Jacob Mantino, primo docente ebreo in Sapienza

After a short, updated intellectual biography of the Jewish translator and physician Jacob Mantino in the context of the Italian Renaissance, I prove that Mantino was the first Jewish professor at Sapienza University of Rome. I also try to explain the historical and cultural reasons that led to this extraordinary fact, shedding light on the decision of Pope Paul III to appoint Mantino as a teacher of practical medicine in 1539.