About the Department
Our Department is committed to excellence in teaching and research in various areas of veterinary science, with a special focus on the welfare and health of animals, humans and the environment.
The Department is located on the outskirts of Torino and has a teaching and experimental farm and a dog pound.
Main research areas:
- Veterinary anatomy and physiology
- Animal diseases, pathology and epidemiology
- Food safety
- Veterinary medicine, surgery and reproduction
- Animal genetics and nutrition
- Pharmacology and toxicology
Vision
Mission
The Department's mission is to provide excellence in teaching, learning and research in the field of Veterinary Sciences for the benefit of both animal and human life and health and the environment. It also encourages mutual cooperation and freedom of thought in accordance with criteria of equality, impartiality, continuity, participation and efficiency, as per University’s quality standards (see the quality policy section).
This requires for the participation of the whole organizational system, steering it towards the definition of goals to be reached and the organization of resources to be used for their achievement.
Activity and organisation
- Promote policies aimed at training students, according to quality criteria and a merit-based system, while guaranteeing everyone’s right to education through support and tutoring activities;
- Ensure personal, cultural and professional development in line with the society’s needs.
- Enhance the quality of teaching by strengthening international partnerships with other educational institutions;
- Provide students with the scientific, theoretical and practical foundation necessary for the veterinary profession;
- Provide students with the methodology and cultural foundation needed for continuous training;
- Provide students with the fundamental methodological knowledge for scientific research;
- Encourage graduates to further specialize by maintaining and implementing post-graduate studies.
- Support basic research and improve applied research for the benefit of both people and the society;
- Improve general and specialized knowledge of Veterinary Sciences (clinical, livestock and inspection disciplines) in order to guarantee animal health and ensure the safety of both animal production and products of animal origin;
- Promote and support scientific research training by attracting more foreign researchers to the Department’s research facilities;
- Increase competitiveness with respect to participation in national and international calls to attract further external resources;
- Introduce integrated objectives when allocating resources, including an ex-post evaluation of resourced allocated.
- Strengthen the Department’s role in environmental, public and social issues;
- Ensure animal welfare through prevention and cure (e.g. hospitals, kennels, etc.), innovative research, pre- and post-graduate training and maintain the general public informed on animal-related issues;
- Ensure animal product quality and safety in order to prevent public health risks and protect the environment;
- Guarantee continuous training for public and private veterinary surgeons;
- Maximize public engagement opportunities by reaching out, promoting and offering services to stakeholder and interested parties.
History
- The Veterinary School of Piedmont was founded in 1769 at the behest of King Charles Emmanuel III, who had sent 4 surgeons to study in Lyon at a school which had been established in 1762.
- When the best of the four surgeons, Giovanni Brugnone (1741-1818), returned to Italy, he was entrusted with establishing an institute similar to the one he had gone to while in France. For this, he was given some rooms within the hunting pavilion of the Venaria Royal Castle. The school, which was chaired by Brugnone – who was also the only teacher – was attached to the Ministry of War and was mainly responsible for army horse care. In 1973, the School was first moved to Mandria (Chivasso) and then, in 1800, when Piedmont was under the French dominion, within the Valentino Castle in Turin.
- Activities were suspended between 1814 and 1818, with the School only being reopened after the House of Savoy was restored. The School was located in Venaria Reale, under the supervision of Carlo Lessona (1784-1858). The School, however, will continue changing venues, moving from Fossano (1834) back to Venaria (1841). From 1847 to 1851, the School was replaced with a Veterinary, Agricultural and Forestry Institute, and it was only in 1859 (ninety years after its establishment) when the School was moved to Via Nizza, 52, in Turin.
- Finally, as of 1934 the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine is part of the University of Turin.
- In the AY 1996/97 a new wing of classrooms shared with the Agricultural Faculty was inaugurated at the Gurgliasco complex.
- The construction of departmental and clinical and hospital buildings, including the agro-zootechnical farm, was completed in 1999.
- Between 1999 and 2001, the Faculty was moved to the new and modern site of Grugliasco
- As already said, the first School’s century of existence was difficult due to the numerous change of venues and management (from the Ministry of War to that of Health, and from the Ministry of Education to that of Industry and Trade).
- All of this shows how it took a long and very laborious process before the tasks and legal form of what would become the Regia Scuola Superiore di Medicina Veterinaria (Royal High School of Veterinary Medicine) became clear. The School was recognised as equivalent to universities (but with autonomy of management) and in the beginning only awarded veterinary diplomas. In fact, veterinary degrees only became available later on.
- Among the most important people involved in teaching and research activities were the abovementioned Carlo Lessona, who founded the first Italian journal of veterinary sciences in 1838; Felice Perosino (1805-1887), who besides being an anatomist served as the first corps’ chief veterinary officer; Domenico Vallada (1822-1888), who taught pathology, hygiene and animal husbandry, and was one of the first to focus on hygiene of foodstuffs of animal origin; Roberto Bassi (1830-1914), who was a renowned teacher of surgery; Edoardo Perroncito (1847-1936), who taught pathology and was known in particular for being given the first chair in Parasitology worldwide, in addition to eradicating Ancylostomiasis, a very serious and common disease that causes parasitic worms to live in the duodenum.