ABSTRACT
The Health Office authorities acknowledged their great fear of liberating patients prematurely, given the spread of the disease within the city. Contemporaries such as Benedetti recorded the effect of plague upon the economy of the city, particularly trades associated with dangerous materials; he described the silk and wool merchants, who sustained two-thirds of the city, and who ceased to work during epidemics; commerce between merchants disappeared from squares across Venice. The system which governed movement between the lazaretto vecchio and lazaretto nuovo was a complex one, which became particularly convoluted during periods of infection. The movement of goods was difficult to track but important because these items were potentially dangerous. Some groups were particularly associated with dangerous goods: Jews were warned by the Health Office officials in the early sixteenth century against the dangers of transporting goods from all over the city because of the enormous risk that posed to public health.
