Tempi si calamitosi : epidemic disease and public health

In 1657 Francesco Gizzio first wrote and performed La spada della misericordia [The sword of mercy], a “representation of the terrible scourge of plague, that afflicted the city and kingdom of Naples in the year 1656”.1 The epidemic was so recent that the bodies of victims were still being buried. Gizzio, an Oratorian priest in Naples, had a message to impart: plague, though occasioned by God’s wrath for our sins, was also a sign of his divine mercy: God “punishes in life, so as not to punish us after death”. Although it follows a standardized format, Gizzio’s play has moments of originality and dramatic power.2 More importantly for our purposes, the central scenes of La spada della misericordia highlight contemporary notions about plague in the city, through which we can better understand the public health response to epidemic disease in Naples over the course of the early modern period. [Opening paragraph]