Il dibattito storiografico sulla congiuntura del Trecento e la Peste Nera del ‘48

In a historical moment in which the entire planet is called to face the Coronavirus pandemic and manage its socio-economic consequences, interest in the great epidemics of the past is returning strong among scholars and enthusiasts. This essay has a dual purpose. On the one hand, it traces, in broad outline and without any pretense of completeness, the changes that took place during the fourteenth century, before and after the spread of the plague epidemic, in the light of the lively historiographical debate that from the 1950s to today continues to fuel discussions and research on the 14th century crisis. On the other hand, it summarizes the main interpretative lines on the effects (above all demographic, economic and social) produced by the black Plague on the lives of men and women of the time