My initial response was yes, he died of syphilis and the asylum clinches it. However, my understanding of GPI is that it takes many years or even decades, so this seems a bit quick to be functioning as a solicitor and donating to charity, then admission to an asylum and death in a relatively short time. I don't doubt the syphilis but maybe there was a bit more to the death than that?
In my extended family, a cousin of my grandfather came back from WW1 with severe shellshock. He spent the rest of his life in an asylum. His widow told everyone, including his children, that he was dead, such was the social shame of mental illness. So a fictitious trip to Italy seems small fry to me and perhaps your man "died" out there?
OC
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