Anatomia Italiana del Nord
Anatomia Italiana del Nord, meaning "of the North" journeys to Milan, Pavia, Turin, and Stresa on the shores of Lake Maggiore, along with the Barolo vineyards of the Piedmont countryside.
Join Dr. Kevin Petti as he leads an expertly curated small-group journey to experience a culturally rich adventure designed for the intellectually curious traveler. This opportunity is open to anyone eager to discover Italy through a fresh lens.
Connect Art and Anatomy in Northern Italy by combining Leonardo’s Last Supper and Michelangelo’s last Pietà, with historic university museums celebrating anatomists such as Scarpa, Golgi, and Rolando.
Enjoy strolling the storybook village of Stresa on the shores of Lake Maggiore, wine tasting in the picturesque Barolo vineyards, and embracing plenty of free time for rest, relaxation, and personal exploration!
Milan's Biblioteca Ambrosiana offers select pages from Leonardo’s Codex Atlanticus, a collection of original drawings about flight, mechanical inventions and more. These drawings were rendered by The Master himself, your eyes a mere inches from the sheets that touched his hands!
At the Sforza Castle in Milan we’ll marvel at Michelangelo’s final sculpture, the Rondanini Pietà, likely intended for his tomb.
Il Divino carved this unfinished and understated creation up to his last days, one month shy of his 89th birthday!
This emotive masterpiece depicts the bodies of Jesus and Mary fused into a single figure. It's as if Mary is attempting to give her crucified Son life from the positioning of Jesus as if he's exiting his mother’s womb.
The composition is unique in Michelangelo's oeuvre, highlighting his late shift toward emotional expression over the Renaissance idealism that dominated his earlier career.
Contrasting this Pietà with the one in St. Peter's Basilica, his first major commission, provides unique insight into Michelangelo's artistic and stylistic trajectory.
Reflect on the human body as a vehicle for religious expression at Milan’s San Bernardino alle Ossa, where in 1210 remains from a nearby cemetery were exhumed and ultimately arranged in a display both artistic and haunting.
This visually arresting ossuary shrine employs human anatomy to convey memento mori, reaffirming our mortality and offering the hope of spiritual redemption.
Examine the full-scale preparatory drawing for Raphael’s School of Athens, the largest surviving Renaissance cartoon, entirely drawn by the hand of the Urbino master at Milan's Pinacoteca Ambrosiana. An up close inspection reveals hundreds of small sheets pasted together following a four-year restoration completed in 2019.
As part of our historical exploration, we’ll visit The University of Pavia, home to the stunning Aula Scarpa Anatomical Theatre, designed by Scarpa himself in the 1780s. Consider the secrets of the body discovered here!
This Temple to Anatomy is unique to Italy’s many anatomical theatres, as it’s adorned with frescos of floating angels offering surgical instruments, symbolizing the union of surgery and medicine, another example of the Connection Between Art and Anatomy in Italy.
The University of Pavia Anatomy Museum also highlights alumnus Antonio Scarpa, whose eponyms include Scarpa’s (deep membranous) fascia, Scarpa’s (femoral) triangle, and Scarpa’s fluid (endolymph). To the shock of many visitors, displayed here is Scarpa’s head, fingers, and urinary system, all preserved by Scarpa’s students who conducted his autopsy in 1832!
Camillo Golgi is also honored here. Golgi’s anatomical eponyms include the Golgi apparatus and the Golgi tendon organ. More profound is Golgi’s 1873 Nobel Prize winning contribution to histology, a staining technique that revealed the first images of neurons. His Nobel Prize and original neuron sketches are exhibited!
In the elegant city of Turin, we’ll visit the Royal Palace, the historic and grand residence of the renowned House of Savoy for nearly 300 years!
Wander along corridors lined by a world famous 16th century armory, and then from chamber to chamber within the opulent Baroque Royal Apartments, decorated with gilded ceilings, sumptuous furniture, and an extensive collection of Chinese and Japanese vases.
Not to be missed is the library with original sketches by Leonardo da Vinci!
The Royal Palace also houses the Chapel of the Holy Shroud of Turin, where you can bathe in the spirituality of what is believed by the faithful to be the burial cloth of Jesus of Nazareth.
The shroud has been venerated for centuries, especially by the Roman Catholic Church, as the linen cloth upon which Jesus's image was miraculously imprinted at the moment of his Resurrection.
The ribbed dome above the reliquary containing the shroud is an architectural wonder in its own right. This 17th century Baroque masterpiece features a dramatic tower-reliquary structure. By using six levels of staggered arches it creates what has been described as a geometric labyrinth of light, tapering toward a 12-pointed star at the apex. This design symbolizes a stair-step ascent to heaven.
Journey back five millennia and immerse yourself in the extraordinary world of the Egyptian Museum of Turin.
With more than 40,000 artifacts, it is considered the most important Egyptological collection in the world outside of Egypt, and is the world's oldest museum dedicated entirely to ancient Egyptian culture.
With artifacts dating from 3,000 BC, the museum also owns three different versions of the Egyptian Book of the Dead, including the most ancient copy known!
When visiting Turin, this fascinating collection is a treasure not to be missed!
The University of Turin Museum of Human Anatomy Luigi Rolando offers a stunning collection of anatomical artifacts. Rolando is credited with identifying the brain's Fissure of Rolando (central sulcus) and the Rolandic area (primary motor cortex).
Exhibits are also dedicated to the likes of Filippo Pacini, who in 1831 discovered sensory organs that detect pressure and vibration, termed Pacinian corpuscles, a reference still in use to this day.
Relax along the picturesque shores of Stresa on Lake Maggiore! Boat to Isola Bella, the Beautiful Island, and tour the stunning Baroque Palazzo Barromeo!
Peacocks roam among rare blooms in manicured gardens, framed by the shimmering lake, and as a backdrop, the stunning Swiss-Italian Alps!
Anatomia Italiana del Nord offers countless cultural opportunities beyond what's described above!
Stroll among masterpieces by Titian, Mantegna, and Caravaggio at Milan's world-famous museums, Pinacoteca di Brera and Pinacoteca Ambrosiana.
Visit Turin's historic cafés to experience the ritual of Aperitivo, perhaps with a Vermouth, or better yet a Negroni, the world's most celebrated cocktail!
Connect Art and Anatomy in Northern Italy in 2027!