Piero Camporesi's 'La miniera del mondo' Republished by Il Saggiatore

Il Saggiatore has republished Piero Camporesi's 1990 book 'La miniera del mondo' as part of an ongoing reissue of his works that began about a decade ago. The book evokes a motley crew of historical figures from past centuries, including uninhibited surgeons with easy knives, charlatans with amazing advertising stunts, swindlers of sovereigns and poor devils, figures like Cosimo I de' Medici who authorized anatomical dissections on living people (the usual delinquents), apothecaries and theorists of cheese as erotic fuel (also excellent for enemas), great sniffers who detect the devil in legumes or the stench of magic, hermits who capture women with hidden trapdoors to sleep with them, and lewd men dressed as nuns who introduce themselves into wealthy families to seduce the young girls. Camporesi (1926-1997) was an Italian literary critic and historian known for his studies of popular culture and the history of food and the body.