MUSME, Museum of the History of Medicine, Padua (Italy). A tool for the dissemination of medical-scientific culture

The article addresses the controversial issue of scientific dissemination through the events of MUSME, the Museum of the History of Medicine which was inaugurated in Padua in June 2015. The museum was set up in the building complex that from the first half of the 15th century to the end of the 18th was the home of the hospital of San Francesco. Built for a specific function, the complex was located in the city centre, in the street dedicated to Santa Margherita, today via San Francesco. Its origin is closely connected to the memory of the important research work that has taken place over the years in the medical field and derive from the presence of Padua university in the city, the only one that over the centuries the Serenissima Republic of Venice wanted in its domains, encouraging its activity. The decision to locate the museum in the complex that was home to the hospital of San Francesco was particularly significant given that this ancient medical structure was most likely the first place there was clinical training, namely where pathologies were studied and taught by professors to students on the body of the sick rather than on a theoretical basis. The purpose of the article is to reach an assessment, albeit provisional, regarding the impact of the new museum on the city community and on visiting tourists at the end of this first period that the museum has been open, naturally taking into account the health emergency of last year.