LAZZARETTO (HOSPITAL). - With the spread of plagues, in the second half of the 14th century, people began to isolate those sick with contagious diseases, so that they would not transmit their illnesses to others.
Venice was the first to establish a hospital for contagious patients; in 1403, in fact, the Venetian Signoria took from the Hermits of the Order of St. Augustine the island of Santa Maria di Nazareth, where those friars had built a monastery and a church, on which a hospital for pilgrims already stood, converting it into a hospital for contagious patients. The name "l." given to it seems to have derived from an alteration in the pronunciation of Nazarethum or from its proximity to the island of St. Lazarus; the designation subsequently passed to all institutions of the kind. The subsequent decrees of 1448 and 1476 confirmed the institution which, administratively, was kept alive by means of the revenues of the salt office and through the offerings of private individuals, to the point of creating the concept of the moral duty to leave bequests in favor of the l. In a short time, the l. multiplied in Italian cities. In 1488 Milan had one built of its own with notable advances in its internal arrangement; and surrounded by a moat 10 braccia wide.
The l. were built at a distance from the inhabited area, not too close in order to avoid contagion, nor too far away so that they might be easily reached by the sick. Care was taken not to orient them toward the western winds, held to be harmful because putrid and, it was thought, a cause of the spread of epidemics.
As a means of isolation, they were built in elevated places and on islands, preferring the isolation created by water, for which purpose wide moats were built when it was not possible otherwise; thus in Rome, in 1636, Cardinal Gastaldi had the l. built on the Tiber Island. The sick, as far as was compatible with overcrowding, were placed in airy rooms; but in times of epidemic the porticoes and auxiliary huts served as shelter; a chapel for the Divine Offices was placed at the center of the l. The air was purified with fumigations inside the rooms, pouring strongly odorous substances onto a live fire; the belongings of the deceased were incinerated.
The construction of l. was also necessary in the cities port cities, to defend themselves against the importation of contagious diseases. These quarantine places, after the improvements brought about by the experience acquired over the years, were each made up of four two-story buildings with an appropriate distance between them. The first served as housing for the senior staff: inspector, commissioner, physicians, surgeons, apothecary, priest and officials; in the second were located the offices and the chapel; in the third, where the quarantine was carried out, were located the infirmary for suspected cases and the warehouses for goods coming from infected places. These first three buildings were no less than forty feet apart from one another. The fourth had to be at least two hundred feet from the others; in it were housed those who were manifestly stricken by the disease, and the goods of ships that had had sick people on board were deposited there. Sentinels guarded the courtyards where convalescents could walk, watching to ensure that no violations were committed. In a secluded place, well far off, was the mortuary.
Bibliography2 works
Gustavo M. Apolloni