The quarantine station on Lazzaretto Nuovo was for three centuries one of the main Venetian defences against the black plague.
It took the Venetians almost a century to do something efficient about the black plague – but we haven’t fared much better with climate change.
The lazzaretti in Venice were the Venetian republic’s response to the emergency of the plague, and an efficient response too.
Quarantine is derived from the Venetian (and Italian) word for forty, because the quarantine period on the Lazzaretto Nuovo ended up around forty days.
Lazzaretto Vecchio was the first stable hospital and quarantine station for the bubonic plague in the world, founded in 1423 by the Republic of Venice.
Lazzaretto Vecchio was the first stable hospital and quarantine station for the bubonic plague in the world, founded in 1423 by the Republic of Venice.
The black plague ravaged Venice for centuries, from the mid 1300s to the late 1700s. This is a chronology of some of the most important events.
In 1793 a ship from Nauplia in Greece brought cheese and the black plague to Venice. Twelve persons died.
Europe witnessed repeated outbreaks of the black plague – or the bubonic plague – from the 14th until the 17th century.
Antonio Moro came to Venice in January 1593 to work at the Lazzaretto Nuovo, where he left us a very interesting message on the wall.