The
Spread of the Black Death through Europe
6.
Italy
Once
the plague moved from Genoa to Pisa it spread with alarming speed
through Tuscany to Florence, Siena and Rome. The disease also came
ashore from Messina to Southern Italy, but much of the province of
Calabria was rural, and it proceeded more slowly
northward.
When the pestilence reached Milan, the occupants of the first three houses it struck were walled up -- sick or not -- and left to die. This horrifyingly harsh measure, ordered by the Archbishop, appeared to succeed to some degree, for Milan suffered less from the plague than any other major Italian city.
Florence -- the thriving, prosperous center of trade and culture -- was particularly hard-hit, by some estimates losing as much as 65,000 residents. For descriptions of the tragedies in Florence we have the eyewitness accounts of two of its most famous residents: Petrarch, who lost his beloved Laura to the disease in Avignon, France; and Boccaccio, whose most famous work, the Decameron, would center on a group of people fleeing Florence to avoid the plague.
In Siena, work on a cathedral that had been proceeding apace was interrupted by the plague. Workers died or grew too ill to continue; money for the project was diverted to deal with the health crisis. When the plague was over and the city had lost half its people, there were no more funds for church-building, and the partially-constructed transept was patched up and abandoned to become part of the landscape, where you can still see it today.
- Go to:
- 1. What was the Black Death?
- 2. Europe on the Eve of Plague
- 3. Origins of Plague
- 4. The Black Death Comes to Europe
- 5. A Swift Strike
- 6. Italy
- 7. France
- 8. An Insidious Spread
- 9. 1349
Related Resources
A Medieval Atlas
More maps of the world as it was in the Middle Ages.The Great Mortality
A three-part overview of the origins and course of the Black Death, from your Guide.Plague and Disease in the Middle Ages
Sources for the study of leprosy and various plagues as well as the infamous Black Death.How to Avoid the Plague
Should you forget to get innoculated before you travel back to the 14th century, you'll need to take some measures to avoid the deadly Bubonic Plague.The Diabolical Black Death Quiz
Fifteen questions about the dreadful epidemic of the fourteenth century, the disease that caused it, and the events that it triggered.
This series of maps is intended to offer a general overview of the progression of plague through 14th-century Europe. While every effort has been made to represent these events without error, no guarantees are made as to the complete accuracy of these geographic renderings.
All maps were created by your Guide and may be reproduced for personal or classroom use only. For reprint permission, please contact Melissa Snell.
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