"Sometime in the 1540s or 1550s, the esteemed anatomist Gabriele Falloppio (1523–1562) described a test he had conducted on a condemned criminal granted to him by Grand Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici. Duke Cosimo gave him the convict with the understanding that Falloppio could kill the man as he wished and dissect the body afterward. Falloppio decided to experiment with fatal doses of opium, a substance often described as a poison in the scholarly literature.
The prisoner survived the first test and asked for the dose to be doubled on the second attempt..."
> The prisoner survived the first test and asked for the dose to be doubled on the second attempt, on the assumption that he would go free if he survived, which he did not.
But what was in Caravita's Oil and did it even work or was it just chance that the prisoner lived? Google isn't much help as it all leads back to this same book.
From about 756AD to 1870, the Holy See was its own country occupying much of central Italy. Popes during this time were subject to any and all risks that contemporaneous rulers would face in similar circumstances. Not only that, but many times during this era the Throne of St. Peter would be held by a man who might be the scion of a powerful and ruthless family (Borgia, Medici, Barberini)that had much experience with assassins...
Before you write it off as tinfoilhatter speculations [0], please consider this was the time in Italy when an acting Prime Minister (Giulio Andreotti) took active part in a hit job on a former Prime Minister (Aldo Moro) [1].
The prisoner survived the first test and asked for the dose to be doubled on the second attempt..."
Lol.