The rise and fall of Golgi's school.

The Camillo Golgi's school of Histology and General Pathology in Pavia played an important role in the development of medical-biological studies in Italy in the period after Unification of the state. Founded around 1880 when Golgi (1843-1926) began to wield power at the University of Pavia, the school soon became famous for the distinctive morphological basis of its studies. Many of its staff members made important discoveries and won international acclaim.

How Camillo Golgi became "the Golgi".

On April 1898 Camillo Golgi communicated to the Medical-Surgical Society of Pavia, the discovery of the "internal reticular apparatus", a novel intracellular organelle which he observed in nerve cells with the silver impregnation he had introduced for the staining of the nervous system. Soon after the discovery it became evident that this cellular component, which was also named the "Golgi apparatus", was a ubiquitous structure in eukaryotic cells. However the reality of the organelle was questioned for years and many cytologists considered the internal reticular apparatus as an artefact due to the fixation and/or metallic impregnation procedure.

The Museum for the History of the University of Pavia and the birth of histology.

A brief overview is provided on the development of histology as an independent discipline at the University of Pavia, through documents and preparations preserved in the Museum for the History of the University. Studies on the organization of tissues and cells started blooming in the mid-1850s, when morphological observations were supported by significant technical advancements in microscopy and tissue preparation. The role of Albert Koelliker, the great father of European Histology in the second half of the 19th century, is also discussed.