“You Can Tell a Man From His Head”

In the course of the nineteenth century, the translation “repatriation” or discovery of the skeletal remains of illustrious figures provided numerous opportunities for new autopsies and medical and anthropometric revelations. Special attention was given to the skull, as the locus of the character of personages and of the specific qualities that justified their fame. This chapter aims to provide a historical and geographical map of the analyses of these “famous skulls” and of the scientific publications related to them, and to suggest possible long-term interpretations of a scientific phenomenon that also involved the society of the period in the debate.