Medicina nei Secoli: Journal of History of Medicine and Medical Humanities

Aesthetics & Therapeia

Daniele Guastini — 2026-04-30

Several years ago, an experimental study coordinated by the psychogeriatrician Giancarlo Savorani[i] and carried out at the public residential care facility ASP Giovanni XXIII of Bologna showed promising improvements in a selected group of patients in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. The patients were “administered” so-called memofilms: carefully edited short films, each about ten minutes long, relating in different ways to the patients’ own biographical past—family life, work, leisure—drawn mostly from home video recordings collected over the years. These were interspersed with newly produced sequences, created specifically for the project, featuring places, objects, and above all people—especially their closest caregivers—with whom the patients had a particular familiarity.

The philosophical plausibility of Jacob Bernays’s medical interpretation of tragic katharsis

Giuseppe Sapienza University of Rome, Italy Santesarti — 2026-04-30

In 1857, the German classicist Jacob Bernays published the essay “Grundzüge der verlorenen Abhandlung des Aristoteles über Wirkung der Tragödie” in which he intervened in the complex debate surrounding the concept of tragic katharsis. At that time, two main hermeneutical paradigms dominated the discussion of this notion: the moral one, most fully articulated by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, and the aesthetic one, developed by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Bernays’s interpretation departed from both, approaching katharsis from a medical-pathological perspective.The present study will attempt, after briefly outlining the central ideas of the interpretations from which Bernays distanced himself, first to present the position of the German classicist, and subsequently to discuss its philosophical plausibility. More specifically, the latter part will consist in comparing Bernays’s analysis with some of Aristotle’s most significant positions in the ethical and poietic domains.

The Healing Journey: Experience, Practice, Affect, and Imagination in Christian Therapeutic Pilgrimage

Francesco Emilio Restuccia — 2026-04-30

This article examines Christian therapeutic pilgrimage as a historical form of healing grounded in experiential processes later studied by aesthetics. Drawing on sources from late antiquity to the late Middle Ages, it identifies four intertwined mechanisms—sensory-embodied, ludic-enactive, affective-participative, and narrative-imaginative—through which pilgrimage produced therapeutic effects. Sensory engagement fostered psychophysical balance; distance and penitential practices enabled self-transformation; collective rituals channelled passions into communal attunement; and imagination and narration allowed the reworking of suffering into meaning. Together, these mechanisms articulate a proto-aesthetic model of care in which embodiment, emotion, and imagination converge. The article concludes by suggesting that this framework can illuminate contemporary practices in art therapy and videotherapy, where the interplay of sensory experience, enactive participation, and narrative imagination reactivates the ancient synergy between external representation and inner transformation.

Art and Aesthetic Experience between Care and Therapy: Paradigms, Practices, and Reflections

Dario Cecchi — 2026-04-30

This article investigates contemporary aesthetic theory through three paradigms — exclusivist, reductionist, and transcendental — to reconsider the philosophical meaning of art in relation to aesthetic experience. The discussion begins with the definition of art in the exclusivist perspective, which separates artistic ontology from aesthetic experience (Danto (1981)), continues with the reductionist approach that seeks continuity with ordinary experience (Dewey (2005), neuroscience), and culminates in the transcendental paradigm (Kant (2000), Jauss (1982)), which emphasizes aesthetic experience as a reflection on conditions of meaning. A central focus is placed on the category of care within aesthetics: art as both an opportunity for the cultivation of common meaning and a potential therapeutic resource. By distinguishing between curatorial art and therapeutic art, the paper highlights how works of art may act both as mediators of shared cultural values and as tools for individual elaboration of trauma and life-experience. Through an analysis of Marco Bellocchio’s films, particularly Sorelle Mai and Marx può aspettare, the article explores how autobiographical cinema intersects with processes of elaboration and healing. Ultimately, the article proposes that the idea of care should be considered a central aesthetic category, capable of articulating both communal and individual dimensions of experience.

Audiovisual and digital narratives of eco-anxiety: consciousness, emotions and youth practices

Paola Lamberti — 2026-04-30

This article examines eco-anxiety as part of a genealogy of “diseases of the time”, in continuity with melancholy, neurasthenia, and stress, each articulating historically situated forms of collective suffering. Rather than treating eco-anxiety as a clinical disorder, the study interprets it as a cultural and affective phenomenon, shaped by both visual regimes and discursive formations. The corpus brings together environmental documentaries (Before the Flood, 2016; Demain, 2015) and digital micro-narratives on TikTok (#Ecotok, #Everydaylife), analyzed through close audiovisual reading combined with an interdisciplinary framework: history of emotions, visual culture and youth studies, assemblage theory, and a Foucauldian history of discourses. This approach shows continuities and ruptures in the ways societies narrate distress, distribute subjects and objects, and render crisis visible. By showing how micro-narratives transform anxiety into affective digital healthcare, the article demonstrates how vulnerability becomes a cultural resource and a key site for rethinking the nexus of medicine, media, and collective emotions.

A Trembling Camera: Crip Media Aesthetics and Care

Anna Chiara Sabatino — 2026-04-30

This essay investigates the relationship between audiovisual representation, digital infrastructure, and the ethics of care through the lens of crip media aesthetics. Engaging with media archaeology, philosophy of technology, and disability studies, it explores the concept of 'technologies of fragility' as an approach in which technical imperfection and sensory difference function as generative modes of knowing. Within this framework, the article combines theoretical reflection with a close reading of the documentary Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution (2020), examining how the 'trembling camera' and the aesthetics of the glitch embody a politics of maintenance. In doing so, the study establishes the crip point of view as a necessary epistemological horizon, one that redefines the inherent incompleteness of mediation as the essential condition for a responsive and sustainable existence.

Integrating Medical Humanities into Medical Education: Insights from a Case Study at the Università degli Studi di Milano

Marta Reichlin — 2026-04-30

This study examines the implementation and perceived impact of the Medical Humanities course at the San Paolo Campus of the University of Milan, designed to integrate humanistic reflection within biomedical education. Drawing on twelve in-depth interviews with former participants, the research investigates how early exposure to patient care and humanities-based learning influences professional development. Results indicate that the First Approach to the Patient module, which provides supervised bedside experience and guided reflection, was regarded as the most effective component because it fostered empathy, communication, and awareness of the relational dimensions of care. Although theoretical modules were perceived as less directly applicable, the course as a whole was recognized as a meaningful introduction to the human aspects of medical practice. The findings highlight the pedagogical value of early and continuous integration of humanities within medical curricula to support the cultivation of reflective, relational, and ethically grounded professional identities in future physicians.

The AID Project: Audiovisual Identity Card for Patients with Dementia Theoretical Perspectives and Methodological Framework

Venusia Covelli — 2026-04-30

Although narrative tools are well documented in dementia care, limited research explores audiovisual tools as mediators of personal identity between individuals with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease and their formal and informal caregivers. This paper presents the theoretical and methodological framework behind an experimental study evaluating the Audiovisual IDentity card (AID), designed to strengthen relationships with individuals living with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. The framework combines phenomenological narrative identity theory, autobiographical memory psychology, and narrative medicine. The AIP project involved volunteers, professional staff, and family caregivers, resulting in the creation of five AIDs. Preliminary observations suggest that AIDs may help manage dementia progression by enhancing interactions between patients and caregivers. The discussion emphasizes the potential of AIDs as versatile tools to improve dementia care and strengthen patient–caregiver relationships.

Healing Media: A Manifesto for an Audiovisual Turn in Practices of Care

Anna Chiara Sabatino — 2026-04-30

Emerging from the intersection of the Medical Humanities, narrative medicine, and media studies, this manifesto explores the expansion of therapeutic practice through the multisensory language of audiovisual media. By reclaiming the therapeutic agency of screens and devices, it outlines the coordinates of a transdisciplinary approach to research and training in which clinicians, artists, and patients collaborate as co-authors of meaning. Attentive to trauma, accessibility, and cultural difference, this framework situates healing within a participatory and ethical ecology that privileges collaboration and creative agency. Within this horizon, the mindful use of audiovisual and creative languages appears as the continuation of a long history in which representation, imagination, and care have always been intertwined—transforming media from mere instruments of observation into active environments of relation, empathy, and repair

Integrating Medical Humanities into Medical Education: Pedagogical Frameworks and Practical Implications

Licia Montagna — 2026-04-30

This contribution reflects on the conscious integration of Medical Humanities (MH) in medical education, through the analysis and operational translation of the four pedagogical rationales identified by Chiavaroli: instrumental, intrinsic, critical, and epistemological. These perspectives offer a valuable theoretical framework for designing transformative training experiences, able to add narrative, emotional, and ethical elements to medical teaching. Medical Humanities, in fact, should not be viewed as supplementary content, but as practice that questions medical knowledge, compelling it to address complex and current issues, within a critical framework that reinforces its relational and reflective dimensions. Through tools such as literature, art, music, history and guided reflection, Medical Humanities contributes to the development of observational, communicative and empathic skills, promoting a holistic understanding of the patient and a person-centred culture of health. In particular, the critical rationale invites us to question the dominant biomedical paradigm, which encourages an ethical and social reflection on the role of the doctor and the dynamics of care. However, the formative effectiveness of Medical Humanities depends on thoughtful pedagogical design and the teacher’s expertise, whose strategic role is to create safe, stimulating environments, adapt to emerging outcomes, and guide students in reflecting on their experiences. Multidimensional tools and integrated qualitative methodologies are also essential for evaluating complex outcomes such as empathy or professional behaviour. Considering the growing interest in MH at an international level, we hope to foster the development of the evaluative practices and skills essential for authentic and sustainable facilitation, enabling the training of professionals who are both clinically competent and humanely sensitive.

Self-Experiment Rebooted. Historical and Ethical notes

Silvia Bencivelli — 2026-04-30

In November 2024, the publication of a scientific paper concerning the self-administration of a self-prescribed therapy provoked a global uproar. This article examines the relevance of the case within the longstanding tradition of self-experimentation in medicine, as it was presented to the press, while arguing that it more accurately reflects the more recent phenomenon of experimental self-therapy, typically pursued by patients outside regulatory frameworks. Although the case raises new ethical questions regarding contemporary medical practice, it also demonstrates that the critical methodological issues which contributed to the decline of self-experimentation persist. Furthermore, advances in scientific research and the rise of personalized medicine may, in the future, bring renewed attention to such practices. The article also illustrates how a mythologized interpretation of medical history—particularly regarding the ‘heroic’ cases of self-experimentation—can distort the debate. Finally, it raises several questions concerning the publication practices within the medical-scientific field and the dissemination of medical information in the general press.

Popular Euthanasian Attitudes. The Accabadora

Roberta Fusco — 2026-04-30

This paper delves into the enigmatic figure of the accabadora, a prominent presence in Sardinian folk traditions. The accusatory was a woman entrusted with the solemn responsibility of ending the suffering of the dying, ensuring a gentle and merciful death. This paper explores the historical and cultural context surrounding this figure, shedding light on the broader euthanasic attitudes that existed in popular European cultures throughout history. The study focuses on the accabadora’s ritual and context, examining how these women performed their duties. This study provides a comprehensive overview of historical accounts and contemporary research on the accabadora, showcasing a rich tapestry of oral testimonies, literary accounts, and ethnographic findings. The accabadora embodies a complex blend of emotions and cultural beliefs, serving as a symbol of life, death, and healing. Despite the controversy surrounding the accabadora's actions, society both sought her assistance and marginalized her, highlighting the enigmatic duality of her role.

The Florentine Medical Guild in the Early Modern Era: Structures, Sources, and a Proposal for a Digital Census

Francesco Baldanzi — 2026-04-30

This analysis examines archival sources related to the Arte dei Medici e Speziali – the Florentine guild that encompassing healthcare professionals – and its associated Collegio Medico. Although many records are missing, the surviving documentation still offers valuable insight into the guild’s regulatory functions in licensing, professional oversight, and continuing education. The study focuses on key sources, including statutes, membership registers, disciplinary records, and examination archives held at the State Archives of Florence and the University Biomedical Library. Particular attention is paid to the guild and examination registers (the latter recently digitised), which together offer a detailed account on the qualifications, restrictions, and careers of healthcare practitioners under the Medici Grand Duchy. The paper proposes a methodological framework for constructing a comprehensive digital census of these professionals, encouraging interdisciplinary research. A searchable and annotated database would significantly enhance the study of medical, surgical, and midwifery practices in early modern Tuscany, supporting historians and scholars in related

Medicine and Video Games: Between History and Contemporary Perspectives

Alessandro Porro — 2026-04-30

This article examines the evolving relationship between medicine and video games, highlighting their applications in therapeutic, educational, and historical contexts. While video games were once regarded solely as entertainment, they have increasingly been integrated into healthcare, offering innovative approaches to rehabilitation, mental health management, and medical training. The use of video games in therapy has demonstrated benefits in neurological and psychological rehabilitation, as well as in professional medical education.

Beyond their practical applications, video games provide a unique lens for exploring historical medical practices. Games set in historical periods can depict medical treatments, prosthetic advancements, and public health challenges, offering interactive insights into the evolution of healthcare systems. Titles that emphasize realism, such as Kingdom Come: Deliverance, strive for historical accuracy in their portrayal of medical practices, while others integrate fictionalized yet plausible depictions of medical innovations.

Socially, video games have become a platform for raising awareness about health-related issues, including mental health, addiction, and social behaviors. As gaming communities increasingly engage with these topics, video games emerge as tools for fostering public health awareness and promoting behavioral change.

By merging entertainment, education, and medical application, video games present significant potential to influence both medical practice and public perceptions of health. As the industry evolves, its role in shaping future healthcare, medical training, and societal health consciousness is poised to expand, fostering new intersections between technology and medicine.