1629–1631 Italian plague

Series of bubonic plague outbreaks in Italy thumb|right|upright=1.0|Melchiorre Gherardini, Piazza S. Babila, Milan, during the plague of 1630: plague carts carry the dead for burial. The Italian plague of 1629–1631, also referred to as the Great Plague of Milan, was part of the second plague pandemic that began with the Black Death in 1348 and ended in the 18th century. One of two major outbreaks in Italy during the 17th century, it affected northern and central Italy and resulted in at least 280,000 deaths, with some estimating fatalities as high as one million, or about 35% of the population.Hays 2005 103 The plague may have contributed to the decline of Italy's economy relative to those of other Western European countries.Alfani Percoco 2019 1177 Outbreaks Thought to have originated in Northern France in 1623, the plague was carried throughout Europe as a result of troop movements associated with the Thirty Years' War and was allegedly brought to Lombardy in 1629 by soldiers involved in the War of the Mantuan Succession.Kohn 2007 200 The disease first spread to Venetian troops and in October 1629 reached Milan, Lombardy's major commercial centre. Although the city instituted a quarantine and limited access to external visitors and trade goods, it failed to eliminate the disease. A major outbreak in March 1630 resulted from relaxed health measures during the carnival season, followed by a second wave in the spring and summer of 1631. Overall, Milan suffered approximately 60,000 fatalities out of a total population of 130,000.Kohn 2007 200 East of Lombardy, the Republic of Venice was infected in 1630–31. The city of Venice was severely hit, with recorded casualties of 46,000 out of a population of 140,000. Some historians believe that the drastic loss of life, and its impact on commerce, ultimately resulted in the downfall of Venice as a major commercial and political power.Alfani Percoco 2019 1181 Population before the plague and death toll, selected cities:Hays 2005 103 City Populationin 1630 Death estimatesby 1631 Percentage ofpopulation lost Verona 54,000 33,000 61% Parma 30,000 15,000 50% Milan 130,000 60,00046% Venice 140,000 46,000 33% Bologna 62,000 15,000 24% Florence 76,000 9,000 12% A 2019 study argues the plague of 1629–1631 led to lower growth in several cities affected by the plague and "caused long-lasting damage to the size of Italian urban populations and to urbanization rates. These findings support the hypothesis that seventeenth-century plagues played a fundamental role in triggering the process of relative decline of the Italian economies."Alfani Percoco 2019 1188 See also Ludovico Settala Naples Plague (1656) List of epidemics Second plague pandemic Santa Maria della Salute, a church in Venice built as a votive offering for the city's deliverance from the plague Lazzaretto Vecchio, small island in the Venetian lagoon used as a cemetery for plague victims The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni References Sources Alfani Guido Percoco Marco Plague and long-term development: the lasting effects of the 1629–30 epidemic on the Italian cities http://www.ehes.org/EHES_106.pdf The Economic History Review en 4 10.1111/ehr.12652 1468-0289 2019 72 1175–1201 131730725 2019-12-10 2020-06-05 https://web.archive.org/web/20200605191625/http://www.ehes.org/EHES_106.pdf dead Cipolla Carlo M. Fighting the Plague in Seventeenth Century Italy Madison University of Wisconsin Press 1981 0-299-08340-3 https://books.google.com/books?id=Ct_OJYgnKCsC Hays J. N. Epidemics and pandemics; their impacts on human history 2005 ABC-CLIO 978-1851096589 Encyclopedia of Plague and Pestilence: From Ancient Times to the Present https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaplag00kohn limited Kohn George C. Facts on File 2007 3rd New York 200 9780816069354 Prinzing Friedrich Epidemics Resulting from Wars Oxford Clarendon Press 1916 https://archive.org/details/epidemicsresult00westgoog Category:1629 in Italy Category:1630 in Italy Category:1631 in Italy Category:1629 disasters Category:1629 in health Category:17th-century disease outbreaks Category:1630s disasters Category:1630s in health Category:1630 disasters Category:1631 disasters Category:1630s in the Republic of Venice Category:17th-century epidemics Category:Second plague pandemic Category:Disease outbreaks in Italy Category:Duchy of Milan Category:History of Milan Category:Thirty Years' War Category:War of the Mantuan Succession