Role played by Italy in the history of syphilis.

Despite dissenting views on the origin of the wellrecorded outbreak of syphilis in the Italian peninsula towards the end of the fifteenth century, there is no disputing the importance of Italian culture and medicine in the development of the history of syphilis. In the earlier part of this century most of the detailed work on the subject was recorded by medical historians of the German School. Bloch' was the chief supporter of the theory of the Columbian origin of syphilis. Sudhoff,2 while making no dogmatic assertion about the origin, was the principal collator of early sources in European literature, showing the intimate connection between the contemporary life of Italy, Spain, and Germany.