Rossella Cancila
Ed. Rubbettino, Soveria Mannelli (CZ) 2023
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“The revolt, the plague, the flood, the battle, the earthquake – the subject of this essay – are all events that accompanied and marked the life of the communities of the old regime with strongly negative effects on the community”. Palermo, where Professor Cancila teaches Modern History at the local University and where this work of hers is set, is that of the era in which the city was “the ancient capital of a kingdom that has long played a leading role in Mediterranean history”. The events analyzed “they heavily influenced the days and hours in which they occurred or manifested themselves, but not only those, because they left profound marks on a collective and individual level, they had an impact on the institutional, social, economic, financial, even cultural level”. While the viceroy turned out to be “absent, far away, busy elsewhere, distracted”, the praetor, head of the civic administration and guardian of the citizens, was responsible for dealing with complex situations. The population, for its part, was “generally willing to accept restrictions to protect collective well-being and tranquility, even if temporarily, pending the restoration of normality”.
“The revolt of the 1560 it was certainly a revolt against the high cost of living. But not only that”. In fact, it was claimed by the population, “the right to participate in city politics and to defend one's own positions, thus preventing the city's leaders from holding councils among themselves and deciding to their own advantage according to their own interests”. On September 23, the city council was considering the possibility of imposing new taxes and increasing the price of some basic necessities, such as bread. A crowd, therefore, had gathered at the Praetor's Palace to prevent the council from convening. The revolt, however, did not break out by chance, but was “organized and prepared, almost as if it were waiting for a good opportunity to provoke the people and raise them up. This is demonstrated by the weapons in the possession of the rebels from the early stages; the involvement of the workers even at the highest levels; the crowd that does not seem to have been moved at random, or mobilized by an explosion of anger, but driven by well-identified characters, with clear ideas, credible to the people and capable of acting as authoritative interlocutors of the constituted authorities”. There is not much information about how the revolt was put down. Some say that the Inquisition intervened. But soon after came the hour of reckoning, with the execution of several death sentences.
The plague arrived in Palermo on June 9th 1575, when it was not yet clear to science what exactly it was. If until then the dominant conception “he attributed the cause to the air and its transmission to miasmas, that is, the impurity of the inhaled air”, However, the idea that transmission could also occur through direct contact with the infected person was becoming increasingly widespread. “Only when, at the beginning of July, the fury of the contagion began to claim victims did the nature of the disease become clear and it was understood that it had arrived from Barbary on an infected galley. The first to die in Palermo had in fact been a Maltese prostitute, who had 'practised' with the captain of the suspect galley”.
The person who brought about a turning point in the management of the plague emergency was the Sicilian chief physician Giovanni Filippo Ingrassia, with his treatise “Information on the pestiferous and contagious disease”, where the practice of the barrier, that is, the use of fire to burn everything that was infected and “the ruthless application of the gallows for offenders.” On the external front, he suggested that those who came from suspicious locations should carry a sign of recognition such as a white tablecloth with a crosswise band. On the internal front, Ingrassia recommended cleaning the streets, also hoping for the creation of “a covered sewer system connected to individual homes to convey waste water to the sea.” With the sudden increase in the number of deaths, isolation was carried out, avoiding gatherings.
It was during that period that the first lazarettos arose in Palermo, “special hospitals intended to accommodate in separate places men and women, infected, suspected and convalescents”, with a novelty, however, introduced by Ingrassia, which consisted in the separation, in different buildings, of the sick from the convalescents in the process of recovery. Outside the lazarettos, Charles of Aragon, for the management of the emergency in the city, gave “broad power of intervention to the city officials and to the deputies of each district into which Palermo was divided, eleven in all”.
The situation was considered under control in May 1576, when no new infections were recorded. Between June 1575 and April 15, 1576, there were 3.100 deaths, out of a population of 75.000/80.000 inhabitants, that is, approximately 4% which, compared to 25% in Venice and 18% in Milan, makes it clear that the measures adopted by Ingrassia were effective.
The 26 November 1666 the rain, which in Sicily had been devastating throughout the month of November, caused a flood in the city. The miraculous intervention of Santa Rosalia in some areas avoided the worst. “An image of Saint Rosalia was seen floating on the flood waters, made in the shape of a statuette, which was running straight ahead and standing upright, without ever submerging: a clear sign that the saint had responded to the danger of her country”.
In July of 1674 Messina, which was the seat of the viceroy like Palermo, had risen up against the Spanish government. “On 28 April 1675 the Senate of Messina paid homage of loyalty to Louis XIV and his successors in the hands of the Duke of Vivonne, supreme commander of the French army in Sicily, who on that occasion was appointed viceroy and lieutenant general of the island”. Palermo, for the French, was a very coveted prey. On June 2, 1676, a very bloody naval battle was fought in the area in front of its port, which began at 15.00:19.30 p.m., between the allied Spanish and Dutch armies against the French. The artillery placed in defense of the city averted the danger of a landing by the French who, around XNUMX:XNUMX p.m., although they considered themselves victorious, decided to leave Palermo, putting an end to the battle. The allies lost sixteen ships. “Palermo was safe, it had defended itself, but it is also true that the French command did not want to go further, considering itself satisfied with the result obtained”. However, since the presence in Sicily had not brought any real advantages to France, on 14 March 1678 Louis XIV officially announced the abandonment of the island, throwing Messina into panic which, with the Peace of Nijmegen of 1678, was formally handed over to the Spanish., “marking the beginning of a repression that would cost the city dearly, accused of the serious crime of high treason”.
Sunday 1st September 1726 Palermo was shaken by a very strong earthquake which, however, did not hit all the neighborhoods equally. “The social composition of the deceased was largely articulated around the less privileged classes, who remained imprisoned by housing structures of little value”. And, if the immediate urgency was to save lives and help the wounded, it was also necessary to provide for the quick burial of corpses and carcasses. Then we thought about guaranteeing the safety of the city, by putting “secure the prisons with new military guards not only inside but also outside, for fear of riots”. Then, it was decided to keep the city gates open, in order to allow the escape. “in case the tremors were to repeat themselves, while ensuring that no cases of smuggling or other abuses occurred.”
Many religious functions and penitential rites were organized, as the earthquake was interpreted as a sign of divine punishment. It was therefore necessary to atone. On September 4, Archbishop Giuseppe Gasch organized a procession in honor of Santa Rosalia, the patron saint of the city. But it was not the only one. Numerous religious functions were organized in the following days. “Silence was a great absentee. They were public acts, which responded to the order and hierarchies of a rigorous ceremonial, in which itineraries, gestures, clothes, words were solemn signs that directly or indirectly involved all the citizens and the entire urban fabric in a perspective that was both ritual and representation of power”.
Gianlorenzo Capano
