Separare, controllare, difendere. Il Regno di Sicilia durante la peste di Messina e Reggio (1743-45)

After the intensification of relations with the Ottoman Levant, the plague broke out in Messina and then spread to Reggio undermining the commercial interests that Charles III had tried to promote since his ascent to the throne. In the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily, the strategies adopted to combat the disease were substantially similar and were based on the separation of the infected areas thanks to the imposition of sanitary cordons and on the absolute protection of capitals. The reactions to emergency measures, however, differed profoundly.