Angelo Antonio Frari
Encyclopedia
Angelo Antonio Frari (Šibenik
/Sebenico, Dalmatia
, Republic of Venice
, now Croatia
1780 – Venice
1865) was the municipal physician and the head of the lazaretto
of Split
/Spalato (1806–1821), the protomedicus, and the president of the Maritime Health Magistrate of Venice
(1835–1843), famous epidemiologist and historian of medicine.
, Italy to Šibenik, Dalmatia
, where he became the Chief Municipal Physician and the author of the first Croatian work on rabies
published in 1782 in Ancona
. His brother Sebastiano was also the Chief Municipal Physician of Šibenik
, as well as his nephew Luigi Frari
, who was also the mayor of Šibenik
. His son Michele Carlo Frari
was an illustrious professor of obstetrics at Padua
University.
University in 1801 and acquired further medical education in Vienna as a student of the famous public health ideologist and the founder of hygiene as a science, Dr Johann Peter Frank
.
of Split in the period of Napoleon’s government (1806-1813), and later, until 1821. He was famous for his efforts and success in the improvement of the Dalmatian quarantine system and municipal hygiene. Frari, astonished with the poor sanitary conditions and poverty in Dalmatia, undertook numerous actions in order to improve the sanitary conditions. He warned the Napoleon’s governor Vincenzo Dandolo about the tragic health and social situation in Split and its surroundings. He also incited the launching the new Law on Health Issues, which was officially accepted in 1812, together with the “Instructiones sur les Lazarets”, which were mostly composed by Frari. During this period of his life, Frari was also very effective in the suppression of plague
epidemics in Split, Makarska, and in some regions of Montenegro and Albania. In 1815, he himself got ill, but cured himself by cutting the bubonic masses and treating them with oil and sweat.
. These letters were chiefly written in Italian language
, but some sentences and thoughts were also written in Croatian language
, such as "pomosi, brate, ali sad ali nikad" (help me, my brother, now or never), or "nimam pinesi" (I lack money). Out of this, it is obvious that Angelo Antonio Frari was facing some financial difficulties, in particular during his stay in Verona
. At that time, he even tried to improve his standard by selling wines from the region of Šibenik
and the island of Zlarin
in Verona.
fever in Split and the surrounding area (the towns of Trogir and Kaštela, and the island of Brač), called “Storia della febbre epidemica che regnò a Spalato e luoghi vicini nell’anno 1817”. Frari named the illness typhus because it, apparently, resembled the yellow fever (typhus icteroides) in its symptoms and changes found on the autopsies.
His later work “Cenni storici sull’isola di Poveglia
e sulla sua importanza sotto l’aspetto sanitario” (Venice 1837) provided arguments in favor of the quarantine
protection system, in particular of the one on the island of Poveglia at the entrance to Venice. Antonio Frari obviously found the quarantine protection system extremely important, which even brought him to the conflict with the protomedicus of the Austrian Littoral
, Dr Franz Weber, who proposed certain restrictions of the quarantine system, in order to stimulate the Mediterranean steamship traffic. The issue of the quarantine system finally led Frari to his involuntary retirement in 1843, since he was accused of corruption related to public health and quarantine system.
Angelo Antonio Frari’s capital work was Della peste e della publica amministrazione sanitaria (Venice 1840), which is considered the world’s best general history of the plague epidemics up to that time. In almost 1000 pages, he described plague epidemics in the world and, in particular, Dalmatia in great detail. In this overall review, he discussed various diagnostic possibilities, methods of treatment, and reported on autopsy results, and methods of disinfection, describing the methods such as fumigation. Frari was convinced that the cause of the disease was a specific contagious germ (“germe del contagio”), even though the bacillus of plague (Yersinia pestis
) was discovered as late as in 1894.
, the famous Šibenik-born Italian and Croatian writer, novelist, and revolutionary politician in his “Intimate Diary” and poems dedicated to doctor Frari. Tommaseo, on Frari’s proposal, even wrote a letter of protest to the Austrian Emperor regarding poverty and poor sanitary conditions in Dalmatia.
Angelo Antonio Frari was awarded by the Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria
for his epidemiologic work in Dalmatia (“medaglia d’oro di onore del merito civile per servizi prestati in circostanze di peste”).
Mirko Dražen Grmek described Angelo Antonio Frari as the first Croatian historian of medicine.
Šibenik
Šibenik is a historic town in Croatia, with population of 51,553 . It is located in central Dalmatia where the river Krka flows into the Adriatic Sea...
/Sebenico, Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
, Republic of Venice
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...
, now Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
1780 – Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
1865) was the municipal physician and the head of the lazaretto
Lazaretto
A lazaretto or lazaret is a quarantine station for maritime travellers. Lazarets can be ships permanently at anchor, isolated islands, or mainland buildings. Until 1908, lazarets were also used for disinfecting postal items, usually by fumigation...
of Split
Split (city)
Split is a Mediterranean city on the eastern shores of the Adriatic Sea, centered around the ancient Roman Palace of the Emperor Diocletian and its wide port bay. With a population of 178,192 citizens, and a metropolitan area numbering up to 467,899, Split is by far the largest Dalmatian city and...
/Spalato (1806–1821), the protomedicus, and the president of the Maritime Health Magistrate of Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
(1835–1843), famous epidemiologist and historian of medicine.
Origins
Angelo Frari came from an illustrious Šibenik medical family. His father Giuseppe Frari came from TrevisoTreviso
Treviso is a city and comune in Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 82,854 inhabitants : some 3,000 live within the Venetian walls or in the historical and monumental center, some 80,000 live in the urban center proper, while the city...
, Italy to Šibenik, Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
, where he became the Chief Municipal Physician and the author of the first Croatian work on rabies
Rabies
Rabies is a viral disease that causes acute encephalitis in warm-blooded animals. It is zoonotic , most commonly by a bite from an infected animal. For a human, rabies is almost invariably fatal if post-exposure prophylaxis is not administered prior to the onset of severe symptoms...
published in 1782 in Ancona
Ancona
Ancona is a city and a seaport in the Marche region, in central Italy, with a population of 101,909 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region....
. His brother Sebastiano was also the Chief Municipal Physician of Šibenik
Šibenik
Šibenik is a historic town in Croatia, with population of 51,553 . It is located in central Dalmatia where the river Krka flows into the Adriatic Sea...
, as well as his nephew Luigi Frari
Luigi Frari
Luigi Frari was the Chief Municipal Physician and the mayor and political and social activist of Šibenik, Dalmatia. His special political and social efforts were related to improving the infrastructure and modernizing the city of Šibenik, as well as speaking in favor of preservation of Diocese of...
, who was also the mayor of Šibenik
Šibenik
Šibenik is a historic town in Croatia, with population of 51,553 . It is located in central Dalmatia where the river Krka flows into the Adriatic Sea...
. His son Michele Carlo Frari
Michele Carlo Frari
Michele Carlo Frari was a renowned professor of obstetrics in Padua from 1843 until 1889.-Life and work:...
was an illustrious professor of obstetrics at Padua
Padua
Padua is a city and comune in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, having...
University.
Medical Education
Angelo Antonio Frari graduated in medicine from PaduaPadua
Padua is a city and comune in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, having...
University in 1801 and acquired further medical education in Vienna as a student of the famous public health ideologist and the founder of hygiene as a science, Dr Johann Peter Frank
Johann Peter Frank
Johann Peter Frank was a German physician and hygienist who was a native of Rodalben.He studied medicine at the Universities of Strasbourg and Heidelberg, and earned his medical doctorate in 1766. He was professor at the Universities of Pavia and Göttingen, and for a period of time was personal...
.
Work in Dalmatia
As a prominent epidemiologist, Angelo Frari became the municipal physician in Split and headed the lazarettoLazaretto
A lazaretto or lazaret is a quarantine station for maritime travellers. Lazarets can be ships permanently at anchor, isolated islands, or mainland buildings. Until 1908, lazarets were also used for disinfecting postal items, usually by fumigation...
of Split in the period of Napoleon’s government (1806-1813), and later, until 1821. He was famous for his efforts and success in the improvement of the Dalmatian quarantine system and municipal hygiene. Frari, astonished with the poor sanitary conditions and poverty in Dalmatia, undertook numerous actions in order to improve the sanitary conditions. He warned the Napoleon’s governor Vincenzo Dandolo about the tragic health and social situation in Split and its surroundings. He also incited the launching the new Law on Health Issues, which was officially accepted in 1812, together with the “Instructiones sur les Lazarets”, which were mostly composed by Frari. During this period of his life, Frari was also very effective in the suppression of plague
Bubonic plague
Plague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...
epidemics in Split, Makarska, and in some regions of Montenegro and Albania. In 1815, he himself got ill, but cured himself by cutting the bubonic masses and treating them with oil and sweat.
Work in Venice
Frari, as a supporter of the Franch revolutionary ideas, had to leave Split in 1821 and stayed in Zadar for a short period. In 1822, he left Dalmatia for good and moved to Verona and three years later to Venice, where he was active as an epidemiologist and writer. He served as the protomedicus of Venice and the president of the Maritime Health Magistrate of Venice from 1830 until 1843. In 1835 he went to Egypt, as a consultant in the suppression of plague.Angelo Antonio Frari's Letters from Italy
Although A.A. Frari never came back to Dalmatia, he remained emotionally related to the region where he came from: in numerous letters which he exchanged with his friend Vicko Capogrosso-Cavagnin he expressed his nostalgia for DalmatiaDalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
. These letters were chiefly written in Italian language
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, but some sentences and thoughts were also written in Croatian language
Croatian language
Croatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries...
, such as "pomosi, brate, ali sad ali nikad" (help me, my brother, now or never), or "nimam pinesi" (I lack money). Out of this, it is obvious that Angelo Antonio Frari was facing some financial difficulties, in particular during his stay in Verona
Verona
Verona ; German Bern, Dietrichsbern or Welschbern) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy, with approx. 265,000 inhabitants and one of the seven chef-lieus of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third of North-Eastern Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona...
. At that time, he even tried to improve his standard by selling wines from the region of Šibenik
Šibenik
Šibenik is a historic town in Croatia, with population of 51,553 . It is located in central Dalmatia where the river Krka flows into the Adriatic Sea...
and the island of Zlarin
Zlarin
Zlarin is a small island of the Dalmatian coast of Croatia near the city of Šibenik. Administratively, it is part of the Šibenik-Knin County. In winter times the island has a population of 276 people, but from March to October its population grows substantially up to 1,500 people. Zlarin has a...
in Verona.
Publications
Angelo Antonio Frari published a number of medical papers. In Padua, in 1817 (2nd edition in Split 1820), he published a description of typhusTyphus
Epidemic typhus is a form of typhus so named because the disease often causes epidemics following wars and natural disasters...
fever in Split and the surrounding area (the towns of Trogir and Kaštela, and the island of Brač), called “Storia della febbre epidemica che regnò a Spalato e luoghi vicini nell’anno 1817”. Frari named the illness typhus because it, apparently, resembled the yellow fever (typhus icteroides) in its symptoms and changes found on the autopsies.
His later work “Cenni storici sull’isola di Poveglia
Poveglia
Poveglia is a small island located between Venice and Lido in the Venetian Lagoon, northern Italy. A small canal divides the island into two parts. It is off-limits to visitors.-History:...
e sulla sua importanza sotto l’aspetto sanitario” (Venice 1837) provided arguments in favor of the quarantine
Quarantine
Quarantine is compulsory isolation, typically to contain the spread of something considered dangerous, often but not always disease. The word comes from the Italian quarantena, meaning forty-day period....
protection system, in particular of the one on the island of Poveglia at the entrance to Venice. Antonio Frari obviously found the quarantine protection system extremely important, which even brought him to the conflict with the protomedicus of the Austrian Littoral
Austrian Littoral
The Austrian Littoral was established as a crown land of the Austrian Empire in 1849. In 1861 it was divided into the three crown lands of the Imperial Free City of Trieste and its suburbs, the Margraviate of Istria, and the Princely County of Gorizia and Gradisca, which each had separate...
, Dr Franz Weber, who proposed certain restrictions of the quarantine system, in order to stimulate the Mediterranean steamship traffic. The issue of the quarantine system finally led Frari to his involuntary retirement in 1843, since he was accused of corruption related to public health and quarantine system.
Angelo Antonio Frari’s capital work was Della peste e della publica amministrazione sanitaria (Venice 1840), which is considered the world’s best general history of the plague epidemics up to that time. In almost 1000 pages, he described plague epidemics in the world and, in particular, Dalmatia in great detail. In this overall review, he discussed various diagnostic possibilities, methods of treatment, and reported on autopsy results, and methods of disinfection, describing the methods such as fumigation. Frari was convinced that the cause of the disease was a specific contagious germ (“germe del contagio”), even though the bacillus of plague (Yersinia pestis
Yersinia pestis
Yersinia pestis is a Gram-negative rod-shaped bacterium. It is a facultative anaerobe that can infect humans and other animals....
) was discovered as late as in 1894.
Reflections on Frari's Work
Antonio Frari’s scientific work and medical practice was especially praised by Frari’s close friend Niccolo TommaseoNiccolò Tommaseo
Niccolò Tommaseo was an Italian Dalmatian linguist, journalist and essayist, the editor of a Dizionario della Lingua Italiana in eight volumes , of a dictionary of synonyms and other works...
, the famous Šibenik-born Italian and Croatian writer, novelist, and revolutionary politician in his “Intimate Diary” and poems dedicated to doctor Frari. Tommaseo, on Frari’s proposal, even wrote a letter of protest to the Austrian Emperor regarding poverty and poor sanitary conditions in Dalmatia.
Angelo Antonio Frari was awarded by the Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria
Franz Joseph I of Austria
Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I was Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Croatia, Apostolic King of Hungary, King of Galicia and Lodomeria and Grand Duke of Cracow from 1848 until his death in 1916.In the December of 1848, Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria abdicated the throne as part of...
for his epidemiologic work in Dalmatia (“medaglia d’oro di onore del merito civile per servizi prestati in circostanze di peste”).
Mirko Dražen Grmek described Angelo Antonio Frari as the first Croatian historian of medicine.
Literature
- Krnić A. Giuseppe and Aloysius Frari’s Works on Rabies and History of Frari Medical Family of Šibenik, Dalmatia. Croat Med J. 2007 June; 48(3): 378–390. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2080547
- Coons RE. Steamships and quarantines at Trieste, 1837-1848. J Hist Med Allied Sci. 1989;44:28–55.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2644345
- Grmek MD. Antun Anđeo Frari, the illustrious social medicine writer, epidemiologist, and historian of medicine [in Croatian]. In: Zaslužni splitski liječnici u prošlosti do 1945. godine. Zbornik radova. Split: Hrvatski liječnički zbor; 1995. pp. 53-63.
- Jutronić A. Dr Anđel Frari from Šibenik and his letters [in Croatian]. In: Novak G, Maštrovoć V, editors. Radovi instituta Jugoslavenske akademije znanosti i umjetnosti u Zadru vol 10. Zadar: JAZU; 1964. pp. 139-69.