Luigi Mangiagalli

Abstract

Luigi Mangiagalli (1850-1928) is a well known figure and a "foundingfather" of obstetrics and gynecology in Italy, but less recognized are the widerange implications of his work on a public health and social level. In fact, apartfrom its surgical, clinical and academic values, all the activities of Mangiagallihad a public health, and hence a political relevance. Thus, when at age 27 hewas named professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology in Sassari, Sardinia, he notonly focused on the improvement of the local obstetrics clinic -when he arrivedthere were no beds and only a one broken forceps- and the control of puerperalinfections, but also to the control of malaria and syphilis in pregnancy.