The current Istituto di Clinica delle Malattie Tropicali e Infettive (Institute for the Clinic of Tropical and Infectious Diseases) in the Policlinico Umberto I, Rome was created in the early 1930s to bring Aldo Castellani back into the Italian academic world. In fact, the great expert of tropical medicine had been living abroad most of his life and the Fascist regime wanted to have the opportunity to benefit from his prestige and knowledge also in the fatherland. Castellani directed the Institute from its official inauguration in 1932 until 1949, when he definitively moved to Portugal, as the personal physician to the Savoy family in exile. Mario Girolami was appointed as the new director of the Institute.
In the entrance hall of the clinic, a part from the two portraiys of Castellani himself (see below), there are two bronze medallions mounted on a porphyry tablet, the work of the Italian sculptor Romano Romanelli. The medallions represent Hélène of Orléans, Duchess of Aosta, and her brother-in-law, Luigi Amedeo di Savoia, Duke of the Abruzzi and famous explorer.
The library of the Institute preserves many books belonged to Castellani and others offered to him by colleagues and friends in order to enrich the specialized collection.
- Photos by Luca Borghi ti.supmacinu|ihgrob.l#| (May 2022 and May 2024)
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