The British medical journal Lancet called Girolamo Fracastoro (1478-1553) "the physician who did most to spread knowledge of the origin, clinical details and available treatments of [the sexually-transmitted disease syphilis] throughout a troubled Europe." A true Renaissance man, Fracastoro excelled in the arts and sciences and engaged in a lifelong study of literature, music, geography, geology, philosophy, mathematics, and astronomy, as well as medicine.

Girolamo Fracastoro (pronounced jee-RO-luh-mo Frock-uh-STO-ro), the sixth of seven brothers, was born in 1478 into an old Catholic family from Verona (now in Italy.) His mother, Camilla Mascarelli, reportedly died when Fracastoro was still a child. Many members of the family had careers in law or in civil service.

Fracastoro spent his childhood in his father's villa, Incaffi, which was set on Lake Garda, fifteen miles from Verona. He later inherited his father's handsome estate and went on to enjoy a life of prosperity, though...