Objectives: Inguinal canal anatomy and hernia repair is difficult for medical students and surgical residents to comprehend. Methods: Using low-cost material, a 3-dimensional inexpensive model of the inguinal canal was created to allow students to learn anatomical details and landmarks and to perform their own simulated hernia repair. In order to test the efficacy of this model a trial with volunteer medical students of the University of Bologna randomly assigned either to a frontal classical academic lesson with a simple slide support or to construct the 3-dimensional inguinal canal model was performed. At the end of each lesson the same multiple choice test was submitted to students of the two groups with the aim of evaluating differences in performances. Results: All students belonging to the experimental group succeeded in building the 3-dimensional model appropriately under teacher supervision in less than 15 minutes and performed significantly better than the control group at the multiple choice test. Conclusions: This teaching model for inguinal canal anatomy was effective, inexpensive, simple to set up and well received by medical students. Further studies are needed to evaluate the applicability of the teachings into the clinic/surgical activity.