Black Death of 1348 in Florence and SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) in the 650th anniversary of the death of the writer Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375)

Abstract

The 650^th anniversary of the death of the Tuscan writer Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) provides an opportunity to reread some pages of his masterpiece, the Decameron, from a historical-medical perspective. In this work, Boccaccio gives an account of the “Black Death”, a devastating pandemic of bubonic plague, which reached Europe, Messina (Sicily), from Asia Minor in September of 1347. The plague travelled along the commercial route taken by Genoese sailors returning from their strategic trading posts at Kaffa on the Crimean Peninsula, which was under siege by the Mongols. The framework, the cage that encloses the 100 short stories that comprise Boccaccio’s work, is the starting point for a novelistic reinterpretation. On an unspecified summer day in 1348, the plague broke out in Florence, Italy. In a few years, the terrible “Black Death” decimated the population of Europe. The city of Florence was shocked by the aggressiveness of the disease and by the collapse of the most basic norms of respect and civil coexistence. On the 650^th anniversary of Boccaccio’s death, the authors of this short article commemorate this great writer, his work and, in particular, the historical, social and public health responses to this massive pandemic. The Black Death shared some similar features with the recent COVID-19 pandemic: from the initial difficulties and misunderstandings to the adoption of public safety and prevention measures, such as quarantine, and the lasting impact on society after the event had passed. The similarities between Boccaccio’s description and what we experienced during the COVID-19 era regard also other aspects of public health aspects.