Mariano Santo


Mariano Santo was a prominent surgeon of the 16th century.
He was born in Barletta in 1488 and went in Rome in 1510 for studying medicine. He became surgeon and started to teach in Bologna University.
He returned in Baletta in 1520 for the death of his father, in 1524 married Maddalena Braccio, in 1526 went in Milan and in 1527 in Ragusa. He operated on battlefields during the war between Austria and Ottomans, and finally went to Venice.
His writings include the Artium et medicine and the very important Libellus Aureus de lapide a vesica per incisionem extrahendo and the De lapide renum. During his life, he diffused in Europe a new surgical technique called "sectio mariana", with the use of a new tool, the "esploratorium", for the extraction of renal calculi.
He died in Rome in 1577 and was buried in Santa Maria sopra Minerva church.

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