Episode 4. With Lara Meneghini. The Black Death: Venice and the creation of the lazzaretto.

Have epidemics changed the history of the Near and Middle East? How did societies from this region react to this phenomenon?

This podcast wants to look back at the history of epidemics in a region which has been regularly affected during the past. We will rely on the work of historians, archaeologists, linguists and philosophers, who have agreed to answer our questions.

Lara Meneghini, archaeologist for the Archeoclub of Italy (Branch: Venice), explains how the city of Venice, leader in Mediterranean trade in the Middle Ages and early modern history, reacted to the threat of the plague in order to secure its commercial interests in the eastern Mediterranean. In particular, she discusses about the creation of the lazzaretti and their role in preventing the spread of epidemics. Through an historical and archaeological perspective, Lara Meneghini presents the material evidence of these quarantine structures and of the passage of goods and merchants coming from the Near and Middle East.

We would like to thank the Archeoclub of Italy (Branch: Venice) and Ekos Club. We invite you to check their website: www.lazzarettiveneziani.it

Bibliography

Fazzini, G. (ed.), Venezia. Isola del Lazzaretto Nuovo, 2004

Konstantinidou, K., Lazzaretti Veneziani in Grecia, 2015

Malagnini, F., Il Lazzaretto Nuovo di Venezia. Le scritture parietali, 2017

Malagnini, F., Il Lazzaretto Vecchio di Venezia. Le scritture epigrafiche, 2018

Stevens Crawshaw, J. L., Plague Hospitals: Public Health for the City in Early Modern Venice, 2012

Vanzan Marchini, N. E. (ed.), Rotte mediterranee e baluardi di sanità, 2004