Naples Plague (1656)

The Naples Plague refers to a plague in Italy between 1656–1658 that nearly eradicated the population of Naples.[1][2] The plague epidemic affected mostly central and southern Italy, killing up to 1,250,000 people throughout the Kingdom of Naples according to some estimates.[1][3][4] In Naples alone, approximately 150,000–200,000 people died in 1656 due to the plague, accounting for more than half of the population.[3][4][5][6] The epidemic made severe impact on the economic and social structure of Naples as well as some other affected areas.[2][4][7]

Contemporary painting of Naples in 1656

History
See also: 1629–1631 Italian plague

In the 1640s, Spain experienced some serious plague outbreaks, such as Great Plague of Seville, which possibly came from Algiers.[1] The plague spread to Sardinia (possibly from Spain or other European countries) in 1652, arriving in Naples in April 1656, and then spread to most part of southern Italy where the Kingdom of Naples was located.[1][4] Only Sicily and parts of Calabria and Apulia were not affected.[4]

To the north, the plagued reached Rome in June 1656, and then affected most of the Papal State.[4] The plagued reached Umbria and Marche, but did not affect the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.[4] It did, however, spread by sea to Liguria.[4]

It came to a stop by forcible quarantine of the poorer districts, and the efforts of Martinus Ludheim, a visiting German physician from Bavaria.[2][6] Santa Maria del Pianto was built to commemorate it in 1657.

Death toll

It is estimated that the plague may have claimed up to 1,250,000 lives throughout the Kingdom of Naples, making it one of the deadliest epidemics in history.[1] In Naples alone, around 150,000–200,000 people died in 1656, which accounted for at least half of the local population.[3][4][5][6] In Barletta, 7,000–12,000 people died, out of the original 20,000 population.[1][6]

Outside the Kingdom of Naples, in Rome (capital of the Papal State), around 23,000 people (or 19% of the local population) perished.[6] In Genoa, approximately 60,000 lives were lost due to the epidemic, accounting for 60% of the local population.[6]

See also

References
  1. Scasciamacchia, Silvia; Serrecchia, Luigina; Giangrossi, Luigi; Garofolo, Giuliano; Balestrucci, Antonio; Sammartino, Gilberto; Fasanella, Antonio (2012). "Plague Epidemic in the Kingdom of Naples, 1656–1658". Emerging Infectious Diseases. 18 (1): 186–188. doi:10.3201/eid1801.110597. PMC 3310102. PMID 22260781.
  2. "The Plague of 1656". il Cartastorie. Retrieved 2021-01-13.
  3. "Plague visionaries: how Rembrandt, Titian and Caravaggio tackled pestilence". the Guardian. 2020-03-17. Retrieved 2021-01-13.
  4. Alfani, Guido (2013-06-19). "Plague in seventeenth-century Europe and the decline of Italy: an epidemiological hypothesis". European Review of Economic History. 17 (4): 408–430 – via Oxford Academic.
  5. Montanaro, Francesco (December 2010). L'epidemia di febbri putride del 1764 nel casale di Frattamaggiore da una cronaca coeva [The putrid fever (typhus) epidemic of 1764 in the hamlet of Frattamaggiore from a contemporary chronicle]. Raccolta Rassegna Storica dei Comuni (in Italian). 22 (Anno 2008). Istituto di Studi Atellani. p. 251. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  6. Snodgrass, Mary Ellen (2017-11-21). World Epidemics: A Cultural Chronology of Disease from Prehistory to the Era of Zika, 2d ed. McFarland. ISBN 978-1-4766-7124-6.
  7. Cohn JR, Samuel K (2008). "4 Epidemiology of the Black Death and Successive Waves of Plague". Medical History. Supplement (27): 74–100. ISSN 0950-5571. PMC 2630035. PMID 18575083.
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