Antonio Martino's 'Partorire con l'arte' brings pregnant women to museums

Antonio Martino, a gynecologist and art collector at Ospedale San Pietro Fatebenefratelli in Rome, has expanded his 'Partorire con l'arte' project, which for six years has brought pregnant women to museums like MAXXI Rome, Gallerie d'Italia Milan, and Museo Madre Naples. The project reverses the typical model of bringing art into hospitals, instead taking expectant mothers into art spaces for free meetings combining creativity and science. Martino, head of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Emergency Room under Prof. Marco Bonito, has involved artists Paola Gandolfi, Felice Levini, Bruno Ceccobelli, Stefano di Stasio, and Pietro Ruffo to display works in the waiting room. The initiative now collaborates with 'Nati con la Cultura', a project by Fondazione Medicina a Misura di Donna (Vice President Catterina Seia) that since 2012 offers a 'Passaporto Culturale' for newborns to visit Piedmont museums for a year. Ospedale San Pietro FBF will become the first hospital in Rome to distribute this cultural passport to women who give birth there.