In Italy the duration of M.D. degree studies is six years. Medical Schools students, who are selected on the basis of a numerus clausus dictated by community needs and availability of both facilities and teaching and technical personnel, are usually subdivided into groups (channels). The curriculum is made up of 360 credits (60/year), each credit consisting of teaching as well as self-learning for a total amount of 25 hours. Teaching activities include formal lectures, practical demonstrations and tutorial group activities. In the Medical Schools, disciplines are distinguished into two categories (i.e., basic and clinically-related). Physiology teaching pertains to the basic sector. The number of credits assigned to physiology teaching varies between 13 and 21 among the several Italian medical schools, while the semesters devoted to this teaching range from 2 to 3 within the 2nd and 3rd year of the curriculum. Sometimes physiology is taught also in the successive academic years as propaedeutic to clinical teaching. The number of students in the different schools varies according to the size of the medical school and its numerus clausus. The Dentistry School and several three-year courses, covering different topics of medical education like Nursing, Dietetics, Laboratory Test Medicine, etc., as well as many postgraduate curricula, like research doctorates and postgraduate schools of specialization are attached to the Medical School; all of them include physiology teaching, even though with different amount of credits. As regards physiology teaching within the Bari Medical School, two students groups exist which include a total of 327 students. Twenty credits are assigned over three semesters (second semester of the second undergraduate year, and the first and second semester of the third year). The programme of the first semester (6 credits) covers the following topics: Physiology of Nerve and Muscle, Interactions between Excitable Tissues, Spinal Cord Physiology, Digestive System Physiology and Nutrition. The second semester (6 credits) deals with Respiratory, Cardiovascular and Renal Physiology, and Body Fluids, Blood Pressure and pH Regulation. During the third semester (6 credits) Central Nervous System and Vegetative Physiology, Interactions between Central Nervous and Endocrine Systems and Sense Organ Physiology are taught. One credit is assigned to the teaching of Bioengineering and one more credit is earned in the 4th and 5th year, in the Cardiology and Neurology courses (half credit each). Finally some elective courses are offered to the students. The assessment is based on written (multiple-choice questionnaire) and oral examinations. The didactic organization of the course of physiology relies upon giving students detailed information regarding the functioning of the molecules and structures (cell and organ physiology) before discussing the systemic regulations of body functions. A similar organization is also adopted, as a whole, in the other Italian Medical Schools. Participation of physiology lecturers in the Cardiology and Neurology courses is a starting point of an approach, which is likely to be enlarged in a subsequent phase, intended to foster a closer cultural collaboration between physiology and clinical teaching. Such a cooperation is deemed necessary to give students the essential information for a better and deeper understanding of clinical notions. New experiences have been explored at Bari Medical School. The University of Bari Medical School has built up a parallel track and adopted and experienced the methodologies regarding the PBL (Problem Based Learning) and COE (Community-Oriented Education). Problem-Based Learning is a method by which learning is achieved through solving biomedical or clinical problems. All the activities performed during the curriculum (and the way they are performed) allow students to be also capable of organizing their own learning skills in order to continue their education in the future professional life. Community-Based Education is a learning activity carried out in health and social services. This implies attending hospitals’ emergency wards and general practitioner offices, and participating in family attachment programmes, in community health education activities, etc. These methodologies allow students to acquire not only the capability ‘to know’, but also ‘to know how to be’ and ‘to know how to behave’.