In 1348, the plague arrived in Messina on Genoese ships from the Black Sea. Within two years, 25–30 million Europeans were dead. Italy lost roughly a third of its population.
Plan a history trip →October 1347: infected ships dock in Messina, Sicily. January 1348: reaches Genova and Pisa. March 1348: Florence. June 1348: Venice, Milan (Milan escaped the worst by bricking up infected houses with people inside — brutal but effective). Boccaccio set the Decameron (1353) during the plague — 10 young Florentines escape to a villa in Fiesole and tell stories to pass the time.
With 1/3 of the population dead: labor became scarce, wages rose, wealth concentrated in fewer hands, the Church’s authority weakened (praying didn’t stop the plague), and survivors invested in art, beauty, and this-world pleasures. The psychological shift from "life is about the afterlife" to "life is worth living now" is the seed of the Renaissance.
Florence: Santa Maria Novella (Boccaccio’s characters meet here in the Decameron). The Orcagna Tabernacle in Orsanmichele (commissioned in gratitude for plague survival). Venice: Santa Maria della Salute (built after the 1630 plague). Naples: multiple plague churches and monuments.
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