Project Description

Sapienza University of Rome · Third Mission · Museum Hub

The Museum of Pathological Anatomy

Anatomical Specimens On Demand. Video exhibits, podcasts and online games for a new dialogue between university research and society: the human and scientific stories behind the museum’s specimens.

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FrameworkThird Mission — Sapienza University of Rome
LocationSapienza Museum Hub — Rome
ProjectAnatomical Specimens On Demand
FormatVideo exhibits · podcast · online games
Museum directionProf. Cira di Gioia

01A dialogue between research and society

The specimens on display in a museum always tell a particular story. This is even more true for the specimens in the Museum of Pathological Anatomy at the Sapienza University of Rome Museum Hub.

With the Third Mission project Anatomical Specimens On Demand: video exhibits, podcasts and online games as a medium for a new dialogue between university research and society, the museum set out to tell the human and scientific stories hidden behind certain specimens held in the collection.

Some of the pathologies on display can now rarely be found in modern cases: a place like this is invaluable for those pursuing medical studies, and the project was created to open the collection to a wider audience, through social media channels.

The museum’s display cases, in the monumental atrium of the Museum Hub.

02The videos

The trailer · three video exhibits · Renovatio YouTube channel

The LithopedionEpisode 01
SyphilisEpisode 02
OsteosarcomaEpisode 03

03Three specimens, three stories

The Lithopedion. Professor Giulia d’Amati, of the Department of Radiological, Oncological and Pathological Sciences, recounts her personal experience with the lithopedion, or calcified fetus, found during a diagnostic examination performed by her mentor, Professor Antonio Ascenzi, when she was still a university student.

Syphilis. Professor Cira di Gioia draws on the specimens of an aorta and a heart affected by syphilitic aortitis to tell the story of the disease, now vanished, but which — probably brought by the French to Naples from the 15th century onward — claimed many victims over the centuries.

Osteosarcoma. Professor Carlo Della Rocca, director of the Pathological Anatomy and Histology Unit at the Policlinico Umberto I in Rome, recounting the story of osteosarcoma, recalls the case of Luca, a young man affected by this particular condition, to whom the specimen belongs.

An anatomical specimen in a display case, on the museum staircase.

04The gallery

L’aula storica del museo
01The museum’s historic hall
Lo scalone e le collezioni
02The staircase and the collections
Le teche dell’atrio
03The display cases of the atrium
Le teche storiche
04The historic display cases
I preparati anatomici
05The anatomical specimens
Un reperto della collezione
06A specimen from the collection
La prof.ssa Giulia d’Amati sul set
07Prof. Giulia d’Amati on set
La prof.ssa Cira di Gioia, direttrice del Museo
08Prof. Cira di Gioia, museum director
Il prof. Carlo Della Rocca
09Prof. Carlo Della Rocca
Il reperto dell’osteosarcoma
10The osteosarcoma specimen
L’incisione anatomica della copertina
11The anatomical engraving on the cover

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ProjectAnatomical Specimens On Demand — Third Mission, Sapienza University of Rome
Museum directionProf. Cira di Gioia
WithGiulia d’Amati · Carlo Della Rocca
ProductionLogos / Associazione Renovatio