Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Rats & Redemption
As it was a maritime empire, ships came and went through Venice's ports daily, carrying
salt, silks, spices and an unintentional import: rats infested with fleas carrying bubonic
plague. In 1348 the city was still recovering from an earthquake that had destroyed houses
and drained the Grand Canal, when the plague struck. Soon as many as 600 people were
dying every day, and undertakers' barges raised the rueful cry:
'Corpi morti! Corpi morti!'
(Bring out your dead!) Within a year, more than 50,000 Venetians died.
No one was sure how the disease had spread, but Venice took the unprecedented step of
appointing three public health officials to manage the crisis. Observing that outbreaks
seemed to coincide with incoming shipments, Venice decided in 1403 to intercept all in-
coming ships arriving from infected areas on Isola di Lazzaretto Nuovo. Before any ship
was allowed to enter the city, it was required to undergo inspection, and its passengers had
to wait for a
quarantena
(40-day period) while Venetian doctors monitored them for signs
of plague. This was the world's first organised quarantine station, setting a precedent that
saved untold lives from plague and other infectious diseases since.
While the plague struck Italy's mainland as many as 50 more times before 1500, the out-
breaks often seemed to miraculously bypass Venice. The city's faithful chalked up their sal-
vation to divine intervention, and built the spectacular churches of Il Redentore and Ba-
silica di Santa Maria della Salute as monumental thanks.
