Luigi Cattaneo was born in Cura Carpignano (Pavia) on 10 February 1925 and graduated with honours in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Pavia. His thesis was prepared at the Institute of Normal Human Anatomy, where he became a voluntary assistant during the same year. He then gradually worked his way up to become a part-time assistant, an assistant on short-term contract and finally, on 1 February 1956, a permanent assistant. During those years, working under the authoritative guidance of Prof. Antonio Pensa, the nervous system Study Centre's current director, he distinguished himself for his interesting research into the nervous connections of the olfactory bulb. This research won him the coveted "Camillo Golgi" award from the Academy of the Lincei. During the same period, he supervised anatomical research carried out by some internal students, including Alessandro Riva. Cattaneo then extended his research into nervous system morphology to the mammalian cerebellum, of which he studied the nuclei and nuclear connections during development. Lastly, he became an adherent of the new histochemical approach to research, which was taught and promoted in Pavia by Prof. Maffo Vialli. This led him to make several interesting observations relating to the medullar region of the adrenal gland and introduce new methods for the selective demonstration of adrenaline and noradrenaline-producing cells. One of the main reasons the young Cattaneo's years in Pavia were so intense in terms of research was because he had the fortune to work alongside eminent lecturers and gifted researchers: professors Bruno Zanobio, Francesco Loreti, Elio Borghese, Emilio Casasco, Elio Guido Rondanelli and the sadly missed Professor Valerio Monesi, who became a personal friend of Professor Cattaneo. In 1956, he qualified to lecture in normal human anatomy and then obtained a post teaching general Histology and Embryology from 1960 to 1963; again at Pavia University. On 1 January 1963, he received a contract to teach normal human anatomy at the Cagliari University Faculty of Medicine and Surgery. During the same year, he was appointed to the Chair of normal human anatomy, and was called to his post by the Cagliari Medical Faculty on 16 January 1964. His period in Cagliari was crowned with such great personal success that Cattaneo became one of the most revered and esteemed lecturers in Italy and young, enthusiastic newly-graduated researchers were attracted to Cagliari to join him: Alessandro Ruggeri, Alessandro Riva and Renato Scandroglio. The Institute of Anatomy thus became the pride of the Cagliari Medical Faculty. Susini's wax models were also repaired personally by Cattaneo and restored to their original splendour. Before leaving Cagliari for Bologna, where he was called to lecture in 1966-67, Luigi Cattaneo was responsible for preparing the first edition of the Cagliari wax anatomical model catalogue. Cattaneo soon made his mark in Bologna due to his captivating personality and inexhaustible attributes: he was a learned, enthusiastic and conscientious lecturer. New life was immediately breathed into the Anatomy Department as assistants and new, young researchers began to arrive, attracted by Cattaneo's modernised teaching and research departments. He also set up an exquisite Wax Museum of inestimable historical and artistic worth. While in Bologna, Cattaneo set out to provide a guide to historical changes in morphological approaches and content. He ended up by revising the standard Medical text book of anatomy fully to meet the changing needs of students. This work, formerly named the "Pensa" after its previous author and now known as the "Cattaneo", has met with unanimous acclaim from generations of students in many Italian universities, including Cagliari. Other major publications followed, all greatly appreciated for the balance they achieve between the old and the new ways of studying anatomy. The books are also learned and well-written. Cattaneo still had one goal left to achieve: an appointment to the ancient Anatomy Department in Pavia where he began his university career and where he hoped to spend the last uneventful years of his academic life. The Medical Faculty in Pavia appointed him unanimously in 1977, secure in the knowledge that they would be regaining the well-loved and highly-regarded lecturer, the learned man and the affectionate friend who had first graduated there in 1950. Cattaneo died in Pavia on 1 April 1992. Note: much of this biography is taken from the reminiscences of Professor Luigi Cattaneo read out by Professor Alessandro Ruggeri at the 46th National convention of the Italian Anatomy Society.