Per la storia del colera in Italia. Il cimitero dei colerosi di Benabbio (LU)

The cholera, endemic in Bengal, in the early 19th century spread in the West thanks to the revolution in transportation resulted from the steam engine. Tuscany was struck in 1835 and then, even more violent, in 1854-55. The area of Lucca is one of the hardest hit in the region. Between 2007 and 2010, the Division of Paleopathology of the University of Pisa undertook the archaeological exploration of the cholera cemetery of Benabbio, a mountain village near Lucca, where cholera lashed between August and October of 1855 causing 46 deaths in a population of around 900 inhabitants. The excavation made it possible to detect for the first time the material characteristics of a cholera cemetery. The findings provide a new source for anthropologically reading the reaction of a community facing the mortality crisis, between acceptance of regulations imposed by the authorities and local strategies.