[Physicians and philosophers tackling Cupid's disease: combating syphilis in the 18th century]

After the great fear caused by the rapid spread of syphilis in the 16th century (and the progressive contraction in the following century), the European political authorities had to tackle a disease that had become endemic. There was no solution in terms of treatment since the cause was unknown: the only precaution seemed to be the repression of such behaviour as prostitution, which seemed connected to the spread of Cupid's disease, as syphilis was called euphemistically in cultured circles. Medicine was powerless, and thinkers and philosophers helped the rulers with their ideas to develop laws to repress and reduce the incidence of the disease. In the 18th century, philosophers such as Ludovico Antonio Muratori and Peter Frank (founder of the Health Police), the priest Maria Gennaro Sarnelli, the libertine Bernard De Mandeville, the Neapolitan thinker Gaetano Filangeri, the founder of Congregazione della Carita Don Giulio Canali and the Abbot Antonio Genovesi contributed with their studies and sometimes works to focus attention on health problems in relation to syphilis prevention, even if repression remained the most widely adopted solution.