The Centre for Tropical Diseases and the Service of Epidemiology and Laboratory for Tropical Diseases were established in 1989 by the Foundation at Sacro Cuore - Don Calabria Hospital in Negrar (Verona - Italy).

Since its foundation, the Centre for Tropical Diseases has continuously developed and has now one of the most important italian record of tropical imported diseases.

Since 1996, both the Centre for Tropical Diseases and the Service of Epidemiology and Laboratory for Tropical Diseases, supported by Don Calabria Foundation, have been involved in training programmes and provide many residential courses.

The Centre for Tropical Diseases is also one of the promoting centres of the "European Course in Tropical Epidemiology", a residential training course organised with the cooperation of many european Institutes for Tropical Medicine. Every year this course takes place in a different country and in 2000 it was held for the first time in Italy, at Negrar Hospital, and in 2005 for the second time.

The Service of Epidemiology and Laboratory for Tropical Diseases is not only a reference laboratory for parasitology in Italy, but also the centre of samples preparation for the italian Quality Control Programme in Parasitology.