The Body and the Stars
The Body and the Stars
New Evidence on Early Modern Astro-Medicine in the Manuscripts of the Vitali Archive
Serena Mambriani
21 October 2025 – 5 PM (CEST)
Do celestial bodies influence human beings?
This question, central to early modern debates on astrology’s role in medicine, was deeply significant to Buonafede Vitali Senior (1686–1745), a court physician in Parma during the reign of Philip of Bourbon, and his son, Buonafede Vitali Junior, who continued his father’s legacy in medicine and science. Both father and son would answer this question affirmatively, convinced of the profound connections between natural astrology and medical knowledge and advocating for astrology’s role in advancing medical understanding.
At a time when astrology was increasingly dismissed by the intellectual elite as a remnant of folk medicine, the Vitalis defended its epistemological value in medical science and practice: “In short, whatever can happen to the human body, as a body, can all come from, indeed, everything derives from this celestial influence” (Buonafede Vitali Senior, s.d., Folder 10, Box 1). They considered knowledge of planetary influences essential for understanding the body’s interaction with its environment, seeing astrology as fundamental not only in diagnosis and treatment but also in educating future physicians.
Utilizing archival materials from the Vitali Verga Archive, part of the State Archives of Parma, this study examines the historical transition of astrology from a mathematical system that integrated astronomy and natural philosophy to a practice dismissed as folk superstition.
By contextualizing the Vitali family’s contributions within evolving medical theory, this research sheds light on how astrology informed early medical practices, highlighting the dynamic interplay between tradition and emerging scientific methods in shaping paradigms that sought to connect the cosmos with human health.
Through a critical analysis of Vitalis’ astro-medical and hermetic texts, this paper examines how they wove astrological concepts into medical practice, considering celestial influences as key in diagnosing and treating disease, situating their work within broader 18th-century debates on astrology’s relevance to health.
About the Speaker ...
Serena Mambriani is a PhD student in the History of Education at the University of Parma.
Her research deals with the history of health education in Italy. In 2025, she was awarded the Santorio Global Fellowship to conduct archival research at Yale University, where she is investigating the training of medical practitioners in the early modern period as well as the strategies of formal and informal health education promoted by governments in Northern Italy between the 17th and 18th centuries.
