19 Facts About Guido Baccelli

Guido Baccelli was an Italian physician and statesman.

Together with Italian surgeon Francesco Durante, Baccelli promoted the construction of the Policlinico Umberto I in Rome.

Guido Baccelli spent almost his entire clinical and teaching life in the ancient, glorious but by that time decaying and unfit, mediaeval hospital of Santo Spirito in Saxia in Rome, between the Tiber and the Vatican City.

Guido Baccelli gave relevant contributions to the struggle against malaria which, at that time, was one of the main health and social problems of the recently reunited Kingdom of Italy and of its Capital town.

Guido Baccelli successively welcomed in his clinic of Santo Spirito the two future Nobel Prizes Alphonse Laveran and Camillo Golgi who were looking for confirmations of their theories about the origin and evolution of malaria, in the Campagna Romana, then scourged by the disease during summer and autumn time.

Guido Baccelli was quite slow in accepting the anopheles as the sole vector in the transmission of the illness, nevertheless he was a strong medical and political supporter of the Laws for the drainage of the Campagna Romana and the Pontine Marshes that - along with the free administration of quinine - significantly reduced the incidence of the disease in those areas.

Guido Baccelli was a promoter of intravenous or endovenous injections as a technique for malignant diseases.

Guido Baccelli was an active researcher with a particular focus on malaria, a disease that was significantly affecting Rome and the Roman countryside at the end of the 19th century.

Guido Baccelli hosted in his research centre Alphonse Laveran and Camillo Golgi, two leading scientists who were interested in researching malaria.

Guido Baccelli performed important works on the pathology of the heart and aorta.

In 1856 the pontifical government assigned Guido Baccelli the teaching of Forensic Medicine at the Pontifical University of "La Sapienza", a role that he carried out for two years.

Subsequently, in 1862, Guido Baccelli devoted himself to the field of morbid anatomy and started teaching Clinical Medicine, a subject that he delivered until the end of his career.

In parallel to his career as a physician, Guido Baccelli was an active politician who devoted significant time and effort to improving his home city, Rome, in numerous fields, ranging from agriculture to education.

Guido Baccelli proposed a law on the work of women and children which was approved in June 1902, this law substituted the obsolete law of February 1886 n 3657.

Guido Baccelli wanted to create a modern hospital in Rome one that would encompass all the different clinics of the ancient Roman hospitals.

Guido Baccelli himself laid out the plan of this project the first stone was placed on 19 January 1888 in the presence of the King Umberto Primo.

The area at the time was threatened by a number of buildings Guido Baccelli saw the historical and archaeological value of this site and proposed a number of laws that prohibited the construction of buildings in the area, like the law proposed on 13 November and ratified on 7 December 1898 which extended the no-build area even further.

Guido Baccelli strived to protect the environment as we see in April 1887 when a forestry law was being discussed.

Guido Baccelli introduced for the first time in Italy in 1899 the Arbor day the first celebration of this day in Rome was a huge success with over 5000 students participating, and the planting of over 400 trees.