(fonte: Andrew Curry, Science)
In 1456, the Duke of Milan established a medical institution dedicated to caring for the city’s poor and sick on a scale unprecedented in Europe. Built in the center of medieval Milan, the massive Ospedale Maggiore was soon dubbed Ca’ Granda—“Big Factory” in the local dialect. The nickname was a reference to both its scale and its ambition: to heal Milan’s working class as efficiently and effectively as possible.
Although churches had sponsored and staffed hospitals since the early Middle Ages, this hospital, funded by the rulers of Milan, was different. Admission was based on lack of income, not religious affiliation. “It’s the first secular hospital we know of in Europe,” says University of Milan (UNIMI) historian Folco Vaglienti. “That’s why people of different ethnicities and religions could be treated. Everybody was welcome.”
Ca’ Granda’s four wings could accommodate thousands of patients at once in a series of specialized wards treating everything from kidney stones and broken bones to tuberculosis (TB). The hospital had its own sewer system, kitchens, ice house, laundry, pharmacies, and chapel. […]
More than 300 years later, the tens of thousands of bodies in the crypt are providing scientists with a remarkable record of the poor in 17th century Milan. It’s a population and time period about which we know surprisingly little, because archaeologists in Europe haven’t paid much attention to how common people lived during the early modern period. “History tells us about politics and war, but nothing about ordinary people,” says Mirko Mattia, a bioarchaeologist at UNIMI. “We know more about the commoners of ancient Rome than we do about the people of the 17th century.”
Per leggere tutto l’articolo di Andrew Curry, clicca qui: Science
Anche se l’articolo è in inglese, racconta una storia profondamente italiana e milanese: uno scavo archeologico nel cuore di Milano che ci restituisce uno spaccato affascinante della vita dei più poveri nel Seicento. Per questo motivo abbiamo deciso di condividerlo comunque sul nostro blog.
Proposte didattiche
- Trovate la traduzione italiana di queste parole usate nell’articolo: burial, skeleton, DNA analysis, diet, convent
- Traducete in italiano questa frase dall’articolo (semplificata): “Researchers found that the buried individuals were mostly poor city dwellers with signs of illness and hard labor.” Pensate a come si dice in italiano “researchers”, “poor city dwellers”, “signs of illness”, “hard labor”
