process of relative decline of the Italian economies." Literature The 1630 Milan plague is the backdrop for several chapters of Alessandro Manzoni's 1840 novel The Betrothed (). Although a work of fiction, Manzoni's description of the conditions and events in plague-ravaged Milan are completely historical and extensively documented from primary sources researched by the author. An expunged section of the book, describing the historical trial and execution of three alleged "plague-spreaders", was later published in a pamphlet entitled Storia della colonna infame (History of the pillar of infamy). See also Ludovico Settala Naples Plague (1656) List of epidemics Second plague pandemic Santa Maria della Salute, a church in Venice built as a votive offering for the city's deliverance from the plague Lazzaretto Vecchio, small island in the Venetian lagoon used as a cemetery for plague victims References Sources Second plague pandemic Health disasters in Italy 17th-century health disasters 1629 in Italy 1630 in Italy 1631 in Italy Duchy of Milan 17th century in the Republic of Venice 1629 disasters 1630 disasters 1631 disasters 17th-century epidemics History of Milan Thirty Years' War