Bernardino Ramazzini rests in Padua

The founder of occupational medicine, Bernardino Ramazzini (1633-1714) was buried, according to contemporary sources, in the church of Beata Elena Enselmini in Padua. In 1914 Arnaldo Maggiora, Professor of Public Health, examined the remains buried in that tomb, but failed to confirm the presence of the corpse of Ramazzini. THe current study aims to clarify the issue. Our investigations included an anthropological examination and radiocarbon dating of the exhumed remains, along with a careful review of written sources. The discrepancies between the identification of 1914 and our own findings; the historical research, the burial site within a convent of nuns, for whom we know Ramazzini to have been the doctor; the age of the bones and the rarity of the octogenarian at that time and the radiocarbon results, confirm the traditional belief that the mortal remains of the great physician from Carpi reset "sine titulo" in the ancient setting of Beata Elena Enselmini.