Speaking of sex, I also just learned that Modica, Sicily has the Museo Tommaso Campailla or the Syphilis Museum. Wow! A whole museum devoted to a sexually transmitted disease? Well, not really. Tommaso Campailla was like the 18th century doctor of venereal diseases. The treatment of his patients (usually prostitutes) involved them sitting in heated wooden botti [barrels] and inhaling mercury infusions. Then they would lay in bed to sweat it out. These sessions would last for days. This process was considered very modern at the time and continued until the discovery of penicillin. There’s no website or signpost for this place. And it’s barely mentioned in tourist guides. Hmmm…I wonder why?
Museo Tommaso Campailla or the Syphilis Museum
