Girolamo Fracastoro

Around 1500, while he was still a student at the University of Padua, Girolamo Fracastoro married Elena de Clavis/Schiavi. Together they had five children: four sons named Giovanni Battista, Paolo, Giulio and Paolo Filippo; and a daughter, Isabella.

Among them, his second son Paolo died in an early age, prompting Fracastoro to write an ode to him. Two other sons also died while Fracastoro was still alive. Only Paolo Filippo, born in 1517, and Isabella survived him.

Fracastoro was mentally agile till the end. On 6 August 1553, he had a massive stroke and died on the same day in his villa at Incaffi. He was buried at the Church of Santa Eufemia in Verona, where he lay until 1740. Thereafter, his remains were exhumed and lost.

Girolamo Fracastoro was born in 1478 in Verona, then an important city in the Republic of Venice. Contrary to general belief, he was not of aristocratic descent. However, many of the family members had distinguished careers in law or civil services. His grandfather was a physician to the reigning Scala family.

Girolamo’s parents had seven sons and out of them, he was born sixth. His mother, Camilla Mascarelli, died when he was still a child. Therefore he was mostly brought up by his father, Paolo Filippo Fracastoro, in his villa in Incaffi, fifteen miles from Verona on Lake Garda.

The boy began his education at home, studying literature and philosophy with his father. As he reached his adolescence, he was enrolled at the University of Padua, where he was put under the care of physician Girolamo Della Torre, also a family friend.

At Padua, he studied philosophy under Pietro Pomponazzi and Nicolò Leonico Tomeo, medicine under Girolamo Della Torre and Alessandro Benedetti and anatomy under Marcus Antonio Della Torre. In addition, he also received instructions in literature mathematics, and astronomy.

Fracastoro received his degree in 1502. During this period, he befriended the future cardinals Ercole Gonzaga, Gasparo Contarini, and Pietro Bembo as well as Giovanni Battista Ramusio, who later became a famous geographer.

Immediately after receiving his degree in 1502, Girolamo Fracastoro was appointed an instructor of logic at the University of Padua. Later in the same year, he was appointed the conciliarius anatomicus at the same university. Thus began his long association with medicine.

During this period, he came in contact with Polish astronomer Nicolas Copernicus, who at that time was studying medicine at Padua. Later on 18 September 1505, he was elected to the College of Physicians in Verona, a position he held concurrently with his position at Padua.

In 1508, with the threat of war between the Republic of Venice and the Emperor Maximilian I and closing of the University, Fracastoro left his position at Padua. However, he continued with his position at Verona, which he held until his death, serving four times as prior and eight times as councilor.

Meanwhile, on leaving Padua, he followed Bartolomeo d’Alviano to Pordenone, then Porto Naone. Here, Alviano presented Fracastoro at the Accademia Friulana. Shortly after that, they set out for the border of the Veneto, where the Venetian forces were fighting the French Army.

In this campaign, Fracastoro served as a physician. When in 1509, the Venetian forces were defeated at the battle of Agnadello and Alviano was taken as a prisoner, Fracastoro returned to Verona. By that time, his father had passed away.

On returning to Verona, Girolamo Fracastoro set up his home near the Church of Santa Eufemia and began to organize the estate he had inherited from his father. Concurrently, he also devoted himself to his studies.

In 1510, there was an outbreak of plague in the area. It induced Fracastoro to start practicing medicine. Soon, his fame spread near and far. Patients from all over Italy started coming to Verona to consult him.

In the same year, he also started his work on ‘Syphilis sive morbus Gallicus’ (Syphilis or The French Disease), a lengthy narrative poem, written in a style similar to ‘Georgics’ by Virgil. However, he would actually concentrate on the work only from 1521, completing it by 1530.

From 1511, he began to alternate between his home in Verona and the villa he had inherited from his father at Incaffi. Soon his villa at Incaffi became a meeting point for many intellectuals. There they talked about different philosophical as well as scientific issues.

Around this period, he began to get acquainted with the leading figures of the time and maintained good relationships with them. Gian Matteo Giberti, bishop of Verona, was one of them. A patron of writers, scientists, and artists, Giberti also had high regard for Fracastoro.