Bernardino Ramazzini’s treatise on occupational diseases (De Morbis artificum diatriba) (1700–1713)

Bernardino Ramazzini was born in Carpi in 1633; he began his studies with the Jesuits in his hometown before moving to Parma, where he obtained degrees in Philosophy and Medicine. He travelled to the Papal States as the ‘resident’ physician for the communities of Canino and Marta, providing care to an impoverished population whose health was severely affected by their environment and occupations. In 1663 he returned to Carpi, suffering from malaria; in 1676 he moved to Modena, where he enjoyed an irresistible rise as a physician, poet and polemicist, which elevated him from a provincial scholar to the status of scientist and academic. He spent his final 14 years at the University of Padua, where he was appointed on the basis of his “clear reputation”, and where he died in 1714.