UN LAZZARETTO DELL’OTTOCENTO NELL’ALTO ADRIATICO - MUGGIA, IN PROVINCIA DI TRIESTE -

Abstract

The Hapsburg Empire set up a system of lazarets extending from the Bay of Kotor up to Trieste to improve sanitary control over its Adriatic coast.
Trieste had three lazarets in succession, the last of which was built near Muggia, a small town that saw a shipbuilding boom coinciding with the construction of the Suez Canal (1867). A rich source of information on the subject is the 1878 report written by Giovanni Bussolin, the head of the establishment. At the time, quarantined were patients with oriental plague, yellow fever and cholera. The lazaret was divided, according to the common practice of the time, into a “clean” and “foul” section or quarantine. The two were separated by a wall, and the flow between them was controlled. At the turn of the 20th century, the lazaret became a military hospital, and the site is now used for recreational activities. The information available indicates that the facility maintained high standards that were compatible with the knowledge of the times.