In medieval Italy, a spider bite could send you into a dancing frenzy

The tarantella began as a frantic ritual believed to sweat out deadly venom. More information Adding us as a Preferred Source in Google by using this link indicates that you would like to see more of our content in Google News results. Napoli artist Filippo Falciatore painted this image of Italians dancing the tarantella, entitled Tarantella at Mergellina, around 1750. There's a chance that if you visited southern Italy during the Middle Ages, you might happen upon a port town where people were dancing uncontrollably in the streets. You'd find them frantically spinning, jumping even crawling on the ground.