Consider a world where silkworms were dying. The silk industry was collapsing. Imagine the economic devastation. We are standing before the Busto di Agostino Bassi. This monument honors a man who rescued that industry.
Agostino Bassi was born near Lodi in 1773. He became a pioneer bacteriologist. Bassi anticipated Louis Pasteur’s germ theory by ten years. He discovered microorganisms cause numerous diseases.
In 1807, Bassi investigated the silkworm disease mal de segno. It was also known as muscardine. This disease caused huge economic losses in Italy and France. After 25 years, Bassi demonstrated the disease was contagious. It was caused by a microscopic parasitic fungus.
The organism was named Botrytis paradoxa. It is now Beauvaria bassiana. The fungus transmitted among worms by contact. Infected food also spread the disease.
Bassi announced his discoveries in 1835. His work was titled “Del mal del segno, calcinaccio o moscardino”. This translates to “The Disease of the Sign, Calcinaccio or Muscardine”. Bassi generalized that many diseases are caused by parasites. This included diseases of plants, animals, and humans. He preceded Pasteur and Robert Koch in germ theory.
Bassi prescribed methods to prevent muscardine. These methods eliminated the disease. This earned him considerable honors. He recommended using disinfectants. Separating the rows of feeding caterpillars was also key. Keeping farms clean was essential.
Bassi also studied laboratory cultures of potatoes. He researched cheese and wine making. He investigated human diseases like leprosy and cholera.
Louis Pasteur was greatly influenced by Bassi’s work. Pasteur had portraits of Bassi and Lazzaro Spallanzani in his office.
Agostino Bassi died in 1856 in Lodi. He was 82 years old. He is buried in the Romanesque church of San Francesco. In 1953, Italy issued a stamp. It commemorated the 180th anniversary of his birth. The stamp featured Bassi’s portrait. It was bordered by silkmoths. Via Agostino Bassi is the main street in Mairago. This is where Bassi was born.
Bassi’s tomb is in the church of San Francesco in Lodi. It is set against a wall in the right transept.
So here stands the Busto di Agostino Bassi. It is a reminder of a man of science. He was a man who saved an industry. He was a true pioneer of germ theory.