Museo Italo Americano and the Leonardo Da Vinci Society San Francisco co-host a lecture on “Italian Women In Medicine: From Trotula To Maria Montessori” at Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture. Former University of California–Berkeley research specialist and professor Angela Capobianco Little, Ph.D. discusses 32 women who studied medicine at Italian universities during the 11th to late 19th centuries when Italy was one of few countries in Europe where women could attend universities.

Dr. Little profiles female scholars at the Salerno Medical School (Schola Medica Salernitana) where physician and medical writer Trota of Salerno composed three medical texts on women’s medicine, the Trotula, in the 12th century. She continues her survey of Italian women in medicine through Italian physician and educator Maria Montessori who opened the first Casa de Bambini (Children’s House) in Rome in 1907 and pioneered the Montessori method in education.