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Lorenzo Tenchini

Itinerary edited by UNIVERSITY OF PARMA

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Biography

At the beginning of his academic carrer, the anatomist Lorenzo Tenchini (1852-1906) who had Cesare Lombroso as a teacher at the Pavia University, published a review on the development of the frenological doctrines of the time, that was awarded with the Fossati Award of the Istituto Lombardo of Milan, 1879.
In 1881 he got the position as anatomist at the University of Parma, where he focused on the study of the brain and its anatomical variants, with special interest in the ideas of Cesare Lombroso related to the criminal anthropology. 

His investigations were done at the mascroscopic level, primarily on the cadevers of the inmates of the Parma Penitentiary, and in collaboration with the colleagues of Forensic Medicine of the University of Parma. As a result, he made a number of anatomical preparations, and collected the clinical and legal histories of the subjects analyzed.

Particularly relevant is the collection of masks depicting the faces of the inmates he studied, giving rise to a unique set of preparations, currently kept in Parma and at the Lombroso Museum, in Turin where in 1906 he had left some maks as a consequence of his unexpected death.
His connection with the anatomical School of Turin was strengthened by the use of the Giacomini’s method to preserve the brains of the people he studied.
He was a real clinical anatomists, working with specific interest in the field of psychiatry, and conducting studies at both the Psychiatric Hospital of Colorno, and the Neuropsychiatric Hospital in Brescia. At the end of the 19th century, the latter had been reorganized by Giuseppe Seppilli, providing adequate clinical and legal rights to the patients hospitalized.
He was also engaged in local political duties, having different leading roles in the government of the city of Parma and related territory, as well as providing support to various social institutions in Parma.

Timeline

 1852 birth of Lorenzo Tenchini
 1879 awarded with the Fossati Award of the Istituto Lombardo in Milan
 1881 nominated professor of Human Anatomy at Parma University
 From 1893 starts a political local carrer
 1906 sudden death

Cities where he lived and worked

Pavia  Parma  Colorno  Brescia

Further reading

Porro A., Toni R. (2012). Lorenzo Tenchini. In: Daninos A. (Ed.). Avere una bella cera. Le figure in cera a Venezia e in Italia (p. 143-151). Milano: Officina Libraria.
 
Porro A., Cristini C., Falconi B., Franchini A. F., Lorusso L., (2011). Ceroplastica e medicina, In Porro A., Cristini C., Falconi B., Franchini A. F., Galimberti P. M., Lorusso L., Lezioni di Storia della medicina 2. Rudiano: GAM.
 
Toni R., Porro A., Dallatana D., Bodria M., Vitale M., Lechan R. M., Masotti G. ( 2010 ). Il metodo sperimentale di Paolo Mascagni e l’antropometria costituzionale-forense di Lorenzo Tenchini nella tradizione anatomica dello Studium di Parma. In Gerbino A. (Ed.). Plumelia. Almanacco di cultura (p. 527-541). Bagheria: Plumelia.
 
Bossi L. ( 2010 ). L’anthropologie criminelle: la médicalisation du mal. In Crime et châtiment. Sous la direction de Jean Clair (p. 215-239). Paris: Gallimard.
 
Musumeci E. ( 2009). Le maschere della collezione Lorenzo Tenchini. In Montaldo S., Tappero P. (Eds.).  Il museo di Antropologia criminale 'Cesare Lombroso' (p. 69–76; 234–242). Torino: Utet.
 
Lorusso L., Cristini C., Porro A. ( 2007 ). Lorenzo Tenchini (1852-1906): neuroanatomy and criminal anthropology. Medicina nei secoli, 19(2), p. 353-360.
 
Lorusso L., Cristini C., Tralli R., Porro A. ( 2006 ). Lorenzo Tenchini (1852-1906): Neuroanatomy and society, Journal of the History of the Neurosciences. Basic and Clinical perspectives, 15(4), p. 412-413.
 
Colombo G. ( 2000 ). La scienza infelice. Il Museo di antropologia criminale di Cesare Lombroso. Torino: Bollati Boringhieri.
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