The plague doctor with the beaked mask might not have much to do with Venice — that figure is more likely to be French.
Quarantine was the main method of prevention of the black plague in Venice, and the lazzaretti served that purpose.
Full transcription of the Venetian text from the publication “Capitoli Da osservarsi nelli Lazaretti”, from 1674.
Bad air was believed to be a major cause of sickness in the past, based on Aristotle’s idea of miasma as the cause of disease.
The Festa della Salute each year on November 21st is an important holiday in Venice. The event celebrates the end of the plague in 1631.
On October 10th, 1423, exactly six hundred years ago, the Venetian state decided to create the first lazaret in the world.
The Lazzaretto Vecchio was open for visits this weekend. Openings are occasional and this was only occasion to see the island this year.
On this day, six hundred years ago, the Senate of the Republic of Venice decided to create the first ever permanent plague hospital, the Lazzaretto Vecchio
The Festa del Redentore has been celebrated in Venice since 1577, to mark the end of the disastrous plague epidemic of 1575-77.
A chronology of the Lazzaretto Nuovo, the first permanent quarantine station for the bubonic plague in the world, founded in 1468 by the Republic of Venice.