Provveditori sopra la Sanità

The Lessico Veneto (Venetian Vocabulary) by Fabio Mutinelli was published in 1851. It is an invaluable tool for anybody who reads texts from the time of the Republic of Venice.

Fabio Mutinelli (1797-1876) was director of the I. R. Archivio Generale di Venezia (1847-1861), and a prolific writer on the history of Venice.

PROVVEDITORI sopra la Sanità.¹ They were created in the year 1485, although since the previous century the foundations of those very wise institutions had been planted² which later served to preserve not only the Italian peninsula, but also every civilized people of Europe from the scourge of the bubonic plague. These Provveditori were three, and in 1556 two more individuals were added to them with the title of Sopraprovveditori.³ The faculties of this magistracy charged with supervising the lazzaretti, foreign beggars, food, drink, the health of prostitutes, the cleanliness of streets and cisterns, the condition of tombs, etc. were very broad. The laws issued by this conspicuous College were always held in a very high, venerable reputation and taken as an example by other nations.

Translator’s notes

Literally the Superintendents of (public) health. ↩︎
Ad-hoc provveditori had been appointed repeatedly throughout the 1400s due to the constant threat of the plague, so the office as such was new. It only became permanent in 1485. ↩︎
Something like “Over-superintendents” — being of senators they were of higher rank than a patrician not in the Pregadi. ↩︎

Original Italian text

PROVVEDITORI sopra la Sanità. Vennero creati nell’anno 1485, abbenchè sin dal precedente secolo piantate si avessero le basi di quelle sapientissime instituzioni che valsero poi a preservare non solamente l’Italica penisola, ma eziandio ogni civilizzata gente di Europa dal flagello della peste bubbonica. Questi Provveditori erano tre, venendo loro aggiunti nel 1556 altri due individui col titolo di Sopraprovveditori. Ampie di molto furono le facoltà di questa magistratura incaricata di soprantendere ai lazzeretti, ai questuanti forestieri, ai cibi, alle bevande, alla salute delle meretrici, alla mondezza delle vie e delle cisterne, alla condizione dei sepolcri ecc. Le leggi emanate da questo conspicuo Collegio furono sempre dalle altre nazioni tenute in reputazione grandissima, venerale e prese ad esempio.
p. 330

History Walks in Venice

Provveditori sopra la Sanità — Lessico Veneto