elena Cattaneo
Embryonic stem cells have been opposed for years and were the object of (unreasonable) lively debates on their supposed “scientific ineffectiveness” meant to contrast their use on the basis of questionable ethical reasons. They are today an extraordinary, irreplaceable tool for understanding the events typifying human development. They also stand out as a unique paradigm of cell multipower, whence special conditions applicable to the latest induced multipower stem cells can be extracted. Last, but most certainly not least, they are at the heart of some sound and rational regenerative medicine strategies. Recently, amazing results were achieved (in research on Parkinson’s disease as well) that represent a concrete necessary precondition to proceed towards future clinical trials. They also express the new ways of thinking constantly raised by cognitive challenges, so that new questions and new opportunities arise – and, sometimes, inexcusable impediments. All citizens, to whom the achievements of science are addressed, must be made aware of all this.

12.00 – AULA DELLE CONFERENZE SOCIETÀ MEDICA CHIRURGICA DI BOLOGNA 

INNOVATION IN ORTHODONTICS AND SURGERY
Renato Cocconi
Mirco Raffaini
Introduced and coordinated by: Giovanni Zucchelli
Is it possible to work on incorrect dental occlusions so as to obtain regular teeth, a pleasant smile and, whenever required, an overall re-balancing of the face? What can be done today, thanks to the new digital technologies, that could not be done in the past? Thanks to the latest innovations, such as digital scanners, computerized tomography, and state-of-the-art software, it is now possible to carry out virtual simulations on patients, e.g. changing the position and shape of teeth, of jaw-bones and of the different parts of the face (nose, chin, cheekbones, etcetera) in order to achieve a functional and aesthetic normalization or even an imitation of what appears attractive in nature. The purpose is to attain highly balanced results that will not reveal any sign of the dental, orthodontic, or surgical treatments carried out.

12.00 – STABAT MATER

SURGERY AND FARMACOLOGICAL THERAPY IN THE TRANSLANT MEDICINE
Antonio Pinna
Nas Undre
Introduced and coordinated by: Luigi Bolondi
Transplant medicine is a most complex specialty, featuring the highest level of clinical and pharmaceutical research. A key problem in the transplant process is rejection, during which the recipient’s immune system react against the transplanted organ, so that the operation proves unsuccessful and it might be necessary to remove the organ from the recipient. In addition to trying to reduce rejection risks by previously seeking to determine immunogenetic compatibility, a successful transplant depends on the immunosuppressant action of drugs fit to inhibit the activity of the immune system. Which roads is pharmaceutical research now exploring to develop new immunosoppressants?

12.30 – SALA DELLA CULTURA

THE VALUE OF GLOBAL HEALTH AND THE PRIZE FOR THE NEW DRUGS
Mario Melazzini
Massimo Scaccabarozzi
Thanks to drugs and vaccines we live better and longer. Today, the ‘Renaissance’ of research makes innovative drugs, as well as targeted, more effective therapies, available to patients. It is necessary for the governance, too, to innovate by enhancing therapeutic results and assessing the overall cost of the whole treatment, not just the cost of drugs, that often produces savings for other welfare items.

15.00 – STABAT MATER  

Made in Germany
INNOVATION IN GERMAN BIOMEDICAL SILENCE
George Bretthauer
Omid Majdani
Thomas Schmitz-Rode
Heiko Zimmermann
Introduced and coordinated by: Stefano Nava
The great progress of the Institute of Applied Computer Science at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and the Ophthalmology Hospital of the University of Rostock; the promising innovation underlying the bio-hybrid approach for new-generation cardiovascular implants; the sound potential implied by the use of pluripotent stem cells in view of an increasingly accurate treatment customization, while the discovery and development of new drugs proceeds at an ever faster pace. German research with its best structures and prospects opening up to the future of medicine.

15.45 – SALA DI RE ENZO

STEM CELLS BETWEEN SCIENCE AND (PSEUDO)ETHICS
Michele De Luca
Regenerative medicine based on the use of stem cells for the reconstruction of connective tissues is an important challenge for the treatment of incurable diseases.There is no lack of scientific excellence in Italy. However, in Italy, freedom of research with promising cells such as embryonic stem cells faces, more than anywhere else, scientifically unjustified obstacles and (pseudo)ethical  barriers.

16.30 – ORATORIO DI SAN FILIPPO NERI

RETURN TO THE PAST
Salvatore Maria Aglioti
Mariano Bassi
Pierdante Piccioni
The last day of May 2013 Pierdante Piccioni, the young head physician of the hospital of Lodi, veered off the road with his car on the Pavia expressway. He was taken to the hospital in a coma but when he came out of the coma, six hours later, he had just taken his children to school … on October 25, 2001, twelve years before. A neurological lesion not only erased 12 years of his life, but also took him back in time, when Italy still used the lira and not the euro, and Facebook was still far to come. Stories on the recovery of an identity threatened by the “erasure” of memories due to a brain injury, as told by an involuntary protagonist.

16.45 – SALA DI RE ENZO

THE NEW FRONTIERS OF HEALTH: 6 STARTUPS COMPARED
Cellply, Stem Sel, Neuron Guard, CellDynamics, Wellmicro and Andremacon
Introduced and coordinated by: Fabrizio Landi
Promoted by: Intesa Sanpaolo
Improving mutual relationships, knowledge, fusion of ideas. Six startups meet to assess their business and research activities. A good chance to update, an incentive to build new relations and create new cooperation between the various entities working in the field of life sciences, from biotech to medical devices, from Ict for the national health system to research services.

17.00 – AULA DELLE CONFERENZE SOCIETÀ MEDICA CHIRURGICA DI BOLOGNA 

ANY GIVEN MONTH: MENSTRUATION AND DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN
Renato Seracchioli
Menstruation is a natural phenomenon that has always accompanied women’s fertile life. However, on cultural and historical grounds, it was sometimes seen as an unpleasant, mysterious, and shameful condition. It appears that such a negative attitude is not restricted to the most marginal social groups or to specific ethnic groups. To what extent do taboos connected to the menstrual cycle still survive? Cultural heritage cannot be easily overcome.

17.00 – SALA DEGLI ATTI

CALL FOR SPEECH
To give voice to future doctors, the Festival della Scienza Medica in Bologna will provide a “speaking corner” for students to take the floor on recent biomedical issues: lifestyles, so-called alternative medicines, the relationship between doctor and patient, the scientific statute of medicine. 

17.30 – SANTA MARIA DELLA VITA 

RARE DISEASES
Laura Crippa
What are rare diseases, which challenges do they pose, but, also, which unforeseen opportunities do they open up in the so-called “personalized” treatments?Over six thousands of the rare diseases acknowledged to date are often characterized by difficult diagnoses, by lack of information, assistance and scientific knowledge, and by disparity and difficulty in accessing treatments and care.Thanks to research, companies now provide new treatment opportunities and drugs, thus allowing for an improvement in the quality of life as well as an increased life-expectancy.

18.00 – SALA DELLA CULTURA

A SILENTI PANDEMIC: THE DIABETES MELLITUS
Giorgio Sesti
Promoted by: Società Italiana di Diabetologia and Fondazione Diabete Ricerca Onlus
Diabetes mellitus is rampant. In Italy, known cases were approximately 1.5 million in 1985 and now are close to 4 million. In addition to known cases, it must be mentioned that there are almost one million people who are unaware of their disease. As a matter of fact, diabetes is often asymptomatic, sometimes for many years, and problems arise exactly because physical ailments are lacking, and no clinical flaws are detectable. Until something serious comes to the fore …

18.00 – SALA DI RE ENZO

THE WEB BALONEY: COFFEE ENEMA AND OTHER INCREDIBLE STORIES…
Luigi Bolondi
The Internet is a formidable tool for spreading knowledge, but also for manipulating brains. Today 80% of patients look for information on their health in the Net, but search engines do not distinguish between scientifically correct information and “hoaxes” that anyone can load in the Net. True, charlatans have always existed but it is compulsory to warn people about the danger of hoaxes when it comes to treatments for cancer: from scorpion venom to shark cartilage, sodium bicarbonate, the Hamer method, Ashkar chickpeas up to coffee enemas, and an endless number of dietary and natural remedies. Why are web hoaxes so successful?

19.00 – SALONE DEL PODESTÀ  

Nobel Lecture
GRID CELLS AND THE CORTICAL MAP OF SPACE
Edvard Moser
Introduced by: Piergiorgio Strata
Coordinated by: Rocco Liguori
The medial entorhinal cortex (MEC) is part of the brain’s circuit for dynamic representation of self-location. A key component of this representation is the grid cell. Grid cells are active only when animals are at certain locations. These locations tile the environment in a periodic hexagonal pattern, like in a Chinese checkerboard, pointing to these cells as an internal coordinate system for the brain’s map of space. The circuit contains also other functional cell types, such as direction-tuned cells and cells that are active only at boundaries. These are are intermingled among the grid cells. In this lecture, I will discuss how these cell types, all within the same neural circuit, form a rich representation of local space. I will discuss the putative mechanisms of the grid pattern and its developmental origins, as well as possible ways that grid cells could be used in the formation of daily-life memory.

21.00 – CHIESA DI SANTA CRISTINA 

CONCERT HELD BY SOLISTI DELL’ ORCHESTRA MOZART 
Accademia Filarmonica
In collaboration with: Farmindustria
L. van Beethoven, 3 String Trios, n. 3 op. 9 in C minor
W. A. ​​Mozart Flute Quartet n. 1 D, K 285
Since from 2004 the chamber music repertoire is central in the artistic proposal of the Orchestra Mozart, following  the original idea of M° Claudio Abbado, founder and artistic leader. In this actual new fase the Mozart Orchestra, together with the symphonic concerts, works to give value to the chamber Ensemble, from the trio to the octet.

09.00 – ISTITUTI ANATOMICI – WAX MUSEUM “LUIGI CATTANEO”

ANATOMY OF A DISCOVERY THAT NEVER TOOK PLACE. FROM WAX TO ROBOTICS.
Anatomisti Bolognesi
A 1944 movie, The Monster Maker, by S. Newfield, will be shown in the Main Hall of the Istituti Anatomici of the University of Bologna. It recounts the poignant story of a ruthless scientists who injects a human being with a draught that can cause acromegaly. The movie will provide a great opportunity to analyze the mistakes that, throughout history, made it possible to identify the correct clinical nature of the hypophysial disease. Walking through the halls of the L. Cattaneo Anatomical Museum, the observation of the anatomical wax model by Cesare Taruffi representing a man affected by acromegaly will thus allow to describe “a discovery that never took place”. More in-depth historical and scientific details will be gathered in the Dissection Room of the Istituti Anatomici where human-corpse heads will be used to demonstrate, via a high resolution 3D endoscope, the modern transnasal access approaches to the pituitary gland, whose “malfunctioning” causes acromegaly.
Visitors, stepping back to a nineteenth-century atmosphere, will be the leading figures of a clinical investigation from wax to robotics. The project was jointly promoted by the Anatomists of the University of Bologna and the Neurosurgeons of the Istituto di Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna.

09.30 – TEATRO DELL’ACCADEMIA DI BELLE ARTI

GIVING THE FLOOR TO THE JURY
Theater event and workshop
A medical case typified by a strong bioethical problematic aspect will be submitted to the students by way of a basic script. The ending of the story will be left “open” on purpose, in order to serve as the starting step for a workshop on the complex scientific, philosophical, and moral issues connected to the case. The students will work in groups, with the support of some expert coordinators, and will thus become the key players of a debate on bioethics. Just like a real jury, they will be summoned to choose the ending that they deem to be the “fairest” one, and will explain their decision to their schoolmates.
For high-school students. By reservation only (please reserve by email: festivaldellascienzamedica@genusbononiae.it)

10.00 – SALA DELLA CULTURA

ABOUT NATURE AND WHAT IS ARTIFICAL: BETWEEN BIONICS AND FUTURE ROBOTICS
Antonio Autiero
Andrea Stella
Giovanni Torsello
Today, the gradual replacement of vital parts of our body with artificial organs takes place within an ideal journey from the skin to the heart via the aorta, the main artery. A minimally invasive percutaneous endovascular technique was progressively developed which, through the femoral artery, allows to re-build heart valves, thoracic and abdominal aortas and the visceral arteries, i.e. hepatic, splenic, or renal. An unavoidable transformation that raises ethical questions about our condition as human beings , between bionics and future robotics.

11.00 – SANTA MARIA DELLA VITA 

BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH
Guided visit with stage drama thorough the famous “Portico della Vita” and “Portico della Morte” . By reservation only (please reserve by email: festivaldellascienzamedica@genusbononiae.it)

11.00 – SALA DEGLI ATTI

VISIT TO THE WARD. DEPARTMENT OF DERMATOLOGY 
simulated hospital rounds with: Massimino Negosanti and Annalisa Patrizi
As it is by now customary, the Sala degli Atti of Palazzo Re Enzo will host the “visit to the ward”. A travel through time, from tradition to innovation, a tour guided by some leading figures of the Bologna Medical School, along the developments of the science of healing. An exclusive appointment by Bologna Medicina.

11.00 – STABAT MATER  

ENEMY WITHIN – THE NASAL RESERVOIR FOR INVASIVE STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS INFECTIONS
Andreas Peschel
Introduced and coordinated by: Lucio Ildebrando Maria Cocco
Staphylococcus aureus is a constituent of the nasal microbiota in 20-30% of the human population and also represents the most frequent cause of life-threatening invasive infections in the northern hemisphere. The individual predisposition to S. aureus colonization and the transition from commensal to pathogenic life-styles represent exciting examples of microbe-host coevolution and adaptation processes. Recent discoveries on the molecular mechanisms governing S. aureus interaction with nasal cells, interference with microbiota, and evasion of host defense shed new light on the life style of a major human pathogen and open new avenues for innovative preventive and therapeutic approaches.

11.00 – ORATORIO DI SAN FILIPPO NERI

IS TYPE 2 DIABETES A VIRAL DISEASE?

Enzo Bonora
promoted by: Società Italiana di Diabetologia and Fondazione Diabete Ricerca Onlus
The spreading of Type2 diabetes seems to be “viral”. Human societies appear to be infected by a “virus” that is easily transmitted in situations of industrialization, mechanization, urbanization, pollution, psycho-physical stress, the need for food rewards, high-calorie food, incessant advertising on food. The vaccine against this pandemic is called “knowledge”.

11.30 – SANTA MARIA DELLA VITA

THE PHYSICIAN-PATIENT RELATIONSHIP: A NEUROSCIENTIFIC POINT OF VIEW
Fabrizio Benedetti
The relationship between physician and patient is one of the oldest traditional founding elements of medicine. Modern neurosciences allow to describe what happens in the patients’ brain when they interact with their doctor. It is now coming out that this unique, very special interaction, within which patients believe and hope, activates the same mechanisms that are activated by drugs.

11.30 –AULA DELLE CONFERENZE SOCIETÀ MEDICA CHIRURGICA DI BOLOGNA 

NOT JUST DRUGS: CLINICAL TRIALS AND EFFICACY ASSESMENT
Pietro Grossi
Patrizia Popoli
promoted by: Alphasigma
The last three decades saw a huge progress in scientific studies aimed at proving the important role of nutraceutical products (medical food, dietary supplements) in preventing or reducing risks in chronic diseases. Consumers/patients often apply to doctors to be reassured about the potential benefits of these products, which are supported by dedicated studies and advertised by the media. Doctors are therefore asked to carefully assess the related scientific and clinical evidence in order to add such products to diets and medical treatments. We will analyze, together with industry regulators and industrial pharmaceutical researchers, the importance of studies on the innovative use of special-purpose foods (medical food) for the prevention and treatment of illnesses.

11.45 – SALA DI RE ENZO

Presentation of the Position Paper “I VACCINI E LE VACCINAZIONI”
Giorgio Cantelli Forti
Fausto Francia

12.00 – SALA DI RE ENZO

ON VACCINES AND ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE. OLD AND NEW EMERGENCY IN GLOBAL HEALT
Roberto Burioni
Nicoletta Luppi
Angela Santoni
Introduced and coordinated by: Gilberto Corbellini
Sometimes they come back! The great plagues of the past that during the twentieth century were gradually defeated thanks to vaccines, and the unavoidable deaths caused by bacterial infections that antibiotics prevented thanks to their increasing efficacy, are again coming to the fore in the medical world. The infamous campaigns against vaccines are reducing the so-called herd immunity for several infections, while the misuse of antibiotics, the population shifts, and the normal developmental mechanisms are spreading bacterial resistance to antibiotics. It is thus compelling to develop new strategies to enhance the effectiveness of vaccination campaigns and to plan new, improved antibiotics.

12.00 – SALA DELLA CULTURA

AUTOPSY, GENETIC FOOT-PRINT AND CRIME: FROM FICTION TO REALITY
Gianfranco Bangone
Andrea Del Ferraro
Susi Pelotti
Claudio Rapezzi
How can death reveal the nature of a crime? By means of examples taken from fictions featuring an ideal situation in order to reach a frequently quite complex reality, and going back to the past, more specifically to the very first forensic autopsy, which was performed in Bologna in 1302, it will be shown how the body can “speak” after death. And how it can be listened to via a traditional autopsy, but also via a virtual, molecular, or psychological autopsy. A working process based on methods that somehow assimilate doctors to detectives.

12.00 – STABAT MATER  

SEEING THE ULTRASOUND
Peter Burns
Introduced and coordinated by: Luigi Bolondi
It is well known that creatures such as bats and dolphins ‘see’ by detecting echoes from pulses of sound they emit. Pulse-echo ultrasound imaging in medicine has become an invaluable tool to see into the human body. But animals teach us more: dolphins detect the speed of their prey by the Doppler effect, which we use to image blood flow; owls form an aural scene by unscrambling reflections from ambient structures, which we use to make ultrafast images. Most surprisingly, shrimp stun their prey by means of sound and tiny bubbles, which we now use to break the seal protecting the human brain in order to deliver drugs to treat cancer.

15.00 – STABAT MATER  

THE IMPACT OF ICT, BIG DATA AND AI ON MEDICINE
Enrico Bucci
Andreas Hoeft
According to Moore’s law complexity and speed of processors as well as storage will double every 12 to 24 month. Indeed, this law from 1965 has hold true until today. Simultaneously, IP traffic in the internet grows at a rate of 20-25% per year. However, the most disruptive technology in ICT will be cognitive computing and artificial intelligence (AI). AI has been hyped for more than four decades, but it went through several cycles of enthusiasm as well as so called “AI winters”. The coincidence of availability of big data and new tools for big data analysis, new technologies for semantic analysis of unstructured data, cloud computing and machine learning facilitate a leap in AI, which will also impact medicine. Cloud based systems will soon easily pass the Turing test, i.e. for users it will be indiscernible whether they communicate with a human being or a machine, including emulation of empathy and emotions. Personal health consultation by machines might endanger many disciplines in medicine, offering definitely chances to areas in the world, which are medically underserved, but also threads to physicians in developed countries. On the other hand, AI and cloud computing will add significantly to quality of patient care and patient safety in hospitals, by interfacing super-intelligent decision support systems with hospital information systems. The crucial question remains to be, how long it will take: 5, 15 or 50 years? “Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future” (Niels Bohr)

15.30 – ORATORIO DI SAN FILIPPO NERI

THE RETURN OF LOMBROSO? GENETICS AND NEUROSCIENCE OF THE ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOUR
Pietro Pietrini
To what extent is human behavior determined by genetic factors or influenced by the environment? Which relationship is there between the brain and free will, that is the ability to understand the meaning of one’s own actions and therefore acting in one way or another? Thanks to the acquisition of new notions in neuroscience, the never-ending “nature vs nurture” debate, that is whether the role of (neuro)biological factors prevails over the role of cultural factors or viceversa, appears now outdated. Today we know that several genetic constellations shape the extent to which individuals are affected by environmental features, thus making them more or less vulnerable to the presence of negative factors, such as abuse and violence in childhood. Starting with plasticity genes, the recent progresses in neuroscience yield more general implications, e.g. in the forensic, ethical and rehabilitation fields.

16.00 – SALONE DEL PODESTÀ   

PARASOMNIAS AND THE RELEASE OF PRIMITIVE INSTINCTS DURING SLEEP: ARE DREAMS ALWAYS WISHES?
Carlos H. Schenck
Introduced and coordinated by: Giuseppe Plazzi
Parasomnias are defined as the behavioral, emotional and autonomic nervous system disorders that accompany sleep, and can emerge during any stage of sleep, including Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep and Non-REM sleep, and during wake-sleep or sleep-wake transitional states. Thus, all of sleep carries a vulnerability for parasomnias. Instinctual behaviors and experiences can emerge pathologically with the parasomnias, such as aggression (as found in REM sleep behavior disorder [RBD], with violent dream-enacting behaviors), eating (as found in Sleep Related Eating Disorder [SRED]), sex (as found in Sexsomnia), locomotion (as found in Somnambulism, and less commonly in RBD), and terror states (as found in Sleep Terrors). Sleep itself is an instinctual behavior, and so with the parasomnias two or more instinctual behaviors can become pathologically intertwined in a self-perpetuating manner, as parasomnias are often chronic conditions. Parasomnias reflect abnormal brain-mind states during sleep, and can include disturbed dreaming. Central pattern generators in the brainstem are presumed to become abnormally activated with the parasomnias. Gender often plays a role with the manifestation of parasomnias, with RBD and Sexsomnia being male-predominant, and SRED being female-predominant. A notable psychiatric parasomnia involves Sleep Related Dissociative Disorder, which is female-predominant. Fortunately, most parasomnias can be effectively managed with behavioral and/or pharmacologic interventions. A series of video examples of the range of parasomnias will be shown and discussed, along with the presentation of illustrative clinical vignettes. Finally, the important scientific discovery and current research on RBD with dream-enactment and its strong link with parkinsonian disorders and dementia will be discussed.

16.00 – TEATRO ANATOMICO DELL’ARCHIGINNASIO

SHOW AND TELL AT THE ANATOMICAL THEATRE, FOR FAMILIES
Two events dedicated to families. Children and their parents are invited to take part to an “anatomical lesson” in the suggestive Anatomical Theatre of the Archiginnasio. A show where professional entertainers will tell the wonders of the human body in a funny and engaging way. Ticket € 3,00, free for kids. By reservation only (please reserve by email: festivaldellascienzamedica@genusbononiae.it)

16.00 – SALA DI RE ENZO

COUGH PLEASE! IS TELEMEDICINE THE FUTURE?
Giuseppe Boriani
Federico Lombardi
Manlio Nicoletti
Marco Pozzi
Claudio Rapezzi
Studio Pacinotti-Telbios and Gruppo ABMedica
promoted by: Intesa Sanpaolo
The future of Medicine is already here: medical-surgical remote consultation between different medical centers thanks to telemedicine; virtual teaching; remote monitoring of patients with implanted electrical devices; medical use of smartphone apps to measure the heart rate, heartbeat and to gather information on prognosis, cardiac risk stratification, drug monitoring, monitoring of cognitive functions, dietary norms, fitness, etc. Medicine still has a great future.

16.30 – AULA DELLE CONFERENZE SOCIETÀ MEDICA CHIRURGICA DI BOLOGNA 

HOW TO START THE STARTUP. EXPERIENCES AND PROPOSALS
Fabrizio Landi
promoted by: Intesa Sanpaolo
The future of Research Pharmaceutical, Biotech and Med-Tech is increasingly based on the capacity of the New Start Up Companies to develop innovative and disruptive solutions, differently from the conventional development of pharmaceutical and biomedical new products. The biggest company are quite aware of this new approach, knowing that almost two third of the new pharmaceutical products come from the independent research of small innovative start up. This and a unique opportunity for our Country, but helping the development of these initiatives requires efforts, investments, a lot of work, method and discipline.

17.00 – SALA DELLA CULTURA

DRIVING OUT CANCER
Patrizia Paterlini-Bréchot
Introduced and coordinated by: Pino Donghi
The molecular oncologist Patrizia Paterlini-Bréchot, professor at the University of Paris Descartes, in 2000 developed, and then comercialized, a technique to isolate and characterize fetal and tumor cells circulating in the blood (Test ISET). The device, invented to detect and identify the tumoral cells, consists of a blood test and it’s based on the cells dimension, allowing to diagnose cancer even in early states. In the book Patrizia Paterlini-Bréchot tells firsthand her path and the steps they took to build a promising invention. A history of science and humanity.

17.30 – STABAT MATER 

Made in Germany
LARGE SCALE FACILITIES: PRESENT AND FUTURE OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH. A COMPARISON BETWEEN ITALY AND GERMANY
Thomas Hirth
Massimo Inguscio
Jorge Vienken
chairman: Horst Klinkmann
co-chairman: Claudio Franceschi
Since the advent of Big Science, that is after WW2, scientific research and innovation models faced the need for increasingly larger-scale equipments and organizational structures. Thus, the so-called Large Scale Facilities came into being, as infrastructures making it possible for groups to access services that they would be unable to use individually, and also allowing the development of local, national, or international cooperation, which is indispensable in order to carry out research and to provide innovative components in the frontier sections of science and technology. While Italy, with a great delay, wonders how to fill the gap that developed in past decades as compared to other European countries, the comparison with similar experiences in a country at the forefront such as Germany, with her world-famous institutes, such as Max Planck and Frauenhofer, provides quite interesting issues for debate.

17.30 – SANTA MARIA DELLA VITA

EXPORTING ITALIAN NATIONAL EALTH MODELS: IS THAT POSSIBLE?
Bruno Biagi
promoted by: Gruppo Villa Maria
The social surveys carried out in recent years reveal a situation that contradicts some commonplaces. In Italy the national health system works better than in England, and comes out quite well also when compared with the German system. Obviously, an overall look at the Italian situation cannot conceal some differences – sometimes quite remarkable ones – between the various areas of the country. In the private sector, too, a number of excellencies are being appraised by foreign countries that feature similar socio-demographic general conditions. As absurd as it may seem to many, the balance of Italian exports can rely on the health and wellbeing industry.

18.00 –SALA DI RE ENZO

IN CONSCIENCE. WHAT IS CONSCIENCE AND WHY WE RISK TO LOOSE IT
Marcello Massimini
Usually we assess the level of conscience of other individuals on the basis of their ability to interact with the surrounding environment. However, we perfectly know that conscience can be generated as a whole inside the brain, even when all communication with the external world is lacking. It happens almost every night, when we dream. Due to such an incongruity, the presence of conscience could be unrecognized in people with brain injuries who come out of a coma but do not communicate. The development of an objective and reliable measurement of conscience skills is a great challenge for medical sciences.

18.00 – SALA DELLA CULTURA

A SILENT PANDEMIC: THE DIABETES MELLITUS
Enzo Bonora
promoted by: Società Italiana di Diabetologia and Fondazione Ricerca Diabete Onlus
Diabetes mellitus is rampant. In Italy, known cases were approximately 1.5 million in 1985 and now are close to 4 million. In addition to known cases, it must be mentioned that there are almost one million people who are unaware of their disease. As a matter of fact, diabetes is often asymptomatic, sometimes for many years, and problems arise exactly because physical ailments are lacking, and no clinical flaws are detectable. Until something serious comes to the fore …

19.00 – SALONE DEL PODESTÀ 

Nobel lecture
THE UNIQUE ROLE OF NITRIC OXIDE AS A WIDESPREAD SIGNALING MOLECULE
Louis Ignarro
Introduced and coordinated: Claudio Borghi
promoted by: Fondazione Internazionale Menarini
The field of nitric oxide (NO) research has developed in explosive proportions since the discovery of endogenous NO in 1986. The first biologically important actions of NO were that nitroglycerin and related nitrovasodilators elicit vascular smooth muscle relaxation by liberating NO in the smooth muscle. NO relaxes smooth muscle by activating cytosolic guanylate cyclase and elevating smooth muscle levels of cyclic GMP. Soon thereafter, NO was found to inhibit platelet aggregation by mechanisms also involving cyclic GMP. NO acts as a neurotransmitter in the central and peripheral nervous systems, where NO modulates memory, learning, recall and erectile function. NO may function in a similar manner in the GI tract, airways and bladder. Based on these properties of NO, new drugs can be developed to treat hypertension, atherosclerosis, stroke, angina pectoris, heart failure, vascular complications of diabetes, GI ulcers, impotency and other vascular disorders…and there is much more to explore!

10.00 – SALA DI RE ENZO 

MEDICINE: FEMALE GENDER, SINGULAR NUMBER?
Flavia Franconi
“Gender medicine” studies and emphasizes how sex and gender, which is the social and cultural attributes attached to sex or sexuality, affects the risks of becoming ill as well as the clinical history of diseases. The fact that belonging to the female gender proved to be associated to different risks to become ill or to obtain less effective treatments, as a result of the fact that the effectiveness of medical treatments are mainly studied on males, led to “gender medicine” being today almost a synonym of “women’s medicine”. Which diseases affect women more frequently or are treated less effectively in women since gender perspective is not taken into account?

10.00 – STABAT MATER  

Made in Germany
THE SUSTAINABILITY OF THE NHS’S. A COMPARISON BETWEEN ITALY AND GERMANY
Emilia Grazia De Biasi
Steffen Flessa
chairman: Horst Klinkmann
co-chairman: Emanuele Gatti
The sustainability of “universalistic” national health systems is a very relevant and urgent political issue, on the same level as (or perhaps even more weighty than) the still ongoing debate on public welfare. An ageing population, new (and frequently very expensive) therapies, the increasing expectations by patients who understandably ask not only for treatments but also for improvements to their quality of life, require a widespread public debate. Since health is undoubtedly a basic right, the response from governments to the old and new needs of citizens seem to be far from simple and immediate.

10.30 – ORATORIO DI SAN FILIPPO NERI

MEDICINE ON LEASH: ANIMALS AND PREVENTION IN MEDICINE
Claudio Borghi
Giorgio Cantelli Forti
Stefano Cinotti
Fabio Grizzi
Gianluigi Taverna
Lorenzo Tidu
The role of animals in traditional medicine has always been dependent on the needs of research rather than being a primary function in an active process of support to clinical studies and therapies. In recent times, the position of pets was greatly reconsidered, as it was proven that they play an active role for the prevention of a number of serious diseases, from cardiovascular to metabolic illnesses, and even neoplasms. More specifically, it appears that some species of pets (dogs above all) actively partake in the prevention process thanks to some of their physiological and behavioral features. A new approach to the medicine of the future that finally, after learning so much from animals, returns the role they deserve to them.

11.00 – SALA DEGLI ATTI

VISIT TO THE WARD. DEPARTMENT OF NEUROLOGY
Simulated hospital rounds with: Rocco Liguori and Giuseppe Plazzi
As it is by now customary, the Sala degli Atti of Palazzo Re Enzo will host the “visit to the ward”. A travel through time, from tradition to innovation, a tour guided by some leading figures of the Bologna Medical School, along the developments of the science of healing. An exclusive appointment by Bologna Medicina.

11.00 – TEATRO ANATOMICO DELL’ARCHIGINNASIO 

SHOW AND TELL AT THE ANATOMICAL THEATRE, FOR FAMILIES
Ticket € 3,00, free for kids. By reservation only (please reserve by email: festivaldellascienzamedica@genusbononiae.it)

11.30 – SALA DELLA CULTURA

WHY WE LOST OUR BATTLE AGAINST ALZHEIMER?
Arnaldo Benini
Seventy years after its first description, we still do not know anything about the causes and processes that lead to the devastation of the brain in the Alzheimer disease, which is considered as the most widespread form of old-age dementia. Since 1992, biological and pharmacological research focused on Beta-amyloid plaques and on fibrillar degeneration, even though Alois Alzheimer had found, as early as 1911, that kind of  lesions in the brain of healthy people. Drugs have not yielded any result and no specific prevention technique is known. So-called early diagnoses in healthy people are useless and create unprecedented ethical dilemmas. The story of how this condition came into being has no matches in the history of medicine.

BETWEEN THE THIRD AND THE FOURTH EDITION –  OCTOBER 2nd, 2017

18.00 – AULA ABSIDALE DI SANTA LUCIA

Nobel lecture
DNA INSTABILITY AND THE ROLE OF TREX1
Tomas Lindahl
introduced and coordinated by: Lucio Ildebrando Maria Cocco
The covalent structure of DNA is less stable under physiological conditions than has been generally assumed. For this reason endogenous damage to DNA is continuously repaired under in vivo conditions. We have discovered and characterised several of the enzymes that account for these essential processes. The nuclear exonuclease TREX1 removes unwanted single stranded DNA fragments in mammalian cells and counteracts autoimmunity.

Architectural features

With its outstanding historical and artistic importance, the building is considered one of the most interesting the Renaissance city produced in the late 15th century. Its compositional model makes it comparable to Palazzo Felicini-Pallavicini (1497-1528) in Via Galliera. The design of the façade blends the solid Bolognese tradition with an innovative Florentine architectural vocabulary. Local materials and elements are combined in new forms inspired by the refined scheme of Brunelleschi’s Ospedale degli Innocenti (1421), which is well suited to Bologna because of the portico. The conception of the dark string courses, echoing the horizontal emphasis of Filippo Brunelleschi’s work, here takes the form of cornices running across the façade and underscoring the arrangement of the windows. The building is fairly small, well proportioned and modulated by a strict rhythmical order. The terracotta decorations, rich yet restrained, play an important part by emphasising the architectural divisions and embellishing the design of the windows and the cornice moulding which crowns it. The façade, elegant and harmonious, is divided into two stories. It rises  above a large portico which has seven rounded arches resting on brick columns with sandstone capitals, counterpointing the six large windows set in the piano nobile, with their round arches, central pendant capitals and broad surrounds of decorative beading. The upper floor has a  succession of rectangular windows that rhythmically articulate the space below the cornicemoulding. In 1860 the arches of the portico were partly interred, so reducing the upward thrust of the whole building due to the levelling of the road, formerly called Via Ponte di Ferro (running  between Piazza de’ Calderini and Via Castiglione). This was after Bologna was added to the Kingdom of Sardinia and the new Via Farini was laid out, unifying and straightening the course of four consecutive streets that formerly had different names.

Restorationwork in the 1930s

The bank commissioned an engineer, Augusto Baulina Paleotti, to adapt the building to the new practical needs of the banking services for which it was to be used. Paleotti consolidated the part of the building towards Vicolo S. Damiano, replaced some columns in the portico, rebuilt the walls of the raised terrace and inserted new windows in it, while the interiors were decorated with murals in the Renaissance revival style typical of the period. So while the exterior preserved the original appearance of the façade, the interior was drastically restructured to increase the distinction and prestige of the rooms, enlarged by taking in the building behind the palazzo and adjacent to it. This made it possible to lay out the spaces more coherently, but on the outside the two buildings still retain their separate identities.

Interior

On the ground floor, the wooden coffered ceilings of the salons were reconstructed on the Cinquecento model and a marble staircase was installed, adorned with decorated vaults in the manner of Raphael. This was the work of Roberto Franzoni (1882-1960), a leading exponent of Art Nouveau in Bologna, who created his most complex and successful work in Casa Sareceni (1933). Having studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna under the guidance of Achille Casanova and Enrico Barberi, Franzoni devoted himself not only to painting but also sculpture, graphic design and commercial art. A member of the circle founded by Alfonso Rubbiani, Franzoni here revealed his mastery in Art Nouveau decorations in the tradition and style typical of the Renaissance revival. In particular he decorated the vault of the great staircase with lively grotesques and the coffered ceilings on the first floor with allegorical images extolling the virtues of thrift and hard work. Sinuous, spiralling lines bring out the figures firmly, with clear volumes and bright colours. The decorative cycle shows that the artist possessed remarkable natural skill, refined by his exacting academic studies. His art draws on Pre-Raphaelite ideals of beauty while endowing the figures with unusual realism. During the restructuring work a second floor was added. The panels over the doors were decorated with bright stucco ornaments and landscapes inspired by 18th-century works.

Modern restorationwork

More recently, the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio in Bologna has undertaken a new and important program of restoring and enhancing the whole building. The refurbishment of the exterior between 1995 and 1998 was followed in 2001 by a makeover of the interior. The extensive and detailed restoration project involved special maintenance work and functional improvements. The reception facilities, services and activities of the Foundation have been upgraded. The work included careful cleaning and restoration of all the marble and sandstone elements, the wooden ceilings, terrazzo  flooring, the door and window frames, and all the painted or decorated surfaces. This work made it possible in May 2004 to open the new reception rooms on the ground floor, fitted up to be venue for exhibitions with all the most modern equipment. To these was added a large space designed for hosting meetings and conferences.

On the occasion of the third edition of the Festival della Scienza Medica, Casa Saraceni will be  open beyond normal opening times:

Thursday, April 20, 2 p.m. – 7 p.m.;
Friday, April 21, 2 p.m. – 8 p.m.;
Saturday, April 22,  2 p.m. – 8 p.m.;
Sunday, April 23, 12 o’clock – 6 p.m.

During the weekend, guided tours will be organized at the following times:

Saturday, April 22, 4 p.m. and 5.30 p.m.;
Sunday, April 23, 3 p.m. and 4.30 p.m.

Free entrance

Find out more on http://www.genusbononiae.it/en/palazzi/casa-saraceni/

The original core of the great residence was built by Taddeo Pepoli, Bologna’s first overlord, in 1344. He built the strong, austere exterior, protected by a moat and drawbridges, with an official residence inside. Over the centuries it was enriched with a magnificent courtyard, spectacular staircase and a reception room, as well as paintings, sculptures and stucco decorations, all very fine and splendid, attributed to Bernardo and Giuseppe Borelli.Under the battlemented parapet runs a band of painted black and white squares forming a checked pattern as in the family’s arms. Following Taddeo’s death there was a period of papal rule, during which the residence housed the Collegio Gregoriano, before finally passing to the Pepoli family in 1474. In modern times the building suffered various vicissitudes, changing hands between the different branches of the family. In 1910, after Agostino Sieri Pepoli’s death, the residence with all its artworks was given to the city of Bologna on condition the public was given access to it. The city failed to keep its side of the agreement. The art collection was split between the Museum and the State Archives. The building was sold in 1913-14 to the Cassa di Risparmio, which installed offices and altered the interior. In 1939 the building was subjected to radical restoration supervised by the engineer Guido Zucchini. He reopened the old medieval windows, uncovered the parapet with its checked frieze and restored the façade according to the original design. The last alterations date from the postwar period, when a modern concrete and glass structure was installed in the courtyard to house the data processing centre of the Cassa di Risparmio in Bologna. In 2003 the building was acquired by the Fondazione Carisbo, which restructured and restored it to become a local history museum, the Museo della Storia di Bologna, the heart of the Genus Bononiae itinerary inaugurated in January 2012.

Recent restoration

Palazzo Pepoli Vecchio was virtually unrecognizable after decades of inappropriate use. The beautiful decorative parts dating fromits late Baroque period were concealed and partly damaged by overlaid floors, party walls, drop ceilings and panelling. The original central courtyard  irremediably disfigured. In 2003 the Fondazione Carisbo held a competition by invitation to convert the building into the Museo della Storia di Bologna. The winning project was submitted byMario Bellini. Though the building retained traces of its Gothic origins, it was badly decayed. Restoration first meant strengthening the structure of the ground-floor arches and all the load-bearing vaulted ceilings, securing the great first-floor ballroom, which was structurally unstable, and the roofing. This was followed by restoration of the inner rooms, supplementing and restoring the sculpted and painted decorations, which were largely preserved. Lastly an original and impressive architectural addition was made. This was an umbrella-shaped glass-and-steel tower that reinvents and reuses the courtyard. It is a sort of magic lantern, flooded with white natural light shed from above, which gradually descends and is dematerialised into  pure transparency. Almost an inspiration prompting reflection on the inevitable passing of time but also a strategic choice that brings fluidity to the tour of the whole museum, centred on the tower and courtyard. This successful restoration project, together with a sensitive selection of innovative materials (such as the black resin flooring with silvery and golden metal inclusions) revealed a palace whose essentially Bolognese  beauty and dignity had been effaced.

The exhibition installation

The dominant features of the exhibition installation are the great cases placed in the rooms to form patterns and arrangements quite different fromthose of the rooms themselves and their sequence. Inside these large transparent volumes, the works on display are framed by three-imensional cages that provide optimum lighting with miniaturised LED technology. Large backlit panels show images and texts with distinctive graphics by the designer Italo Lupi. Likewise set inside the showcases, they make the graphic communication a ravishing spectacle for eyes andminds. The ground floor of the building contains the reception spaces, including a café and museum  shop. Through the hub of the covered courtyard they link the exhibition sequence of themed islands from the ground floor to the piano nobile. Temporary exhibitions and workshops are hosted in the mezzanine floor.

Museo della Storia di Bologna

This is a new concept museum. It makes skilful use of display techniques, scenic presentations and interactive media in ways largely unprecedented in Italy, to recreate the city’s historical, cultural, artistic and scientific history. Beginning with the Etruscan city of Felsina, it continues the story down to recent times. It presents a rich and complex heritage and preserves it for future generations. The works and exhibits in the museum come from the collections of the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio in Bologna as well as other museums and private collections. The city’s history is retraced in its architectural, artistic, scientific and social development by alternating different approaches. Rooms where the focus is on the artworks and graphics are followed by interactive rooms containing scenic reconstructions, multimedia carpets and immersive installations. The city’s history is divided into sections, organised both chronologically and by major themes:

The Bologna room
The painted city
The Torre del Tempo (The time tower)
Bologna in ancient times (rooms 1-4)
The heyday of theMiddle Ages (rooms 5-7 and 9-10)
FormaUrbis (room8)
The Renaissance under the Bentivoglio family (rooms 11-12)
Bologna in the limelight: politics, religion and the rituals of civic life (rooms 13-16)
Bologna the Learned: the arts, sciences, humanities and music (rooms 17-19 and 21-22)
Multimedia space and virtual theatre
The city ofwaterways (room20)
Fromthe 18th to the 20th (rooms 23-28)
A time neither near nor far (rooms 29-32)
The city of languages (rooms 33-34)
The culture room

The Bologna Room

The entrance hall of theMuseo della Storia di Bologna contains a facsimile copy of the monumental perspectivemap of the city frescoed in the Bologna Room of the Vatican Apostolic Palace. It enables visitors to admire an extraordinary painting otherwise inaccessible to the general public,  since the original is close to the private apartments of the Pope and the Vatican Secretariat of State. The Bologna Room of the Vatican Apostolic Palace preceded the better known Gallery of the Maps by five years. It was built to mark the Jubilee of 1575 at the behest of Pope Gregory XIII, a member of the Boncompagni family in Bologna. He commissioned a team  of painters led by Lorenzo Sabatini to paint an ambitious fresco cycle depicting geographic and cosmological subjects. The facsimile was produced in 2011 by Madrid-based Factum Arte, directed by Adam Lowe. It is the fruit of a three-dimensional digital photographic survey of the whole 15th-century wall, whichmade it possible to faithfully render every detail of the painted surface and architectural support. Thework involved using technological equipment specially built for the purpose and then hand-finishing the map, producing an artefact of outstanding importance and quality based on a thorough knowledge of the original and ensuring its conservation.

A newconceptmuseum

With its focus on the central collection and graphic communication, Palazzo Pepoli offers visitors numerous important digital and multimedia experiences. Above all it is the only Italian museum with a virtual theatre for showing movies in stereoscopic 3D. A 3D cartoon of the history of Bologna was specially produced to mark the museum’s opening. The central character is the guide, an imaginary Etruscan named APA, his voice dubbed by the famous Bolognese singer Lucio Dalla. The layout of the theatre ensures immersive viewing, thanks to the high-definition projectors and a sophisticated sound system. Adjoining the theatre is the media space, featuring a long interactive carpet that offers an enthralling virtual walk through the streets of Bologna. On different types of an-cient paving appear local news stories supplied by RSS feeds from newspaper offices in Bologna. The “carpet” leads to a room with a central column, where three large touch-screen displays show visitors a detailed timeline of the city’s history. It also contains a large video library with all the films in the museum, further digital material and access to the Genus Bononiaewebsite.

In recounting the city’s history the museum makes extensive use of video displays incorporating graphics and big backlit panels integrated with the various exhibits. The displays provide a context for the exhibits with written texts, still and moving images and audio commentaries. Visitors are guided to key points of the museum circuit by familiar faces from the worlds of music, art, history and culture. There are vivid historical reconstructions by Valerio Massimo Manfredi, historical and artistic reflections by Philippe Daverio, and performances by Giorgio Albertazzi. Another room presents Bolognese People Talk: a collection of video interviews with many of the city’s contemporary cultural, social, political,musical, literary and ar tistic figures, including Francesco Guccini, Umberto Eco, Loriano Macchiavelli, Romano Prodi, Emanuela Pierantozzi andmany others. The music room set in the alcove chamber of Palazzo Pepoli presents a video installation of the examination of Wolfgang  Amadeus Mozart by Fr. Giovanni Battista Martini at Bologna’s Accademia Filarmonica. The setting is enriched with refined tapestry and elegant 18th-century decorations. This imaginative use of architectural and historical spaces in the museum also appears in some of the rooms, where largeformat visual images are projected onto the walls, as in the rooms focused on to the Etruscans and Charles V’s coronation in Bologna in 1530. In the room featuring the theme  of Bologna as a “city of water”, the exhibition design by Mario Bellini encompasses amultimedia installation with a stunning visual impact, virtually immersing the visitor in the city’s waterways. The interactive floor creates the image of a stream flowing in the darkness below the city streets, with the multiplier effect of myriads of mirrors and the magical lightness of virtual arcades generated by Wood’s lamps. On the walls a series of video clips in transparency recount the story of Bologna’s celebrated network of waterways. Finally, the history of the University of Bologna is presented by an installation that combines words with the tactile presence of an ancient bookcase and the versatility of the new media. On a touch screen, visitors can select volumes from an ideal bookcase. They then open to reveal their contents on an holographic back-projected screen. The museographic project was directed by Massimo Negri.

Find out more on http://www.genusbononiae.it/en/palazzi/palazzo-pepoli/

The hospital and confraternity were active since 1275. The little church next to the hospital soon became its official place of worship and was styled “the church of the Vita”. This was the core of the complex dedicated to S.Maria della Vita. With the Napoleonic reforms of 1796-97 the confraternity’s assets were expropriated and became public property. In 1801 the Ospedale della Vita, which had moved to Via Riva Reno in 1725, was merged with the Ospedale della Morte and other small hospitals. In 1814 this complex became the Ospedale Maggiore, one of the city’s largest hospitals. Today the shrine and all its appurtenances belong to the Azienda USL (health authority) of Bologna. In 1997, as Holy Year 2000 approached, a project was approved to reclaim the shrine. It was decided to convert it into a museum devoted to the history of health care and welfare in the city. With the opening of the oratory of the Battuti it became a place of worship as well as a conference centre and exhibition venue. The church’s reopening to the public in 1999 gave the city an important cultural hub with a twofold value, as a religious centre and an artistic and cultural facility. Today the monumental complex, enriched with beautiful artworks over the centuries and comprising the shrine, museum and oratory, is included in the Genus Bononiae itinerary under an agreement between the Fondazione Carisbo, the Azienda USL of Bologna and the Archiepiscopal Curia.

The shrine

The shrine is a church built on an elliptical plan surmounted by a striking dome designed by Antonio Galli Bibiena. Next to the main chapel, it contains the famous Lamentation over the Dead Christ, the sculptural group of seven life-size terracotta figures. With dramatic and intense realism they depict the grief of the Virgin, the three Marys, St John the Apostle and Joseph of Arimathea as they mourn the dead Christ laid within the sepulchre. Originally polychrome, the group was made in 1463 by Niccolò dell’Arca, so called because he sculpted the sepulchral ark or sarcophagus of St Dominic, in the church of Bologna dedicated to the saint. (It was commissioned to Niccolò after he had completed the Lamentation.) He endowed the figures fashioned in terracotta, usually regarded as an inferior material, with an original expressive power. Their realismsuggests Niccolò may have taken as his model the suffering faces and bodies of the patients and their families in the adjacent hospital. Particularly evident in the three Marys, this quality led Carlo Cesare Malvasia to call them “endlessly weeping Madonnas”, while Gabriele D’Annunzio described their expressiveness as “a screamset in stone”.
The Lamentation over the Dead Christ has always drawn pilgrims and visitors and is considered by many scholars the most important terracotta sculpture of the Italian Renaissance. Next to the sculptural group there are two large paintings: a Madonna in Glory with St Francis of Assisi and other Figures, attributed to Jacopo Calvi, known as Sordino (1740-1815), and St Ursula Before the Tyrant by Denis Calvaert (1540-1619), which is cited by Carlo Cesare Malvasia in his book Felsina pittrice. Flemish by birth and naturalised a citizen of Bologna, Calvaert played a leading role in the city’s artis artistic life in the 16th and 17th centuries. He founded a famous school of painting whose pupils included Guido Reni, Domenichino and Francesco Albani.

The oratory

Next to the shrine is the oratory, the original premises of the confraternity, its Baroque splendour still intact. It received its present form at the beginning of the 17th century with the rebuilding of an earlier 15th-century structure. It has a rectangular plan, with the altar on the short side facing east and conceived as a chapel, slightly raised and distinct from the longitudinal body of the building.
On the wall opposite the altar, raised and set in a deep niche, is the work which, together with Niccolò dell’Arca’s Lamentation, has made the complex of S. Maria della Vita famous.
It is the Death of the Virgin by Alfonso Lombardi (1522), considered one of his major achievements. The sculptural group consists of fifteen terracotta statues slightly larger than life-size. It represents an episode from the apocryphal gospels and recounted in Jacopo da Voragine’s Golden Legend.
During the Virgin’s funeral procession, organized by the apostles, the Jew Ananias sought to throw the coffin to the ground in contempt of the Virgin. An avenging angel swooped down from heaven with drawn sword and hurled Ananias to the ground, threatening to cut off his hands in punishment for sin. Raised up by the apostles, he confessed his error and was converted to
Christianity. The Death of the Virgin has always been admired, with a fame that extends beyond local art history, for the dramatic complexity of the sculptural group, the sense of movement pervading the whole scene and the individual figures, its dramatic tension and the expressiveness of the faces. The many outstanding works in the Oratory include the Madonna and Child with the Blessed Raniero and Saints Peter, Paul and Jerome by Giovanni Francesco Bezzi called Nosadella. At the sides of the Oratory are four stucco statues by Alessandro Algardi (1595-1654) and his school, depicting St Petronius, St Francis, St Dominic and St Proculus, the city’s four patron saints.
Also on the premises of the Oratory, once the site of the Ospedale della Vita, is the Museo della Sanità e dell’Assistenza (museum of health and welfare), which contains objects and vestments associated with the history of the shrine and confraternity. It also has a collection of apothecary’s jars belonging to the old hospital, and two masterpieces of Bolognese neoclassical painting: The Continence of Scipio and Coriolanus and his Mother by Gaetano Gandolfi (1734-1802).

Find out more on http://www.genusbononiae.it/en/palazzi/santa-maria-della-vita/

Bologna has a long artistic and cultural tradition in this field. It was European Cultural Capital 2000 and the first city in Italy to be named UNESCO City of Music in 2006.
The church of S. Cristina, over the centuries, has played a key role in establishing this primacy. The church’s extraordinary acoustics make it a remarkable setting for vocal and instrumental music, thanks to its design in 1602 by Giulio della Torre, an architect from the circle of Domenico Tibaldi.
The church consists of a nave with four chapels on either side. Between one chapel and the next are niches containing statues of saints, the work of Giuseppe Mazza, Giovanni Tedeschi and Guido Reni, the only example of his work as a sculptor. The presbytery is unusually narrow, resulting in an altar with an original shape and transforming the whole architecture into a single great musical instrument. At the sides of the altar two windows originally opened onto the choir, which forms a room behind the apse. From here the singing of the nuns spread with astonishing clarity all through the church as far as the west entrance. At the top of the Baroque campanile, built in 1692, there once stood a large statue of St Christina in gilded copper, which doubled as a wind vane. In 1745 it was damaged by lightning. The architect Carlo Francesco Dotti replaced the statue with a ball and cross and partly rebuilt the roof.
The paintings in the chapels, set within splendid wooden surrounds by Domenico Maria Mirandola (first half of the 17th century), retain their original settings, providing a wonderful compendium of Bolognese art from the early 16th to the late 17th century.
Of the paintings inside the church, Ludovico Carracci’s Ascension (1597) is an outstanding work. It is now placed on the high altar, but must originally have been set rather high up in a side chapel, hence the motif of the gigantic figures of the Apostles, the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene depicted in the foreground. The very strong earthly colours contrast with the tone in the upper part of the painting, where Christ is shown ascending to heaven.
Among other masterpieces preserved in the church, those on the altars on the right-hand side include: The Adoration of the Shepherds by Giacomo Raibolini, son of Francesco Francia, The Visitation by Lucio Massari, The Annunciation by Tiburzio Passarotti, son of the better known Bartolomeo Passarotti, and St Christina Attacked by her Father by Domenico Maria Canuti. Those on the left-hand side include The Ascent to Calvary, also by Passarotti and a noteworthy Sacred Conversation by Francesco de’ Rossi called Salviati.
S. Cristina is now a favoured centre for listening to music. Each year, from autumn to spring, it offers the people of Bologna festivals with a unique character featuring outstanding per formers. The church houses the Schola Gregoriana Benedetto XVI, which seeks to train professionals capable of achieving excellence in the complex art of Gregorian chant.

Find out more on http://www.genusbononiae.it/en/palazzi/santa-cristina/

Some scholars attribute the design of the remodeling to Pellegrino Tibaldi, others to Bartolomeo Triachini and others yet to Gaetano Alessi. The plans called for  a two storey building, with an imposing façade on via San Donato (today via Zamboni), an atrium and a lodge with a portico, and a staircase leading to the “piano nobile”.
Most of the laboratories of the Istituto delle Scienze were housed right there on the first floor, where the museum is located today, starting from 1711.
The tower of  the La Specola astronomical observatory was completed in 1726, on a design by G.A. Torri and C.F. Dotti, while the Aula Magna of the Institute’s Library (today the University Library) was completed in 1744 from blueprints by C.F. Dotti.
During the Napoleonic era, from 1803 to 1805 the headquarters of the University was transferred from the Archiginnasio to Palazzo Poggi.

The Palazzo Poggi Museum did not originate from collections accumulated over time. Its unique feature consists in being a re-composition of the laboratories and collections from the old Istituto delle Scienze, founded by Luigi Ferdinando Marsili (1658-1730), which was housed in the rooms of Palazzo Poggi from 1711 to 1799.

The Istituto delle Scienze was the first public scientific institution devoted to research and scientific education according to a methodology of direct observation and laboratory experimentation. Because of its state-of-the-art instruments and methodologies as well as the fields of research it pursued ranging from natural history, to archeology, chemistry, physics, astronomy, anatomy, mathematical and rational mechanical  applications, the Istituto delle Scienze constituted a sort of “encyclopedia of the senses” for European scientists.
Additional attractions housed in the Institute were the Wunderkammer that belonged to Ferdinando Cospi (1606-1686) as well as  Ulisse Aldrovandi’s collection (1522-1605). Another feature that distinguished the Istituto from other scientific academies was the artistic value of its setting. In fact Palazzo Poggi held the most prestigious 16th century  paintings in the Po valley area, including mural paintings by Niccolò dell’Abate, Pellegrino Tibaldi, Prospero Fontana, Nosadella and Ercole Procaccini.
When the Napoleonic reforms  were enforced for academies and universities, the extremely valuable assets of the Istituto delle Scienze were divided up among the laboratories of the different departments of the university. Later they became the historical core of the Accademia delle Belle Arti, the Museo Civico Archeologico and the Musei Civici d’Arte Antica.
In addition to making the rooms of the 16th century palazzo that during the 18th century had housed the Istituto delle Scienze accessible to the public again, in the Autumn of 2000 the University of Bologna restored the building to its historical functions.  Rooms that for many years had been used as offices and storage spaces were returned to their original function as containers of 18th century scientific instruments, equipment and collection specimens.

Inside the Oratory we can admire the architecture by Alfonso Torreggiani, the sculptures by Angelo Gabriello Piò (1690-1770), the altar piece by Francesco Monti (1685-1768), interventions by Fernando Galli Bibiena (1657-1743), decorations and plasters by Carlo Nessi and the Ecce Homo by Ludovico Carracci (1555-1619). In the Oratory there is also an organ constructed by the organ-builder Marco Fratti, under the direction of Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini and Oscar Mischiati. The organ is located in the same place where there once was the original instrument that was completely destructed during the bombings of 1944.