The indecent death. Reggio Calabria and the plague of 1743-45

As had already occurred at different times throughout the modern era, plague quickly spread from Messina to Southern Calabria, on the other side of the Strait. Alternately regressing and recurring, the epidemic lasted for about two years, and affected Reggio and many inhabited settlements in the neighbouring area. Altogether there were over 4.000 victims out of an estimated population of 18,600. The area was completely cordoned off, and was inaccessible by land or sea. Only in June 1746 was it completely reopened to trade. This long and painful period in the history of Reggio is investigated in this essay using a series Of unpublished documentary sources, which contribute to better defining one of the last, and least known, of the epidemics that for many centuries affected the societies and economies of so many countries of Europe.