MRS WILDE: THE TRUTH ABOUT HER ILLNESS

Many famous foreigners have lived in Genoa, but I have always been particularly intrigued by one of them: Constance Wilde (1859-1898). Recently, I came across an interview with her grandson, Merlin Holland in the Daily Mail (UK) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2894289/Mystery-Oscar-Wilde-s-wife-s-death-solved-author-s-grandson.html and decided to go to Staglieno one rainy day, looking for her grave, which is in the English sector of the cemetary.
  Constance was a journalist and a feminist, but she is perhaps best known as wife of the Irish author Oscar Wilde. Oscar's homosexual relationship and subsequent imprisonment was a scandal, which forced Constance and her two sons, Vyvyan and Cyril,to leave London and live in exile. Constance spent her last years in Bogliasco and she loved the Ligurian Riviera. But what was the cause of her death in 1898, at age 40?

Oscar Wilde did come to Genoa to visit his ex- wife's grave. Despite the dramatic circumstances of their marriage and divorce they stayed relatively friendly with each other. It is worth reading Franny Moyle's biography "Constance-The Tragic and Scandalous Life of Mrs Oscar Wilde"

At the time, it was believed that she died of syphilis, which she was said to have caught from her husband. But according to the Daily Mail, Constance's grandson Merlin Holland (son of Vyvyan) says that new evidence has emerged which suggests that she had a different illness alltogether: multiple sclerosis.
  Together with Dr Ashley H Robins, a specialist at University of Cape Town Medical School, Holland has read all 130 letters, which Constance wrote to her brother, frequently mentioning her poor health. Multiple sclerosis was a known illness at the time and Constance had the symptoms, but her doctors did not realise what it was. She describes her aches and pains in the letters in great detail. So, this might come hundred years later,  but at least the truth can now be told!

Constance Wilde, una giornalista inglese, una femminista, moglie dello scrittore Oscar Wilde, ha vissuto i suoi ultimi anni a Genova, a Bogliasco, dopo il divorzio da suo marito. Constance aveva volute scappare dallo scandalo quando suo marito era stato imprigionato a causa di una relazione omosessuale. Constance è morta nel 1898, a soli 40 anni, e seppellita nel Cimitero Monumentale di Staglieno. Lei ha avuto due figli, Cyril e Vyvyan. 

Ma quale è stata a causa della morte di Constance? Secondo suo nipote, Merlin Holland, Constance non è morta di sifilide per colpa di suo marito, come tutto il mondo aveva creduto. Insieme a una dottoressa, Ashley H Robins, lui ha trovato prove che Constance aveva sofferto di un'altra malattia; sclerosi multipla. Questa malattia era conosciuta, ma i due medici di Constance non lo avevano capito. Holland ha parlato della nuova prova in una recente intervista con il Daily Mail (UK).