Salvatore De Renzi (19 January 1800, in Paternopoli – 26 February 1872, in Naples) was an Italian physician and writer. Biography Early years Salvatore De Renzi was born in Paternopoli, province of Avellino, on the 19th of January 1800 and grew up with his two parents Donato and Maria Rosaria del Grosso. His family was going through grave economic hardship, to the point that the responsibility for his education was taken by De Renzi's archpriest uncle, Giuseppe De Renzi, who passed away before young Salvatore could complete his university studies. He however managed to graduate in medicine at the Università degli Studi di Napoli (which would become Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II in 1987) where he was taught by eminent professors such as Benedetto Vulpes (Director of the Medical Clinic in the University of Naples, 1782–1855); during the academic career, he displayed a certain promptness and passionate interest towards this discipline and nowadays he is still highly regarded for his work. In January 1821, still an undergraduate, De Renzi wins a contest for the office of "Ufficiale Sanitario di Terra", an official responsible for the communal health board of Naples, charged with hygiene and prophylaxis vigilance, serving as a medical assistant for Guglielmo Pepe, a protagonist of the 1820-1821 Neapolitan revolution. Due to his sympathies towards liberal ideals, he was deposed shortly after the Borbonic revolution, and forced to hide. After graduating at an extraordinarily young age, presumably in 1822, he entered a contest for a place in the medical clinic of the University of Naples; despite winning said contest, he is once again dismissed for political reasons, losing yet another important job. Whilst dealing with disappointment and bitterness of these failures, he starts his professional career at the Hospital of San Giuseppe and Santa Lucia, where he is appointed as "Instructor of the blind" in 1824: this entitlement allows him to publish two important writings on psychological aspects of blind patients: "Sull'indole morale dei ciechi" (On the moral nature of the blind, Naples 1827), and "Lettera al dott. Guillié sull'indole morale dei ciechi" (Letter to doctor Guillié on the moral nature of the blind, ibid. 1828). Years of study and research During his studies, he deals with his poor economic conditions by studying with inexhaustible passion and intense practice sessions in the field, doing the utmost for those who suffered from misery and abandonment, showing an impressive