Modica, a conference on syphilis between stigma and care

A particularly significant event marked the “Thursday of Unitre”, hosted in the conference room of the Grimaldi Foundation in the week following the International Women’s Day. The initiative, promoted by the University of the Third Age in collaboration with the Imes Association and under the patronage of the Municipality of Modica and the Foundation itself, recorded a widespread participation.

After the institutional greetings from the president of Unitre, Enzo Cavallo, and the president of the City Council, Maria Cristina Minardo, Prof. Giuseppe Barone introduced the proceedings on the theme “On the Skin of Women – The Campailla Hospital and Syphilis between Stigma and Care”.

Then, Dr. Marcella Burderi, Prof. Lucia Trombadore, and infectious disease specialist Dr. Antonella Di Rosolini intervened, welcomed with great interest from the audience.

The first two presentations highlighted the accurate and valuable research activity conducted by Imes. In particular, Prof. Trombadore illustrated and commented on the data related to the two decades 1933-1953 on the phenomenon of prostitution, drawn from the records of the Campailla Hospital, also known as the Hospital of Pity (Spedale pietà).

The facility, for years a center of excellence and a true “syphilis hospital”, employed the famous mercurial fumigation barrels in the treatment of syphilis and other venereal diseases, until the advent of penicillin.

The records, divided by categories — clandestine, single, married, housewives, waitresses, among others — and by age groups, highlight significant numbers, with alarming peaks in the two-year period 1942-1943.

Dr. Burderi retraced the commitment of Imes, emphasizing both the breadth of the work done and the archival material still to be analyzed. She then delved into the topic of prostitution, its organization in brothels, houses of tolerance, and “casini”, and the conditions of exploitation in which many women were forced to operate, up to the suppressing of brothels.

In closing, Dr. Di Rosolini provided an updated overview of sexually transmitted diseases, not limited to syphilis. Despite the availability of more effective preventive tools and therapies today, she highlighted how infections remain widespread in large segments of the population, with “over twelve million” recently confirmed cases.

She also drew attention to the fact that one can be infected and contagious without knowing it, noting, based on her clinical experience, how often those who are aware of the infection tend to keep it to themselves out of shame or privacy.

At the end of the meeting, the exhibition featuring panels created by Imes was inaugurated, which can be visited in the coming days at the prestigious premises of the Grimaldi Foundation.