Io Santorio Santori […] Lasso al Collegio de medici di Venezia d.[uca]ti cinquanta all’anno in perpetuo, et che cominci subito che sia morto correr d.[i]ti d.[ucati] 50 – ogni anno di moneta corrente, et ordino che d.[uca]ti dieci di questi cinquanta siano datti ad uno dei dottori di Collegio, con obbligo sia fatta da lui com[m]emoratione della mia persona, dopo la messa il giorno di San Luca con pregar in fine della com[m]emorazione Dio per l’anima mia […].

Venice,

ASV Archivio Notarile, Testamenti,

B 259 N. 536, f. 1v

These words, taken from his last will, bear witness to Santorio’s desire to institute an annual lecture.

To sustain such an effort, Santorio had bequeathed 50 ducats in perpetuo (i.e. an annuity) to the physicians of the Venetian Collegio dei Medici Fisici to commemorate him in a public lecture. While Santorio’s intention was religious, his colleagues turned the lecture into an occasion also to celebrate his scientific achievements.

Indeed, the Collegio took the task seriously, and the “Santorio Lecture” was delivered each year on St Luke’s day (18th October) for 138 years. It begun in 1636 and went on up to 1774, annovering amomgst the lectores the great anatomist Giovanni Domenico Santorini (1681-1737), who took on the task of Santorio Lecturer in 1709.

While no part of Santorio’s original legacy survives today, in 2020 the Institutio Santoriana Fondazione Comel has resumed this ancient tradition, entrusting the Santorio Lecture to the brightest early career scholars selected under the Santorio Award scheme.

In this way, we hope that  Santorio’s example will keep inspiring the future generations, as it did so beneficially with the previous ones. For many of these scholars the Santorio Lecture represents the very first possibility they have to confront themselves with the academic world and to get feedback from colleagues as equals.

If you wish to support our endeavours in contributing to this noble cause, make sure to visit the section Donate: your generosity will help us make the award available to more and more researchers.

• 1636 – Iseppo Benzon
• 1637 – Davide Cerchiari
• 1638 – Pasqualin Giovanelli
• 1639 – Nicolò Tabaldi
• 1640 – Nicolò Tabaldi
• 1641 – Antonio Dies
• 1642 – Domenico Viseri
• 1643 – Piero Rodolfi
• 1644 – Sebastian Torresini
• 1645 – Antonio Dies
• 1646 – Pasqualin Giovanelli
• 1647 – Francesco Bertoldi
• 1648 – Florio Bernardi
• 1649 – Antonio Bianchi
• 1650 – Francesco Bertoldo
• 1651 – Giovanni Antonio Riccobon
• 1652 – Francesco Bertoldo
• 1653 – Nicolò Pocobello
• 1654 – Paolo Bracci
• 1655 – Giovanni Tasca
• 1656 – Iseppo Marcobrica
• 1657 – Marc Antonio Gadaldin
• 1658 – Nicolò Pocobello
• 1659 – Giovanni Francesco Griffon
• 1660 – Iseppo Carminari
• 1661 – Giacomo Dies
• 1662 – Domenico Vincenti
• 1663 – Adrian Morselli
• 1664 – Iseppo Ton
• 1665 – Francesco Cima

• 1666 – Nicolò Pocobello
• 1667 – Cristofolo Caimo
• 1668 – Angelo Legrenzi
• 1669 – Fantin Loradello
• 1670 – Luca Medici
• 1671 – Giacomo Grandi
• 1672 – Gerolamo Zaneti
• 1673 – Agostin Gadaldin
• 1674 – Giovanni Artman
• 1675 – Gerolamo Bercoro
• 1676 – Giulio Cesare Conti
• 1677 – Tomaso Alberico
• 1678 – Antonio Maria Zaroti
• 1679 – Giordan Chieveghin
• 1680 – Alessandro Scotumela
• 1681 – Angelo Ninfa
• 1682 – Giovanni Francesco Marchi
• 1683 – Giovanni Treschi
• 1684 – Alvise Teodori
• 1685 – Piero Berti
• 1686 – Oratio Morana
• 1687 – Alessandro Scotumela
• 1688 – Domenico Malvecin
• 1689 – Paolo Emilio Marcobrica
• 1690 – Lorenzo Gela
• 1691 – Antonio Dies
• 1692 – Lorenzo Negri
• 1693 – Teodoro Senachi
• 1694 – Piero Mulicelli
• 1695 – Iseppo Bolis
• 1696 – Giovan[n]i Senachi
• 1697 – Antonio Milani
• 1698 – Lorenzo Negri
• 1699 – Giovanni Benedetti
• 1700 – Valentin Artman
• 1738 – Francesco Samarizo
• 1739 – Piero Gotardi
• 1740 – Antonio Costantini
• 1741 – Francesco Bono
• 1742 – Giovanni Marca Marcello

• 1743 – Antonio Gognaffi
• 1701 – Giacomo Rodea
• 1702 – Giovanni Antonio Ton
• 1703 – Stefano Bracci
• 1704 – Marco Musato
• 1705 – Andrea Musato
• 1706 – Giovanni Senachi
• 1707 – Piero Boselli
• 1708 – Francesco Galdin
• 1709 – Domenico Santorini
• 1710 – Piero Bertolo
• 1711 – Giacomo Marchi
• 1712 – Oratio Venturini
• 1713 – Giovanni Antonio Marchi
• 1714 – Giovanni Antonio Milani
• 1715 – Domenico Benedetti
• 1716 – Gerolamo Calvi
• 1717 – Gratioso Bertolo
• 1718 – Lodovico Ferro
• 1719 – Giovanni Battista Grandi
• 1720 – Santo Stefani
• 1721 – Giacomo Saleti
• 1722 – Giacomo Licini
• 1723 – Michiel Odoni
• 1724 – Nicolò Costantini
• 1725 – Iseppo Calvi
• 1726 – Marco Boldi
• 1727 – Angelo Joanes
• 1728 – Giovanni Battista Trivellati
• 1729 – Paolo Rimondi
• 1730 – Antonio Merloni
• 1731 – Rinado Negri
• 1732 – Beranrdin Gnapit
• 1733 – Piero Santorini
• 1734 – Alvise malo
• 1735 – Tomaso Musalo
• 1736 – Domenico Zerbina
• 1737 – Iseppo Farina
• 1744 – Giacomo Valacelli
• 1745 – Antonio Rafaeli

• 1746 – Marco Seslev
• 1747 – Rev. Agostin Precegiani
• 1748 – Emilio Pangani
• 1749 – Arcadio Capello
• 1750 – Franco Zerbina
• 1751 – Piero Canepi
• 1752 – Giuseppe Marcobruni
• 1753 – Giuseppe Bianchi
• 1754 – Girolamo Bonicelli
• 1755 – Pietro Ordeschi
• 1756 – Sebastiano Pizzo
• 1757 – Pietro Pellegrini
• 1758 – Domenico Brun
• 1759 – Giuseppe Torni
• 1760 – Bartolomeo Benedetti
• 1761 – Angelo Fontana
• 1762 – Antonio Fantazzi
• 1763 – Giovanni Manfré
• 1764 – Pietro Giasioli
• 1765 – Bernardino Astolfini
• 1766 – Giovanni Bragadin
• 1767 – Domenico Gerbina
• 1768 – Vincenzo Cappello
• 1769 – Pietro Valadelli
• 1770 – Niccolò Savolelli
• 1771 – Giuseppe Musolo
• 1772 – Iacopo Valsecchi
• 1773 – Maffio Calvi
• 1774 – Iacopo Panzani