The Rizzoli Orthopaedic Institute is a highly specialised hospital and research institute in the field of orthopaedics and traumatology.

The strength of the institute is in the close integration between the treatment activities (every year we visit more than 150,000 patients and carry out about 15,000 admissions) and the scientific research activities (by doctors, biologists, engineers and other professionals operating in 10 research laboratories). The institute is also a university teaching centre.

The Rizzoli Orthopaedic Institute has 344 beds (of which 18 at the Bentivoglio Hospital and another 40 at the Argenta (FE) Hospital). Patients come from all over Italy and abroad. More than 1,400 people work at the Rizzoli Institute.

The Rizzoli Institute was founded at the end of the 19th century by the famous Bolognese surgeon Francesco Rizzoli, who purchased the convent and the hill of San Michele in Bosco entrusting a bequest to the Province of Bologna in order to build a hospital specialising in orthopaedics there.
Inaugurated in 1896, it soon became one of the best orthopaedic hospitals in the world in terms of size, equipment, organisation, research and teaching. This well-deserved fame was due above all to Alessandro Codivilla and Vittorio Putti, the first directors, who created a prestigious school of orthopaedics with numerous students in Italy and Latin America.

Inpatient and clinical activities are organised in more than 30 operating units, grouped into two departments:

• Orthopedic-Trauma Pathology Department 
• Special Orthopedic-Trauma Pathology Department 

In addition to basic orthopaedic-traumatological surgery, highly specialised operations are performed in the treatment of tumours of the musculoskeletal system, paediatric orthopedic pathology, spinal, foot and upper limb pathology, sports pathology, degenerative joint pathology of the hip and knee, and the diagnosis and treatment of rare skeletal diseases.

At the Rizzoli Orthopaedic Institute there is also a Musculoskeletal Tissue Bank for the collection, preservation and distribution of musculoskeletal tissue. This bank is a reference centre for the Emilia-Romagna Region.

Finally, the Rizzoli-Sicilia Department in Bagheria (PA) has been operating since February 2012. It was established following an agreement with the Health Department of the Sicily Region.