Vino e Eros
Assuming that sexuality is a fundamental aspect of human life, the SIA Italian Society of Andrology, as part of its commitment to disseminating andrological culture and providing concrete answers to couple problems related to the sexual sphere, promotes the book “Wine and Eros”. Talking about wine means talking about culture, art, and history of peoples, but it also means talking about food and the Mediterranean diet, the dietary model considered today, all over the world, one of the most effective for the protection of health, including sexual health.
An ideal complement to every love adventure, the “nectar of Bacchus” interacts with the delicate mechanisms that regulate sexual activity: a balanced consumption of wine brings benefits to men and women. But just as elementary knowledge of the physiology of male and female sexuality is still not widespread, equally vague, often erroneous, are the current beliefs about the relationship between wine consumption and the satisfaction of the senses.
In this book, specialists in andrology, psychology, urology, gynecology, and pharmacology address the topic at various levels of depth, addressing both technical and non-technical audiences from an unusual and highly interesting point of view.
Since always, alcohol, which for Mediterranean peoples is identified with wine, interacts with the mechanisms that regulate sexual activity of men and women, thus being associated in the common imagination with disinhibition, seduction, and the boldness of freedom.
Numerous ancient and modern literary works are rich in references and fascinating legends about the link between wine and sexuality. Yet these are statements without scientific foundation. It is therefore unusual for medical science to address the theme of this relationship.
The book “Wine and Eros” (edited by Riccardo Bartoletti, Nicola Mondaini, Francesco Montorsi) does so in language accessible even to non-specialists.
The idea originates from research on the positive effects of red wine on women’s sexuality carried out by the S. Maria Annunziata Hospital in Florence, known for its location as the Chianti Hospital and coordinated precisely by Prof. Nicola Mondani, a leading international researcher. The volume is rich in illustrations and benefits from the contributions of the best specialists in andrology, psychology, and urology who investigate male and female sexuality considering the effects of wine on the physiological and behavioral mechanisms that regulate desire, pleasure, orgasm, fears, and insecurities that concern the different ages of life.
The book opens with the history of wine from its origins, followed by the contribution of Carlo Pedretti (one of the foremost specialists on Leonardo da Vinci) on the themes of eroticism and wine present in Leonardo’s codices, followed by an anthology of literary quotations from Greco-Roman classicism to the present day (Sappho, Ovid, Galileo, Shakespeare, Baudelaire, Hesse, Neruda, Pavese, Gianna Nannini, and others).
This is followed by chapters dedicated to the disinhibiting effect of alcohol, alcohol consumption among adolescents—a very current topic today—the physiological aspects of sexuality (from erection to the mechanisms of female sexuality), sexual difficulties, and the intersections between wine and health.
To date, with over 10,000 copies sold, it is an ideal book for spreading andrological culture.
