Dear Colleagues and Friends, we are happy to welcome you in Florence for the conference 'Fight pain & inflammation: problems, questions and answers'. The city of Florence has hosted in the past a series of prestigious meetings with a major focus on pain diseases. This has been the result of the simultaneous flourishing in the Medical School of the University of Florence, of innovative studies on basic mechanisms of pain transmission and of clinical investigation in patients with different types of chronic pain conditions. Thus, if Prof. Federigo Sicuteri established in Florence the first Headache Center in Italy and one of the first in Europe, Prof. Paolo Procacci started a Pain Clinic for the treatment of rare and hitherto intractable inflammatory or neuropathic pain diseases. Scientific discussion held in Florence in the 70swas the humus from which the Italian Society for the Study of Headache was created and the idea of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) was launched, during the Congress organized by Prof. Procacci and Zoppi “Recent advances on pain, pathophysiology and clinical aspects”. The initial idea was immediately followed by the organization of an international congress in the US, with the establishment of the IASP. In September 1975, Florence hosted the first world congress on pain, and few months later the Italian Association for the Study of Pain was founded, again, in Florence. Finally, we can not forget the contribution of Prof. Lunedei in the 60’, who fostered the interest for rheumatology and the care of patients affected by joint inflammatory pain. Our intention, under the generous sponsorship of the Menarini Foundation, is to put together for a vivid discussion scientists and clinicians with specific interests in primary headaches, inflammatory pain and neuropathic pain. We expect that this multidisciplinary approach may represent the continuation of the prestigious heritage of the Florentine school, distinguished by a unique curiosity to explore novel pathways for understanding how pain is generated and how to treat better our patients. With this hope in mind, we wish you all a fruitful meeting and enjoyable stay in Florence.
Pierangelo Geppetti Marco Matucci-Cerinic Giustino Varrassi