History

The Italian Society of Plastic Surgery was founded in 1934 in Rome by Prof. Arturo Manna. With the advent of WW2, the activities of the Society ceased. They were resumed on 1951. The logo comes from a woodcut illustration as it appears in the sixteenth century book by Gaspare Tagliacozzi. It represents the arm flap nasal reconstruction.

On June 10^th, 1934 in the lecture hall of the Royal Surgical Clinic of Rome, Prof. Arturo Manna (1886-1972) (Fig.1), a General Surgeon from Rome with particular interest for reconstructive surgery, established the Società Italiana di Chirurgia Riparatrice Plastica ed Estetica (Fig.2a,b). Founding members were Arturo Manna, appointed President, Roberto Alessandri, director of the Royal Surgical Clinic of Rome, Vice-President, Riccardo Galeazzi, ophthalmologist, Secretary General and Vincenzo Di Filippo, Treasurer.
On that occasion, Manna announced the publication of a bi-monthly journal, “La Chirurgia Plastica”, specifically devoted to this discipline. The first issue appeared on January 1935 (Fig.3). The International editorial board included a list of renowned Members. “La Chirurgia Plastica” lasted until the end of 1941 (7 years), when it ceased its publication definitely, due to the advent of WW2.
The first Congress of the Società Italiana di Chirurgia Riparatrice Plastica ed Estetica took place on October 24^th, 1935 under the Presidency of Arturo Manna, at Bologna Archiginnasio, as a tribute to Gaspare Tagliacozzi, founder of Plastic Surgery, whose wood statue is preserved in that building. Prof. H. Eckstein from Berlin (Fig.4), Louis Dartigues from Paris and Charles Claoué from Bordeaux were the International honorary guests.
The second Congress took place in Rome on October 20^th and 21^st, 1936. The third in Turin on October 23^rd and 24^th, 1937 and the fourth in Rome from October 20^th to 22^nd, 1938 with an important international participation. All of them were under the presidency of Arturo Manna.
Due to the advent of WW2, the activities of the Society of Plastic Surgery ceased.
They were resumed on 1950 with a memorable Congress, the first one postwar and the fifth in terms of priority, held in Bologna on October 1950 under the Presidency of Gustavo Sanvenero Rosselli (1897-1974), in the meantime appointed President of the Italian Society of Plastic Surgery (Fig.5), having Jerome P. Webster as honorary guest. On that occasion Webster presented his book “The Life and Times of Gaspare Tagliacozzi, surgeon of Bologna”, the most complete and well documented study on Tagliacozzi’s life and legacy.
With the Congress held in Turin in 1954, the 6th in terms of priority (Fig.6), the Congresses of the Italian Society of Plastic Surgery were annually based, with the exception of those years when the Congress of the IPRAS (International Confederation of Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery, at that time named IPRS) took place at the same time.
In 1967, the Society endorsed the 4th International Congress of the IPRS, held in Rome, October 8^th-13^th (Fig.7), under the Presidency of Gustavo Sanvenero Rosselli, with the participation of more than 3.000 delegates from all over the world.
Gustavo Sanvenero Rosselli, maintained the position as a President of the Italian Society of Plastic Surgery until 1971, when he was replaced by other Italian Plastic Surgeons.
In 1976, the name of the Society was changed into Società Italiana di Chirurgia Plastica and more recently (1986) into Società Italiana di Chirurgia Plastica Ricostruttiva ed Estetica (SICPRE).
The logo represents the renowned image of the arm flap nasal reconstruction, as it appears in the book by Gaspare Tagliacozzi (fig. 5).
In 1969, Prof. Giovanni Dogo founded the “Rivista Italiana di Chirurgia Plastica”, which became the official Journal of the Society. Originally, the Editor-in-chief was Giovanni Dogo. Then Zeno Martini, Simone Teich Alasia, Francesco Mazzoleni e Domenico Dioguardi. The “Rivista Italiana” continued its publications until 2010. Nowadays, SICPRE has more than 1.200 Members (Associate and Full).
(Edited by Riccardo MAZZOLA, M.D.)