意大利鼠疫

历史

由于欧洲的“三十年战争”（1618年－1648年），1629年，德国和法国的军队调度将鼠疫疫情带到了意大利的曼托瓦。受感染的威尼斯军队随后撤退到意大利的中部和北部地区，导致疫情扩散。

1629年10月，疫情蔓延至伦巴第大区的商业中心——米兰。尽管米兰进行了有效的公共卫生防疫措施，譬如隔离、限制商品交易等，但疫情依然在隐蔽传播。直到1630年3月，由于狂欢节庆祝导致卫生防疫松懈，疫情开始大爆发。1631年的春夏季节则爆发了第二波疫情。最终，米兰的13万人口中有6万人死亡，经济生产受到严重影响。

部分城市的疫情情况：

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. The plague may have contributed to the decline of Italy's economy relative to those of other Western European countries.

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. 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.

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.

Population before the plague and death toll, selected cities:

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."