The VIII Abrils de l’Hospital – INHH’s 12^th International Conference took place in Barcelona between the 24 and 25 of April. The Conference saw the participation of more than twenty scholars from a broad array of academic, cultural and institutional backgrounds, who presented papers on the interaction of hospitals and traveling. The topic, that gave its name to the conference, was approached from different, yet coherent, perspectives: from medieval pilgrimage routes, Christian or not, to 20^th century medical tourism. This self-conscious attempt at diversity that was not only temporal, but also geographical, with study-cases centred on the Mediterranean, Northern Europe, Southern Africa, the United States or India, to name a few, besides those concerned with the transmission and circulation of models in wider contexts. Methodological concerns were also addressed, emphasizing the importance of network analysis and the potentialities of new digital technologies in the study of hospitals.

Both the paper presentations and the ensuing discussion proofed to be stimulating and fruitful, and, we hope, laid the foundations of something that goes beyond the conference itself.