This review contains a brief description of the chemistry developed in Farmitalia and, after 1978, Farmitalia-Carlo Erba Research Laboratories, during the second half of the last century. It gives an overview of work that represents a significant part of the chemistry carried out in Italy during this period in the field of medicinal and natural product chemistry. This is particularly true when we consider in addition to the work done intramurally in the said laboratories, the work done by academic scientists in the frame of the various extramural collaborations. Only a fraction of the chemical research actually carried out is reported here as time and space dictated a selection. Subjects typically associated with Farmitalia and which gave rise to important scientific or therapeutic outcomes are given preference in this review.

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