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The Court Jester Whose Wit Saved His Life

How a court jester slapped the king's butt, then brilliantly convinced him not to kill him Triboulet served as court jester under King Francis I, who ruled France from 1515 to 1547 . Triboulet's quick humor rescued him from Francis I's deadly wrath, not once, but twice. Court jesters hold a unique place in history. Playing the fool for kings and queens meant they were always in close proximity to royalty, but so very far from their rank and station. Comedians often like to push boundaries, but that can be a dangerous business when your job is to entertain the peope who have executioners at their beck and call. Especially when you forget your place—or purposely ignore it, as the case may be—and playfully smack the reigning monarch square on the behind. That little whoopsie was the claim to fame of Triboulet, a court jester who served King Francis I in 16th-century France. But it was how he got away with slapping the king on the butt and living to tell about it that earne...
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That kiss of Aiuti that made the difference

That kiss of Aiuti that made the difference in the fight against the stigma of AIDS

Fernando Aiuti


The historic kiss of Fernando Aiuti, pioneer of the fight against HIV, on the mouth of an HIV-positive woman, Rosaria Iardino, in 1991, has become a symbol in the fight against the stigma towards those suffering from AIDS.

That kiss of 28 years ago "made a difference" in the fight against AIDS in Italy, for Rosaria Iardino, who told it, interviewed by ANSA on the death of the immunologist, in 2019, as a sort of watershed in an era in which discrimination against HIV-positive people was the order of the day in Italy.

"That kiss was certainly the most striking act, but Fernando did a lot more than just that kiss," said Iardino.

What everyone saw on December 1, 1991 in Cagliari, in the middle of the conference for the World Day for the Fight against AIDS, is that Aiuti got up, got off the stage and went to meet a young HIV-positive girl, taking her in his arms and kissing her on the mouth.

"We had decided to give each other that kiss the night before - he continues - because we were now very discouraged, it seemed that neither words nor scientific articles were needed anymore".

For weeks, in fact, there had been discussions on whether or not the deep kiss was a vehicle for contagion of the HIV virus and that kiss silenced those fake news of many years ago like a cold shower.

"It took a lot. We didn't know it would cause such a sensation and how much that photo could travel around the world," he observes.

"We had done it thinking of Italy, but newspapers also arrived from Japan. Our message - he says still excited - was addressed to HIV people because then the stigma killed much more than the infection. People died before they died".


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The Court Jester Whose Wit Saved His Life

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