Best orthopedists in Italy: TOP 20 doctors

Dr. Lolli is a highly accomplished orthopedic surgeon specializing in spine surgery, with over two decades of expertise in treating complex spinal conditions. Graduating with top honors in Medicine and Surgery from the prestigious University of Bologna in 2004, he further honed his skills by specializing in Orthopedics and Traumatology.

Currently, Dr. Lolli is a key member of the Neurosurgery and Spine Surgery Department at the renowned Maria Cecilia Hospital, where he focuses on advanced treatments for spinal deformities in both teenagers and adults. His extensive background includes over a decade of work at the world-renowned Rizzoli Orthopedic Institute, one of Europe’s top orthopedic centers, where he was a spine surgery specialist from 2003 to 2015.

Dr. Lolli’s surgical expertise is reflected in the more than 3.000 spine surgeries he has performed, particularly in correcting vertebral deformities such as scoliosis and kyphosis. His proficiency spans treating both congenital and neuromuscular scoliosis in children and adolescents, using state-of-the-art techniques like growing rods and VEPTR for early onset scoliosis. He is also highly skilled in advanced vertebral resection techniques, including Smith Petersen, Ponte, and pedicle subtraction osteotomies.

In addition to pediatric spine deformities, Dr. Lolli has vast experience addressing degenerative spine conditions, such as herniated discs, spondylolisthesis, and spinal stenosis, using both traditional and cutting-edge non-fusion techniques.

An active member of the AO Spine association, Dr. Lolli contributes to global education and research in spine care. His academic contributions are extensive, with over 30 publications in leading medical journals (Spine, European Spine Journal, The Spine Journal) and more than 100 reports presented at national and international conferences. He has also been a keynote speaker at numerous prestigious events, including the Global Spine Congress and the Bologna Spine Meeting.

Dr. Lolli’s dedication to advancing spine surgery and improving patient outcomes has made him a respected figure in the field, both in Italy and internationally.

Head of the Orthopedics Department, Orthopedic Surgeon

Prof. Luigi Massimo Zagra is the Head of the Hip Surgery Department I at the IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Galeazzi in Milan.

He is the visiting professor at the School of Specialization in Orthopaedics and Traumatology of the University of Milan.

Prof. Zagra has performed more than 5,000 major orthopaedic operations.

Mainly focused on hip surgery including complex primary, revision (25% of cases), conservative surgery, osteotomies, and pediatric hip diseases arthroplasty.

He performs hip replacement surgery daily for osteoarthritis, particularly in cases of congenital dysplasia, developmental and post-traumatic malformations, rheumatoid arthritis, necrosis in young and old patients, needing special implants to prevent any possible complications. 

Dealing with problems with previously placed implants, in particular material wear and tear, such as in metal-on-metal or old-generation polyethylene prostheses, painful, loose, unstable, infected prostheses, using tissue-safe and non-invasive methods and the latest ceramic and titanium implants, including cemented ones.

He is currently Chairman of the Scientific Committee of the European Hip Society and the Italian Hip Society, as well as a member of the Executive Committee of EFORT, of International Committee of the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons and of the Scientific Committee of the Italian Arthroplasty Registry. 

He is author and co-author of 130 articles published in national and international journals, as well as invited specialist and speaker at over 500 congresses in Italy and abroad.

Professor Stefano Boriani is a world-renowned orthopedic surgeon and author of unique surgical staging system of spinal tumors and tumor resection techniques. He has performed over 3,000 surgical procedures, written over 430 research articles, and invented a carbon fiber system for tumor reconstruction. He is also a professor at the Post-Graduate School of Orthopaedics at the University of Bologna, and a honorary member of several spine societies. He is also the founder of a non-profit association in Mozambique which supports medical activities and trains local surgeons.

Orthopedist, Oncologist, Specialist in osteosarcoma treatment

Orthopedic Surgeon

Spine Surgeon

Dr. Roberto Bassani has performed over 2,500 major spinal surgical operations in the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine.

Prof. Alessandro Castagna is the Orthopedic Surgery of the Shoulder and Elbow Unit Director in Humanitas Research Hospital. He performs both traditional surgeries and arthroscopic surgeries. He developed experience in arthroscopic surgery of the shoulder in the United States where he studied at the Southern California Orthopedic Institute, under the guidance of Dr. Stephen J. Snyder (famous shoulder surgeon, inventor and co-developer of surgical tools for shoulder arthroscopy).

Prof. Castagna gained experience in open surgery of the shoulder under the guidance of Prof. Mario Randelli, founder and past-president of the Italian Society for Surgery of the Shoulder, in Milan (Italy). He has specialized almost exclusively in shoulder surgery for more than 25 years and counts over 40.000 cases in his career. He carries out about 900 surgeries per year, including total shoulder prostheses, reverse prostheses, open and arthroscopic stabilization, rotator cuff repair and proximal humerus fractures.

Research areas of interest: 

Improvement of surgical and therapeutic methods of shoulder pathology. He gives particular attention to the study of biological and functional aspects with the development of surgical techniques, materials and dedicated tools. 

Teaching experience: Adjunct Professor at the Orthopedics Course of Specialization in Diseases of the Locomotor System at the University of L'Aquila.

Scientific activity: 

Prof. Castagna was president of European Society for Surgery of the Shoulder and the Elbow (ESSSE/SECEC) (www.secec.org) from 2012 to 2014 and president of Italian Society for Surgery of the Shoulder and Elbow (SICS&G) (www.sicseg.it) from 2010 to 2012. He is also a Member of the Board di International Congress of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery (ICSES, www.icses.org) nominated for the period from 2013 to 2022.

Publications: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=castagna+alessandro

Prof. Guido Grappiolo is Orthopedics Hip and Prosthesis Unit Director in Humanitas Research Hospital. Since 1991, Prof. Guido Grappiolo began working as a researcher dedicated mainly to hip surgery in cooperation with internationally renowned authors such as: Prof. Ganz Prof. T. Gruen, Prof. D. Blaha (U.S.A.), Prof. H. Wagner (Germany), Prof. E. Morscher (Switzerland).

He collaborates with major international schools in the research of new and modern strategies in the field of minimally invasive prosthetics, computer-assisted surgery and conservative surgery. To encourage research in orthopedics is the main scientific goal of the establishment and organization of the "Foundation Livio Sciutto – NPO", an organization of which Prof. Grappiolo is the scientific director. Playing this role, Prof. Grappiolo has been creating and maintaining contacts with other national and international research institutes, which trained thousands of surgeons coming from every country of the world.

The organization has one of the largest hip replacement database of the world: more than 45.000. Dr. Grappiolo is mentored by Dr. Spotorno (a master and pioneer in prosthetic surgery), and their group studied and developed some of the bestselling prosthesis in the world. His research led him to contact the major international schools with which he collaborates in the search for new strategies of improvement in prosthetic minimally invasive and computer-assisted conservative surgery with the development of new prosthetic models and exploration of new materials.

To date, he has attended over 170 meetings, both national and international, almost every time in the role of speaker or chairman. His name appears as author, in more than 60 publications and articles. He has performed more than 2600 prosthetic surgery (hip, knee and ankle).

Publications: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=grappiolo

Dr. Lorenzo Di Mento is the Head of the Traumatology Unit in Humanitas Research Hospital. He is also part of the council of AO Trauma Italy with the role of Community Development. 

He specialized in Orthopaedics and Traumatology at the University of Milan (2000-2005), completing several internships abroad:

• 2003 Marseille (France), Centre Phocea, Dr. Bronsard, vertebral surgery
• 2003 Marseille (France), Hopital Nord, Dr. Poitout, traumatology
• 2003-2004 Basse Terre (Guadeloupe), Centro Ospedaliero de la Basse Terre (CHBT), dr Fleurat, acting as intern (equivalent of the French specializing)

He also completed a Fellowship of AO Trauma International at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vadois (CHUV) in Lausanne (Switzerland) in 2016, at the center of pelvic surgery and treatment of septic complications in orthopedics and traumatology, directed by Dr. Borens.

He surgically treats fractures, both acutely ongoing ones (with intervention of reduction and synthesis as soon as possible, in accordance with soft tissues and the patient’s conditions) and as psthumous traumas (pseudoarthrosis, bad or non consolidation). He handles polyfractured and polytrauma patients. Dr. Di Mento also treats infections in a traumatic environment, such as septic psedutoarthrosis and surgically the minor tumoral bone localizations, such as osteolysis, impending fractures and pathological fractures. 

Publications: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Di+Mento+L 

Dott. Federico Della Rocca is the Prosthetic and Minimally Invasive Hip and Knee Orthopaedics. 

Medical areas of interest: 
Pathology of the hip and knee, with particular interest in prosthetic and arthroscopic hip surgery. He performs about 700 surgeries every year. He has numerous participations as speaker at national and international conferences.

Previous experience:
He was an attending physician at Steadman Hawkins Clinic Hospital, Vail Colorado, USA. 

He gave a great contribution to the development of the GTS (Global Tissue Sparing) hip prosthetic stem and biomechanical rotational stability tests with Prof Thomsen, Heidelberg (Germany) 12/2012.

Research areas of interest: 
Arthroscopic techniques on the hip

Teaching experience: 
Theory and practical courses in arthroscopic and prosthetic hip surgery at Medical Education

Prof. Enrico Arnaldi is the Arthroscopic and Reconstructive Surgery of the Knee Unit Director in Humanitas Research Hospital. 
He was the medical apprentice of Dr. Lorenzo Spotorno (a master and pioneer in prosthetic surgery). Since 1984, he has dedicated himself to arthroscopic knee surgery and later on shoulder surgery.

Medical areas of interest: He is specialized in degenerative and post-traumatic shoulder diseases (rotator cuff tendon injuries, glenomeral arthrosis, shoulder instability) and related surgical treatments, arthroscopic (tendon repairs, capsuloplasty, etc.) and open (latarjet stabilization, orthoprosthesis, etc.). 
He also deals with degenerative and post traumatic knee pathologies, with particular attention to the osteoarthritis of the knee (primitive or secondary), the post-traumatic complex capsule-ligamentous instabilities, the lesions of the cruciate ligaments, meniscus and cartilage, and open-air surgical treatments (such as corrective osteotomies, first implant orthoprosthesis and revisions) and arthroscopic (meniscectomies and meniscal sutures, meniscal transplants, ACL reconstruction, treatment of focal cartilage lesions). 

Research areas of interest:
There are many research interests, ranging from biotechnology to meniscal transplants and osteochondral grafts, from allogeneic grafts for reviews from failures of ligamentous reconstruction to patella stabilization.

He practiced his specialty in the US in some of the world-renowned medical institutions along with internationally famous doctors: the University of Pittsburgh (Dr. Freddie Fu, Dr. Harner, Dr. Savio Lee Wo), the Intermountain Hospital in Salt Lake City (Dr. Rosemberg, Dr. Paulos), Dr. E. Wolf (San Francisco), Dr. Helman and Dr. Morrison (Los Angeles), Dr. Nottage, Dr. Esch (San Diego), Dr. Steadman and Dr. Hawkins (Vail), Dr. P. Fowler (London Ontario Canada), and J. P. Warner in Boston University.

He has performed more than 10,000 arthroscopic knee surgeries and approximately 1,200 prosthetic reconstruction of the knee. He has always been very involved in the research works in the area of new biotechnologies, meniscal and osteochondral transplantation, allogeneic grafts for revisions by failures of ligament reconstructions, stabilization of the patella.

Publications: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=arnaldi+enrico

Dr. X is the Director of the Mater Olbia Hospital Orthopedics and Traumatology Complex Operational Unit. He has a degree in Medicine and Surgery from the School of Medicine, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy, and a PhD in Experimental methodologies and technological applications in Angiology, Vascular Surgery and Orthopedics. He has experience in hip and knee prosthetic surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopic surgery of the knee, computer assisted and robotic surgery. He has done over 5500 surgical procedures and has held teaching positions since 2009.

15,000 operations and 1215 hip arthroscopies between 2009 and 2015.

Many Italian and international professional athletes have been treated by Dr Zini over the years: Sasha Djordjevic, Jean Prioleau, Alex Kaluzhny, Carolina Costagrande…

Since 2007 he has been Coordinator of the Operative Unit of Orthopedics and Traumatology at Maria Cecilia Hospital and Scientific Supervisor of the Orthopedic Area of GVM Care & Research, where every year more than 1,200 cases are treated by his team of orthopedists.

He operates in the field of diagnosis and therapeutic treatment of degenerative diseases and traumatic diseases of the knee, hip, shoulder, ankle, foot, hand, spine; in the arthroscopic treatment of the wrist, hip, knee and shoulder and in major prosthetic surgery for the knee, hip, shoulder, as well as in orthopedic and physiatric rehabilitation. In particular, he specializes in the treatment of the following pathologies: femoro-acetabular impingement, pubalgia, chondropathy, Perthes disease, synovitis and the snapping hip syndrome. 

Author of 7 monographs of over 100 publications in national scientific journals.

 Among the most recent publications: "Thirty years of Arthroscopy in Italy" 2011 Argalia Publishing and "Groin Pain Syndrome" 2017 Publishing Springer-Verlag. He is the author of over 200 reports on Hip, Knee, Ankle, Shoulder Prosthetics, Hip, Ankle, Knee, Elbow, Wrist, Shoulder Arthroscopy, BioTechnology, Sports Traumatology.

He was awarded twice with the Bellando-Randone Prize of the Italian Society of Orthopedics and Traumatologists (SIOT) for the best monograph of the year 1983 with the book "Radiculography Lombare - Text Atlas", Editrice Roma; and for the best monograph of the 1997 with the volume "Arthroscopy of the ankle - Practical manual of surgical technique" Editrice Fortuna.