Cesare Lombroso

Cesare Lombroso marks the Verona birthplace of an Italian physician who helped shape criminology and anthropology. Born here in 1835, he first studied Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic and Chinese before turning to medicine. His early interest in insanity led him to explore the links between madness and genius, while military service in 1859 took him to Calabria and encouraged further anthropological study.

His research ranged from pellagra among northern Italian farm workers to criminal behaviour and physical traits. Lombroso argued that some people were biologically predisposed to crime, a theory he developed through skulls, photographs and writings collected from criminals and psychiatric patients. Later scholarship rejected these biological explanations, but his scientific approach influenced criminology, psychiatry, criminal law and anthropology. He also advocated humane prison treatment and work programmes supporting reintegration.

Lombroso spent much of his later career in Turin, where he taught psychiatry and forensic medicine, and died there in 1909. His major works include L’uomo delinquente and Le crime causes et remèdes, while his collections and theories continue to prompt debate.