of the Gaslini Foundation was to support over time the research and training of the Institute and to create a unitary organization in which experience, knowledge, and research would have found a ground for application. Gaslini, indeed, established the obligation for all healthcare professionals to carry out scientific research activities which, together with the use of modern techniques and machinery, would have kept the cultural infrastructure of the Institute always up-to-date. From that moment, the Gaslini Institute became the common home of all pediatricians in Italy. In 1956, thanks to the excellent research activity, the Giannina Gaslini Institute was recognized as IRCCS (Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico) by the Ministry of Health. It was the first Italian pediatric hospital to have ever obtained this recognition. In 1964 Gerolamo Gaslini died and the presidency of the Foundation was assumed by his daughter Germana until 1981. Today the Gaslini Institute presents itself as a perfect combination of two essential elements: the Institute and the Foundation. The two institutions mutually provide each other, even remaining distinct. This guarantee system allowed the institute to achieve the best goals and to acquire prestige on a national and international level. Structure The structure is organized in pavilions surrounded by the sea of Ligurian Riviera. The project was carried out by the architect Angelo Crippa and involved a huge complex of 20 buildings on a total plot of 73,000 square meters, including extensive gardens, internal roads, and access roads. After six years of construction, these buildings now house the clinics, the university, halls for the treatment of infectious diseases, the school for pediatric nurses, and the Institute of Mental and Moral Rehabilitation of Deficient and Abnormal Childhood. After World War II, following the damage suffered by the institute, Gerolamo Gaslini undertakes to restore its functionality and expand its capabilities. In particular, it creates five new centers of clinical investigation, treatment, and assistance (immaturity, auxology, streptomycin, orthotics, anti-poliomyelitis); four new departments: experimental surgery, pathological anatomy and histology, physiotherapy and cardiac catheterization, three new hospital departments, and three clinics; it incorporates new university hospitals such as orthopedics and traumatology. The institute was designed, built, and furnished entirely at the expense of Mr. and Mrs. Gaslini in memory of their daughter Giannina. The Gaslini Institute is the largest children's hospital in northern Italy and has extensive green areas on the coast, two-thirds of which are used as