Antonio di Paolo Benivieni

Antonio di Paolo Benivieni (Fig. 1) was born in Florence, Italy, on November 3,1443, at the dawn of the Italian Renaissance.’,’ He was a boy when German printer Johann Gutenberg published the first book using moveable type and a middle-aged man when Christopher Columbus discovered America. Antonio’s father, a nobleinan and notary, was a member of a prominent and wealthy Florentine family, so he had extraordinary educational opportunities. Young Benivieni studied medicine at the Universities of Pisa and Siena after being educated in Florence by tutors. After completing his medical studies, Benivieni returned to Florence where he practiced medicine for more than three decades. His peers considered him a skilled diagnostician and praised his ability to treat difficult cases. As Benivieni’s reputation spread, some of Florence’s most influential families became his patients or sought his opinion on specific problems. Eventually, he cared for many prominent Florentines, including the Medicis. Benivieni’s most enduring contribution was his book De abditis nonniillis ac mirandis morborum et sanationum causis (On some hidden and remarkable causes of disease and recovery). Published posthumously in 1507 by Benivieni’s brother Girolamo and the physician-philosopher Giovanni Rosati, it contained 11 1 chapters that included about 200 brief case reports. Girolamo explained in his preface to the book that his brother had jotted down the fragments during more than 32 years of active medical practice. The original manuscript, rediscovered in 1855 by Italian historian Fran-