The Schola Medica Salernitana was the most important source of medical knowledge in Europe in the early middle ages.

The "Scuola Medica Salernitana" achieved its utmost splendour between the X and the XIII century, especially through the impulse given by Alfano I and Costantino l'Africano, who won for Salerno the title of "Town of Hippocrates" (Hippocratica Civitas). People from all over the world flocked to the "Schola Salerni", both the sick, in the hope of recovering, and the students to learn the art of medicine.

Its fame crossed the borders as proved by the salernitanan manuscripts kept in many European libraries, and by historical witnesses. The School kept the Greek-Latin cultural tradition going, merging it harmoniously with the Arab and Jewish culture. The meeting of different cultures led to a medical learning arising from the synthesis and the comparison of different experiences, as is evidenced by a legend that ascribes the foundation of the School to four masters: the Jewish Helinus, the Greek Pontus, the Arab Adela and the Latin Salernus. In the School, besides the teaching of medicine (in which women too were involved, as both teachers and students), there were courses of philosophy, theology and law.