I Teatri anatomici di Cagliari

The University of Cagliari was granted the privilege of a royal foundation in 1620 by Philip III of Spain. Although the medical faculty existed from the beginning, the autonomous chair of anatomy was only established in 1799. Probably also for this reason, there is no concrete evidence of anatomical theatres in Cagliari before 1773. In spite of this, it is possible to recon-struct a history of where anatomical dissections took place. There has always been a simultaneous use of hospital and uni-versity premises, the latter located in the university palace (Palazzo Belgrano) or in the annexed premises (bastione del Balice), where from 1769 the so-called “Notomie Pubbliche” took place. Anatomical demonstrations were performed ‘in pri-vate’ in the rooms of the Sant’Antonio hospital. It thus emerges that the hall for solemn functions in the Belgrano palace was transformed into an anatomical theatre for at least ten days a year, and that even before 1773 there was a “Teatro notomico” in the Sant’Antonio hospital. In the following decades, micros-copy and anatomical rooms for individual practice became in-creasingly important, with the subsequent abandonment of the anatomical theatres and the inauguration in 1922 of an inde-pendent Institute, in which the current wooden “Luigi Castaldi” anatomical theatre was built in 1950.