[The Royal Protomedicato in Spanish Naples]

Rather than having any established bureaucracy or magistracy of its own, the Royal Neapolitan Protomedicato was based around the person who was its pro tempore head - the protomedico. The position was very prestigious, involving the Kingdom's most powerful physicians, but the office itself made little impact on public health. In fact, the Protomedicato's functions were primarily fiscal: the collecting of duties and fines from non-graduate medical practitioners and the inspections of apothecaries shops, carried out by tax renters on behalf of the state.