The Scarpa Room

The room is dedicated to Antonio Scarpa, physician and anatomist; Scarpa, student to Giambattista Morgagni, was called to Pavia to cover the chair of Anatomy in 1783, right in the middle of reforms that were transforming the University in one of the most avant-garde centres in Europe.

Under Scarpa’s guidance, the anatomic collection – started in 1772 by Giacomo Rezia (1745-1825) – became an extraordinary instrument for didactics and research. To Scarpa’s activity and to that of all his successors – and in particular of Bartolomeo Panizza (1785-1867) – we owe selected pieces of the anatomical and pathological collections and a few boxes of surgical instruments donated to Scarpa by Emperor Joseph II. Two wax figures by Florentine wax modeller Clemente Susini (1754-1814) testify the important didactic function of the Museum.

Other pieces displayed in the room come from collections contemporary to Scarpa’s, such as the Natural History Museum by Lazzaro Spallanzani (1729-1799), and relate to a more general cultural and scientific context of the time.

Wax figure by Clemente Susini