Ignazio Cerio (1841 – 1921) was an influential but eccentric physician and amateur philosopher on the island of Capri, in Italy.
Ignazio even coined the word disutilità to refer to a human life lacking a sense of purpose but full of tension and reflection, mixing passionate pursuit of ideas with periods of lovesickness and ennui.
He worked for fifty years as a medical doctor on Capri, a profession he followed with his characteristically unconventional flair.
The only patient to arrive at the sanitorium rejected the doctor's contention that both sulphur and arsenic would be good for the health.
Nevertheless, he remains a well-remembered and much-loved figure on the island of Capri, his memory immortalised both in the writings of his son, Edwin Cerio (particularly in La vita e la figura di un uomo (1921)) and in the cultural Centro Caprense Ignazio Cerio, established in his name to organise conferences and meetings on medicine, Italian and foreign literature, archaeology, palaeontology, and international and local history.