Medicina e Risorgimento nel carteggio tra Andrea verga (1811-1895) e Agostino Bertani (1812-1886)

In this paper the correspondence between the psychiatrist Andrea Verga (1811-1895) and the patriot and physician Agostino Bertani (1812-1886), preserved in their archives at the Civiche Raccolte Storiche in Milan, is published and commented. The 13 letters, dating back to the forty years 1838-1879, make it possible to reconstruct their friendship, born during their medical studies at the University of Pavia and continued in Milan (Bertani’s birthplace and Verga’s homeland of adoption). On background of the Risorgimento, which kept them apart for most of their lives, the correspondence provides some interesting information on the development of medical science during that period and on the Italian, Milanese and Lombard political context of the Nineteenth century’s central decades.