{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,4]],"date-time":"2026-05-04T00:44:29Z","timestamp":1777855469567,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":55,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2014,6,9]],"date-time":"2014-06-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1402272000000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["J Med Biogr"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2014,8]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>The authors investigated the life, the works and the illness of the humanist and poet Agnolo Ambrogini, better known as Politian, and the cause of his death, shedding evidence on the ambiguous meaning of the term scabies that is included in the titles of two works ascribed to Politian, namely \u2018Sylva in scabiem\u2019 and \u2018De scabie\u2019. These two works tell us the illness that will kill Politian who describes them in detail as a new illness that does appear in other important works dated between the end of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th. This new illness will be called \u2018syphilis\u2019. Syphilis was virulent in Europe soon after it appeared and it killed Politian within one year. He seems to have been the first famous European who was not a physician who described his own syphilis. Others include the poet Niccol\u00f2 Campani (1478\u20131523), the writer and humanist Ulrich Von Hutten (1488\u20131523), the sculptor and writer Benvenuto Cellini (1500\u20131571) and Joseph Grunpeck (1473\u20131532), and secretary to Emperor Maximilian I (1459\u20131519). The origins of this serious condition have been ascribed to the crew who accompanied Christopher Columbus (1451\u20131506).<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/0967772014533044","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2014,6,10]],"date-time":"2014-06-10T00:12:50Z","timestamp":1402359170000},"page":"163-171","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["On the illness of Politian (Agnolo Ambrogini, 1454\u20131494): Syphilis at its identification in Europe"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"22","author":[{"given":"Antonio","family":"Tagarelli","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Unit of Neuroimaging, National Research Council of Italy, Germaneto (Catanzaro), Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Anna","family":"Piro","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unit of Neuroimaging, National Research Council of Italy, Germaneto (Catanzaro), Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2014,6,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"bibr1-0967772014533044","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1001\/archdermatol.2011.45"},{"key":"bibr2-0967772014533044","unstructured":"Fracastoro G.\n                      Syphilis sive morbus gallicus\n                      . Lipsia: Leopoldo Voss, 1830, p.62. From original Latin:\u2026 Syphilus, ostendit turpes per corpus achores,\/Insomnes primis noctes, convulsaque membra.\/Sensit et a primo traxit cognomina morbus,\/Syphilidemque ab eo labem dixere coloni.\/Et mala jam vulgo cunctas diffusa per urbes."},{"key":"bibr3-0967772014533044","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Tagarelli A, Tagarelli G, Lagonia P, et\u00a0al. Relationship between the etymology of the term syphilis, sexual transmission, and some clinical aspects of the eponymous disease.\n                      Archives of Dermatology\n                      2011; 147: 1096. In 1632 Marco Aurelio Severino (1580\u20131656) appears to be the first to use the term syphilis in his work De recondita abscessuum natura, libri VII\u2026.","DOI":"10.1001\/archdermatol.2011.186"},{"key":"bibr4-0967772014533044","unstructured":"B\u00e0rberi Squarotti G.\n                      Storia e antologia della letteratura. Dall\u2019Umanesimo alla Controriforma\n                      . Bergamo: Atlas, 2005; Asor Rosa A.\n                      Storia Europea della letteratura italiana. Le origini e il Rinascimento\n                      . Torino: Einaudi, 2009."},{"key":"bibr5-0967772014533044","unstructured":"Botticelli S. \u2018Adorazione dei Magi (1476-77)\u2019 (Firenze, Galleria degli Uffizi)."},{"key":"bibr6-0967772014533044","unstructured":"Ghirlandaio D. \u2018Apparizione dell\u2019Angelo a Zaccaria (1485\u20131490)\u2019 (Firenze, Chiesa Santa Maria Novella, Cappella Tornabuoni); Ghirlandaio D. \u2018Conferma della Regola. Storie di San Francesco (1480\u20131485)\u2019 (Firenze, Chiesa Santa Trinita, Cappella Sassetti)."},{"key":"bibr7-0967772014533044","unstructured":"Twenty \u2018epigrams\u2019 out of 111 (comprehending the \u2018inscriptions\u2019); 2 \u2018elegies\u2019 out of 13; 1 \u2018ode\u2019 out of 11."},{"key":"bibr8-0967772014533044","unstructured":"Campana A. Contributi alla biblioteca del Poliziano. In:\n                      Il Poliziano e il suo tempo\n                      ed. Istituto Nazionale di Studi sul Rinascimento. Firenze: Sansoni, 1957, pp.173\u2013229."},{"key":"bibr9-0967772014533044","unstructured":"De Renzi S. Storia della Medicina in Italia, Sala Bolognese: Arnaldo Forni, 1988, pp. 333\u2013333."},{"key":"bibr10-0967772014533044","unstructured":"Nardi MG, N. Leoniceno N e A. Poliziano. In:\n                      Poliziano e il suo tempo\n                      . Istituto Nazionale di Studi sul Rinascimento. Firenze: Sansoni, 1957, pp.247\u2013251. Act of IV Convegno Internazionale di Studi sul Rinascimento, Firenze and Montepulciano, 23\u201326 September 1954."},{"key":"bibr11-0967772014533044","unstructured":"Cotton Hill J.\n                      Materia medica del Poliziano\n                      . Ibid: pp.237\u2013245."},{"key":"bibr12-0967772014533044","unstructured":"Meregazzi R.\n                      Pauli Iovii Opera. Elogia virorum illustrium\n                      . Roma: Istituto Poligrafico dello Stato. Libreria dello Stato, 1972, pp.69\u201370. From the original Latin:\n                      Hic hic viator paululum gradum siste.\/Vatem potentis spiritus vides clarum.\/Qui mente promptus acri et arduum spirans\/ac summa quaeque et\u00a0alta consegui suetus.\/Is ille ego sum Angelus Politianus.\/Fovit benigno me sinu flora et illic in fata cessi, Parthenopeos Reges\/cum gallica arma irruerent minabunda.\/Tu vale et hoc sis meriti memor nostri\n                      ."},{"key":"bibr13-0967772014533044","unstructured":"Poliziano A. Puccini D. Stanze, Orfeo, Rime, Milano: Garzanti, 1992."},{"key":"bibr14-0967772014533044","unstructured":"Poliziano A. Ardizzoni A. Epigrammi greci (1471\u20131494), Firenze: La Nuova Italia, 1951."},{"key":"bibr15-0967772014533044","unstructured":"Del Lungo I. Prose volgari inedite e poesie latine e greche edite e inedite di Angelo Ambrogini Poliziano, Torino: Bottega d\u2019Erasmo, 1970, pp. 144\u2013144."},{"key":"bibr16-0967772014533044","unstructured":"Canosa R.\n                      Storia di una grande paura. La sodomia a Firenze e a Venezia nel Quattrocento\n                      . Milano: Feltrinelli, 1991; Rocke M.\n                      Forbidden friendships. Homosexuality and male culture in Renaissance Florence\n                      . Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996."},{"key":"bibr17-0967772014533044","unstructured":"Archivio Guicciardini,\n                      Firenze, Legazioni e Commissarie I, 111\n                      [7 April 1492]."},{"key":"bibr18-0967772014533044","unstructured":"Rocke M (op. cit. ref. 18); p. 317."},{"key":"bibr19-0967772014533044","unstructured":"Dazzi A. Poemata, Firenze: Torrentino, 1459, pp. 36\u201337."},{"key":"bibr20-0967772014533044","unstructured":"Del Lungo I. Florentia. Uomini e cose del Quattrocento, Firenze: Barbera, 1897, pp. 265\u2013266."},{"key":"bibr21-0967772014533044","first-page":"145","volume-title":"Culture et soci\u00e9t\u00e9 en Italie: du Moyen \u00e2ge \u00e0 la R\u00e9inessance","author":"Dionisotti C","year":"1985"},{"key":"bibr22-0967772014533044","unstructured":"Del Lungo I (op. cit. ref. 22), pp. 232\u2013233; Uzielli G.\n                      La vita e i tempi di Paolo Dal Pozzo Toscanelli\n                      . Roma: Tipografia Forzani, 1894, pp.232\u2013233."},{"key":"bibr23-0967772014533044","unstructured":"Del Lungo I (op. cit. ref. 22), p.255."},{"key":"bibr24-0967772014533044","unstructured":"Ibid. From the original Latin:\n                      obscoeno moreris\u2026 Politiane, furore\u2026\n                      ."},{"key":"bibr25-0967772014533044","first-page":"22","volume-title":"Scientia Veterum. Collana di Studi di Storia della Medicina","author":"Del Guerra G","year":"1960"},{"key":"bibr26-0967772014533044","volume-title":"Trait\u00e9 de la syphilis","author":"Jeanselme E","year":"1931"},{"key":"bibr27-0967772014533044","unstructured":"Doni Garfagnini M. (a cura di).\n                      Sigismondo Tizio. Historia senenses\n                      . Roma: Istituto Storico Italiano per l\u2019Et\u00e0 Moderna e Contemporanea, 1992. From the original Latin:\n                      Angelus enim Politianus\u2026 circa autumni principium, in amentiam ex reatu obiecto conversus\n                      ,\n                      non absque dedecore extremum clauserat diem\u2026\n                      ."},{"key":"bibr28-0967772014533044","unstructured":"\u2018Amentia\u2019; in medical practice, amentia is a syndrome related to consciousness, delirium, a perceptual and motor dysfunction."},{"key":"bibr29-0967772014533044","unstructured":"Mencke FO.\n                      Historia vitae et in literas meritorum Angeli Politiani ortu Ambrogini. Italorum sec. XV nobilissimi, philosophiae, grammatices et omnis doctrinae elegantioris instauratoris felicissimi, atque omni laude majoris\u2026\n                      Lipsia: Officina Gleditschiana, 1736. From the original Latin:\n                      Correpta enim cithara, quam eo incendio et rapida febre torreretur, supremi furoris carmina decantavit: ita ut mox delirantem vox ipsa et digitorum nervi et vitalis denique spiritus, invereconda urgente morte, desererent\n                      ."},{"key":"bibr30-0967772014533044","unstructured":"de\u2019 Sassi P.\n                      Opera del praeclarissimo poeta meser Panfilo Sasso modenese. Sonetti CCCCVII. Capituli XXXXVIII. Egloge V\n                      . Venezia: Bernardini Vercellese, 1501. From the original Latin:\n                      icterici non hunc labes tristissima morbi,\/febris ad elysias vel tulit atra domos\/non inflans humor pectus, non horrida bilis,\/mortiferae pestis denique nulla lues\u2026\n                      ."},{"key":"bibr31-0967772014533044","unstructured":"Mencke FO (op. cit. ref. 31). From the original Latin:\n                      in eam incidit aegritudinem, ut in multi sed variis molestiis cogitationibusque consolationem nullam admittere voluerit, atque ita demum dolore moestitiaque confectus expirarit\u2026\u2009\n                      ."},{"key":"bibr32-0967772014533044","unstructured":"Ibid. From the original Latin:\n                      Respicit insano ferientem pollice chordas,\/viscera singultu concutiente, virum\u2026 . Miscebat precibus lachrymas lachrymisque dolorem,\/verba ministrabat liberiora dolor\n                      ."},{"key":"bibr33-0967772014533044","unstructured":"From the original Latin:\u2026\n                      post mortem ipsius\u2026 ex commissione reverendi patris fratris Hieronymi Savonarolae\u2026 dedi eidem habitum Ordinis nostri et indui corpus eiusdem habitu illo\u2026 sepulturum apud nos nequisierat\u2026 corpus clarissimi ac doctissimi et eloquentissimi viri domini Angeli Politiani\n                      ."},{"key":"bibr34-0967772014533044","volume-title":"Note e Discussioni Erudite","author":"Perosa A","year":"1954"},{"key":"bibr35-0967772014533044","unstructured":"From the original Latin:\n                      Quam vulgo appellant scabiem iuvenesque senesque\u2026\n                      ."},{"key":"bibr36-0967772014533044","unstructured":"Del Guerra G. (op. cit. ref. 27), p.22."},{"key":"bibr37-0967772014533044","first-page":"96","volume":"46","author":"Hill Cotton G","year":"1954","journal-title":"Durham University Journal"},{"key":"bibr38-0967772014533044","unstructured":"Del Guerra G. (op. cit. ref. 27), p.12."},{"key":"bibr39-0967772014533044","unstructured":"Perosa A. (op. cit. Ref. 36)."},{"key":"bibr40-0967772014533044","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Tagarelli A, Tagarelli G, Lagonia P, et\u00a0al. A brief history of syphilis by its synonyms.\n                      Acta Dermatovenerologica Croatica\n                      2011; 19: 228\u2013236; Tagarelli A, Lagonia P, Tagarelli G, et\u00a0al. The relation between the names and designations of syphilis in the 16th century and its clinical gravity.\n                      Sexually Transmitted Infections\n                      2011; 87: 247; Tagarelli A. (op. cit. ref. 3), p. 416; Tagarelli A, Tagarelli G, Lagonia P, et\u00a0al. (op. cit. ref. 4), p. 1096; Tagarelli A, Lagonia P, Tagarelli G, et\u00a0al. Intercessor by saints protecting Europeans from syphilis.\n                      Archives of Dermatology\n                      2011; 147: 1202; Tagarelli A,Tagarelli G, Lagonia P, et\u00a0al. Greek and Roman myths recognized in naming syphilis.\n                      Archives of Dermatology\n                      2011; 147: 1316; Tagarelli A, Tagarelli G, Lagonia P, et\u00a0al. Imitator and H\u00e9r\u00e9do: synonyms for syphilis\u2019 clinical symptoms.\n                      Archives of Dermatology\n                      2011; 147: 1442.","DOI":"10.1136\/sti.2010.048405"},{"key":"bibr41-0967772014533044","unstructured":"Qu\u00e9tel C. Il mal francese 1993; Vol 23 Milano: Il Saggiatore, pp. 40\u201340."},{"key":"bibr42-0967772014533044","volume-title":"Sumario de la medicina en romance trovado con un tratado sobre las pestiferas bubas por el licenciado Francisco Lopez de Villalobos","author":"Lopez de Villalobos F","year":"1498"},{"key":"bibr43-0967772014533044","volume-title":"Storia fiorentina","author":"Parenti P","year":"1993"},{"key":"bibr44-0967772014533044","unstructured":"Manuscript (cin 963) by Hartmann Schedels physician; Statal Library of M\u00fcnich, 1503, fogli 1\u2013170. From the original Latin:\n                      Nova scabies quasi totam Europam inficiens\u2026 scabies grossa, scabies mala, scabies mala franosa, scabies indica, scabies epidemica, glutinosa scabies\n                      ."},{"key":"bibr45-0967772014533044","unstructured":"Da Rotterdam E. Brega GP. I Colloqui (Il soldato e il certosino), Milano: Feltrinelli, 1967, pp. 63\u201364."},{"key":"bibr46-0967772014533044","unstructured":"Falloppio G.\n                      De morbo gallico liber absolutissimus a Petro Angelo Agatho materate, (eo legente) scriptus, iam in gratiam hominum editus, & schlijs marginalibus illustratus. A quo etiam additae sunt exercitationes quaedam nobilis passim insertae. Additus etiam est in calce De Morbo Gallico tractatus\n                      . Venezia: Francesco Laurentini di Torino, 1565. From the original Latin:\n                      In America erant pustolae simillamae Scabiei Gallicae\n                      ."},{"key":"bibr47-0967772014533044","volume-title":"Libro que trata de las cosas que traen de las Indias occidentales que sirven al uso de Medicina, y de la orden que se ha detemeren tomar la Rayz de Mechoacan\u2026","author":"Monardes N","year":"1569"},{"key":"bibr48-0967772014533044","volume-title":"I mali e i rimedi della Serenissima","author":"Vanzan Marchini NE","year":"1995"},{"key":"bibr49-0967772014533044","volume-title":"Scientia Veterum. Collana di Studi di Storia della Medicina","author":"Mondani PL","year":"1970"},{"key":"bibr50-0967772014533044","unstructured":"Thiene D.\n                      Sulla storia de\u2019 mali venerei. Lettere di Domenico Thiene.\n                      Venezia: G. Missiaglia editore, 1823, pp.247\u2013248. From the original Latin:\n                      Pustulae sive vesicae epidemiae. 1495 in Italia\u2026 me recepi plures armigeri et pedestres\u2026 ex ebullitione humorum me ridisse attestor pati plures pustulas in facie et per totum corpus, et incipientes\u2026 aut super castaneam (glandem), cum aliquali pruritu patientjs. Aliquando incipiebat pustula una in modum vesiculae parve sine dolore, sed cum prurito, fricabant, et inde ulcerabatur\u2026 et post aliquot dies incurrebant in angustiis propter dolores in brachiis, cruribus pedibus\u2026 et durabant sine medicinis\n                      ."},{"key":"bibr51-0967772014533044","unstructured":"Lopez de Villalobos F. (op. cit. Ref 45)."},{"key":"bibr52-0967772014533044","volume-title":"Agregator sententiarum doctorum omnium de preservatione et curatione pestilentiae","author":"Pintor P","year":"1499"},{"key":"bibr53-0967772014533044","unstructured":"Gr\u00fcnpeck J. (op. cit. Ref. 1)."},{"key":"bibr54-0967772014533044","volume-title":"De guaiaci medicina et morbo gallico liber unus","author":"Von Hutten U","year":"1519"},{"key":"bibr55-0967772014533044","unstructured":"Massa N.\n                      Liber de morbo Gallico moviter editus, in quo omnes modi possibiles sanandi ipsum, mira quidam et artificiosa doctrina continentur. Addita est epistola ad eximium Thoman Cademultum in qua quam plurima ad perfectionem operis totius & multarum aliarum efritudinem leguntur\n                      . Venezia: Fr. Bindoni & M. Pasini, 1536. From the original Latin:\n                      ulcera sensim profonde serpentia, sordida, virulenta\u2026 rebellia ad omnia rimedia, persistentia et progredentia\n                      ."}],"container-title":["Journal of Medical Biography"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/0967772014533044","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/full-xml\/10.1177\/0967772014533044","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/0967772014533044","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,29]],"date-time":"2026-04-29T23:24:44Z","timestamp":1777505084000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/0967772014533044"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2014,6,9]]},"references-count":55,"journal-issue":{"issue":"3","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2014,8]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1177\/0967772014533044"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/0967772014533044","relation":{},"ISSN":["0967-7720","1758-1087"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0967-7720","type":"print"},{"value":"1758-1087","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2014,6,9]]}}}