vi INTRODUCTION

Italy should play a glorious part in the Italian Revival of the
Arts, Literature and Learning.

The Fracastorii

In all records of the noble families or prominent citizens of
Verona, the name de Fragastoro or de Fracastoro appears for at
least four centuries. 'The Fracastorii were not wealthy patri—
cians of the highest rank, nor did they own one of those palaces,
like fortresses, that dignify the streets of Verona, even now that
most of them have been converted into banks or hotels.  They
were not themselves patrons of the arts and learning, but worked
under the wing of patrons.  In 1445, one Aventino de Fracastoro
was granted, by an act of the Council, the title of Ser, but it was
not until the 17th century that they received the formal title of
*'Count'. In Cartolari's Noble Families of VWerona, 1854, is a
list of the Fracastorii who sat on the Council from 1406—1771,
and they distinguished themselves in the law, the navy, and other
professions. But only two members of the family achieved
lasting fame, and both followed the profession of medicine.  If
one now seeks in Verona the tomb of our Fracastoro, one is first
directed to the church of San Fermo, where on the outer wall
hangs the tomb of an ancestor, Aventino de Fracastoro. ^ His
sculptured marble effigy, beardless, lies with the hands folded
on an open book, and an epitaph beneath the coffn relates
in Latin elegiaes that he was a famous physician, medica claris—
simus arte, and astronomer, or more likely an astrologer,
astra poli novit, and the adviser and physician of the Scaligeri.
This was in the reign of Can Grande II, who was murdered
by his brother in 1359. Aventino died in 1368, and the
accidental preservation of his fine tomb has rather obscured in
the popular mind at Verona the memory of Fracastorius,
who, nearly two centuries later, proved to be less fortunate
in his place of burial. He must often have gazed in passing
at this monument, and wondered what his ancestor thought
about the origin, causes and treatment of contagious diseases;
for Aventino had lived through several epidemics of the Black
Death, of which the most serious for Lombardy was that of 1361.
He never saw a printed page, and lived too soon to profit by the
Renaissance of Medicine that inspired Fracastorius to scientific
research.