Iconography of goiter: four refined examples in the Sacred Mountain of Varese, Italy.

BACKGROUND Four goiter representations observed by the authors in the sculptures of the Sacred Mountain of Varese, Italy, are described here. SUMMARY They should be regarded as a typical and proper example of the iconography of "real goiter," where the artists had the definite intention to depict persons with goiter. CONCLUSIONS Studies of representations of individuals with goiter are not that rare, even though most of the observations reported in the literature deal with images that should be considered occasional swelling of the anterior neck, "thick neck," or "pseudogoiter" because the artists probably did not have any intention to illustrate the pathological condition.