I am currently listening to The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini. Benvenuto Cellini was an Italian man of many talents. If you doubted this you would just need to ask him to have it clarified for you. He worked as a goldsmith, sculpture, a soldier and a musician. He did much work for Pope Clement VII and the succeeding Pope. He lived from 1500 to 1571.
Besides his many talents and egotism, he was very much the bon vivant and more than a little licentious. By his own reports and court records he enjoyed the company of both men and women. Throughout his book “The French Disease” was mentioned frequently. From the context I assumed it was a sexual transmitted disease. However, wanting to know for sure I did a Google search and came across the following very interesting article.
In the early 1500s, the French Disease aka syphilis, came to Europe, probably from the New World. It was the AIDS of its day. Not only does this article discuss the etiology of the disease, but goes into some of the sociology and practices of the day in regards to it. Here is the link, enjoy: Syphilis, sex and fear: How the French disease conquered the world
Available free from librivox.org as audio books:
Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini Vol 1
Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini Vol 2
Also available as text, ebook from gutenberg.org:
The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini by Benvenuto Cellini
Here is the Wikipedia article on our gentleman: Benvenuto Cellini
And an article about the salt cellar on the right: Cellini’s Salt Cellar