The Iconography of Goiter: Five sculptures in Italian Sacred Mountains of Varallo, Orta and Varese in Italy

Many of the representations of individuals with goiters reported in the literature actually refer to occasional swelling of the anterior neck, or “pseudogoiter”, the artists not having any plan to expose this pathology. The article describes five representations of goiters, as observed by the authors in the sculptures of the Sacred Mountains of Varallo, Orta and Varese (Italy). They are classical and appropriate examples of the iconography of ‘‘real goiter,’’ since in these cases the sculptors had the definite aim to show persons with goiter.