10 Facts About Domenico Cirillo

Domenico Maria Leone Cirillo was an Italian physician, entomologist, botanist and patriot of the Neapolitan Republic of 1799.

Domenico Cirillo was a pioneer in the Kingdom of Naples for introducing the Linnaean system, to which he had been initiated through fruitful contacts with Gioachino Venturi, a disciple of Linnaeus.

Domenico Cirillo embarked on numerous botanical expeditions and produced numerous publications in the fields of botany and entomology.

In 1777, Domenico Cirillo was appointed as a Medicine Professor at the University of Naples.

Domenico Cirillo's clientele ranged from local dignitaries and foreign diplomats to the less fortunate, whom he treated without charge.

Domenico Cirillo authored several medical publications and devised an innovative treatment for syphilis.

Domenico Cirillo was among the first physicians in Italy to maintain a medical journal documenting his patients.

Domenico Cirillo visited England and France and his fame reached even the other side of the Atlantic, as attested by his election to the American Philosophical Society in 1768.

Secure under the British flag, Ferdinand and his wife, Marie Caroline of Austria, showed themselves eager for revenge, and Domenico Cirillo joined other Republicans in fighting back.

Cirillo wrote to Emma, Lady Hamilton asking her to intercede on his behalf, but Nelson wrote of the petition: "Domenico Cirillo, who had been the King's physician, might have been saved, but that he chose to play the fool and lie, denying that he had ever made any speeches against the government, and saying that he only took care of the poor in the hospitals".