In the wake of one of history's most devastating epidemics of bubonic plague, the Byzantine emperor Justinian enacts a law meant to hinder and isolate people arriving from plague-infested regions.

Their bodies were later found in the Bay, and autopsy showed they contained plague bacilli. Despite this scare, there was no immediate outbreak of disease. But rats from the ship probably had ...

In Venice, a particular plague epidemic, which took place between 1575 and 1577, is still talked about. In fact, the city holds a festival every year to commemorate the end of this awful event.