[Interviewing Professor Enrico Malizia, one of the fathers of Italian nephrology]

This article contains an interview to Professor Enrico Malizia (born in 1926), who played an important role in the birth of nephrology in Italy. On April 27th, 1957 Professor Malizia was in fact among the founders of the Italian Society of Nephrology, which he also served as secretary for some years, together with Professor Luigi Migone (1912-2002). In addition, he participated in the organization of the First International Congress of Nephrology, which took place in Geneva and Evian from September 1st to 4th, 1960. Professor Malizia devoted himself to nephrology for many years, both as clinician and as researcher, by publishing many original papers and monographs on different nephrological topics, a few of which are described in detail in the present article. In addition, his interest in renal diseases led him to frequent the institutions of eminent renal scientists of the period such as the physiologist Homer Smith (1895-1962) and the pathologist Jean Oliver (1889-1976) in the United States, and the clinician Jean Hamburger (1909-1992) in Paris.