Andrea Vaccà Berlinghieri

Who was Andrea Vaccà Berlinghieri?

Andrea Vaccà Berlinghieri was an Italian surgeon born in Montefoscoli, a village in the municipality of Palaia. His older brother Leopoldo Vaccà Berlinghieri was a noted Tuscan military figure.

In 1787 he traveled to Paris with his brother in order to study medicine. Here he was pupil to surgeon Pierre-Joseph Desault and obstetrician Jean-Louis Baudelocque. Two years later he visited London, being interested in the surgical work of John Hunter. Following his return to Italy, he received his degree in medicine and surgery at the University of Pisa.

In 1799 he revisted Paris, where he furthered his studies with Baudelocque, Philippe-Jean Pelletan, Alexis de Boyer, and Antoine Dubois. After his return to Pisa, he became a professor of surgery, an event that is considered to be the start of a new surgical tradition at Pisa. His reputation as a surgeon attracted patients from all over Europe and the Orient to Pisa. Berlinghieri was a close friend of anatomist Paolo Mascagni.

Berlinghieri was the first surgeon in Italy to perform Hunter's procedure for aneurysms of the popliteal fossa.