Giuseppe Sanarelli

Born in Monte San Savino on April 24, 1864, Giuseppe Sanarelli was a distinguished Italian bacteriologist and hygienist. He graduated in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Siena in 1889 and continued his training in prestigious laboratories, including those of Camillo Golgi in Pavia and Louis Pasteur in Paris. He became particularly renowned for his studies on the causes of yellow fever.

From 1915, he served as professor of hygiene at Sapienza University of Rome, where he was also rector in 1922–23. Alongside his scientific career, he was a member of the Italian Parliament from 1900 to 1920, a senator of the Kingdom of Italy from 1920 to 1940, and undersecretary for agriculture, industry, and commerce from 1906 to 1909. Nominated four times for the Nobel Prize in Medicine, he died in Rome on April 6, 1940.