"Monstrous city", "grat wen", "painted sepulchre" and other similar expressions were usually adopted to describe European cities throughout early modern history. Defoe in England, Rousseau in France and many others could be quoted as evidence of contemporary concerns about the seemingly uncontrollable city. In contrast to these visions of urban depravity was a sense of smaller communities like the village as a counter-model of sound order and relative sanity. the manner in which such contemporaries conceptualised their social and environmental problems has had a profound influence on the way that modern historians have interpreted the development of towns. Although it's commonly assumed that the action of early modern city governments was ineffectual to maintain a clean environment, a deeper scrutiny of documentary sources reveal that contemporaries showed an appreciation of the health risk that overcrowding posed. Stench, which according to miasma-humoral theory was believed to be a principal cause of disease, was strictly associated with plague and other illness. Prompted by frequent outbreaks of plague, olfactory vigilance played a central role in regulating towns - from the discrimination against poor immigrants and beggars, to the shaping of the city and better sanitation. In this article it will be argued that combating stench was an important task in the mind of municipal governors - most notably, to tame plague and its myriad disorders. Despite the close association of urban squalor, filth and disease, frequent complaints about neglicence in tackling these problems were made, and, as a result, new institutions and strategies were devised to clean the cities. A comparative study of major European cities (London, Paris, Rome) can help us to better understand how civic sanitation schemes operated in the past, the principal concerns behind these schemes, and the obstructions to their successful implementation.
Per descrivere le condizioni igieniche delle città di antico regime i contemporanei hanno spesso usato espressioni molto colorite. All'immagine di una città irrimediabilmente sporca era spesso contrapposta la visione idealizzata della vita rurale. Queste considerazioni hanno influenzato il modo attraverso il quale gli storici hanno considerato le questioni ambientali delle città del passato. Malgrado i luoghi comuni storiografici, una più attenta ricognizione delle fonti archivistiche consente di confutare la diffusa convinzione circa il sostanziale disinteresse delle istituzioni comunali rispetto alle condizioni igieniche delle proprie città. In accordo con la teoria miasmatico-umorale, una grande attenzione era rivolta alla formazione di cattivi odori, dei quali si credeva potessero causare la diffusione di malattie come la peste. Tale condizione obbligava le autorità a riservare attenzione alla presenza di immondizia nelle città, così come alle produzioni capaci di produrre effluvi creduti nocivi per la salute pubblica. Un approccio comparativo ai casi di tre capitali europee (Londra, Parigi, Roma) consente di mostrare quali metodologie furono adottate in contesti diversi per affrontare la questione dell'igiene cittadina. Ne emerge un quadro complesso, in cui la capacità delle sngole istituzioni di affrontare le questioni ambientali era influenzata da fattori economici, demografici e dai paradigmi medici.
Le norme decorose e il lavoro sporco. L’igiene urbana in tre capitali europee: Londra, Parigi, Roma tra XVI e XVIII secolo
SANSA, Renato
2006-01-01
Abstract
"Monstrous city", "grat wen", "painted sepulchre" and other similar expressions were usually adopted to describe European cities throughout early modern history. Defoe in England, Rousseau in France and many others could be quoted as evidence of contemporary concerns about the seemingly uncontrollable city. In contrast to these visions of urban depravity was a sense of smaller communities like the village as a counter-model of sound order and relative sanity. the manner in which such contemporaries conceptualised their social and environmental problems has had a profound influence on the way that modern historians have interpreted the development of towns. Although it's commonly assumed that the action of early modern city governments was ineffectual to maintain a clean environment, a deeper scrutiny of documentary sources reveal that contemporaries showed an appreciation of the health risk that overcrowding posed. Stench, which according to miasma-humoral theory was believed to be a principal cause of disease, was strictly associated with plague and other illness. Prompted by frequent outbreaks of plague, olfactory vigilance played a central role in regulating towns - from the discrimination against poor immigrants and beggars, to the shaping of the city and better sanitation. In this article it will be argued that combating stench was an important task in the mind of municipal governors - most notably, to tame plague and its myriad disorders. Despite the close association of urban squalor, filth and disease, frequent complaints about neglicence in tackling these problems were made, and, as a result, new institutions and strategies were devised to clean the cities. A comparative study of major European cities (London, Paris, Rome) can help us to better understand how civic sanitation schemes operated in the past, the principal concerns behind these schemes, and the obstructions to their successful implementation.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
