Natasha Awais-Dean

Healing in Open Isolation: The Lazzaretto of Milan and the Plagues of 1576 and 1630

The lazzaretto, or plague hospital, was a new building typology born in Venice, Italy, in 1423. Conceived with the purpose of creating a space in which plague victims could be isolated, the lazzaretto became essential in the fight against epidemics that ravaged Italy in the Early Modern period.

The lazzaretto of Milan was founded in 1488 and first used in 1513, but this dissertation explores its use during the plagues of 1576-77 and 1630-31, known as the plagues of San Carlo and Federico Borromeo respectively. Archival material is combined with contemporary chronicles, in addition to writings by a Capuchin friar (Fra Paolo Bellintani da Salò), who had overall control of the lazzaretto during the earlier plague, and Alessandro Tadino, one of the key physicians during the 1630 epidemic.

This dissertation examines contemporary theories of contagion and how these were adopted into the design of the lazzaretto, yet also allowing for a space that remained accessible. By looking at the relation between the city and her plague hospital, as well as interactions occurring within the building itself, this dissertation reveals an institution that could not function in true isolation. Another finding of this dissertation is how, through cleansing rituals to the body, the soul, and the hospital building itself, the welfare of the patient was paramount. Far from being a space closed off to society, where plague victims were sent to die, the lazzaretto of Milan was a centre of interaction, with the healing of its patients at its core.