“Please, come in”: Being a charlatan, or the question of trustworthy knowledge

Abstract

“I am a charlatan, ladies and gentlemen; indeed, I am nothing else than a charlatan. But what I do, it is well done. Please, come in: it is free. I give money to the poor; only the rich have to pay. And when they do, they pay for all.” (Lessona 1884, 84; translated by Irina Podgorny). With these words from the 1860s, Guido Bennati (1827–1898), an ambulant quack from Pisa, introduced himself at his arrival at the market places in the Italian Piedmont. By calling himself a charlatan, Bennati did not disqualify his art. He called his profession by its real name, and he underscored its value: he was a self-styled practitioner in the lower regions of the medical profession who, in Italy, during the time of the Risorgimento, were still licensed to sell some kinds of external remedies and to perform external operations. They seemed to be making themselves heard everywhere. From England to Italy, from France to Spain and the Americas, markets and newspapers were filled with their advertisements and remedies.