Lithotomists, cataract-curers, and hernia-carvers: The Surgical School of Preci

From the 13th to the 18th centuries, a small village in Umbria produced a remarkable multifamily dynasty of highly proficient surgeons. Skilled in lithotomy (cutting for the stone), couching cataracts, repair of hernias, and castration, the Surgeons of Preci or the Norcini, were preeminent in Europe, famous, and wealthy. Sophisticated instruments, use of cautery, knowledge of analgesics, and narcotics were passed down from father to son over 400 years: the most dextrous were summoned by crowned heads, including Charles V1 of France and Elizabeth of England. Yet, the history of their activities is almost forgotten, the result of vicious personal rivalries and the impact of professionalization of 18th-century surgery. Today in Italy, the name Norcini means only pork butcher, ironically the original skill from which the dynasty developed.