The Cerebro-Vascular Unit (CVU), located within the Department of Neurology, is provided of a Stroke Unit with 7 monitored and 8 non-monitored beds for acute patients, and a neuro-rehabilitation unit of 20 beds. The creation of a highly qualified center combining basic and clinical scientists with well-trained medical doctors gives us the opportunity of collecting a huge number of patients and to create a bank of clinical/diagnostic data and biologic samples, fundamental prerequisite for developing clinical research.