Frontispiece and dedication of “Il Gran Contagio di Verona” by Francesco Pona (1631) — English translation.
Frontispiece and dedication of “Il Gran Contagio di Verona” by Francesco Pona (1631) — modernised text.
Frontispiece and dedication of “Il Gran Contagio di Verona” by Francesco Pona (1631) — original text.
A doctor’s eyewitness account of the plague epidemic in Verona in 1630, which killed some 60% of the population of the city.
The iconic cloaked and beaked plague doctor is often associated with Venice, but there is no documentation that the figure ever existed in Venice.
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.