Napoli e il controllo della frontiera marittima al tempo del colera

Naples and the control of the maritime frontier at the time of cholera (1830-37). How to reconcile the protection of health with the defense of commerce by sea and land, the production of work as well as social, economic and financial balances in times of epidemics? Centuries after the Black Death and cholera epidemics, the current Covid19 pandemic has re-produced coping mechanisms characterized by absence, exclusion, bans on movement and strict border controls and daily rhythms marked by the fear of economic and sanitary collapse. The aim of this paper is to analyze the public health measures adopted in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies to contain the spread of cholera epidemic in the early nineteenth century, with a specific focus on maritime policies. In particular, it will examine how the Bourbon health legislative plan, initially developed in the mid-eighteenth century and later revised in 1820, influenced practices and trade relations on the maritime border of one of the Italian peninsula's largest states until the national Unification.