On October 21, 1629, near the Swiss border, the Florentine Observer of Milan wrote to Florence reporting that a captain from Lecco arrived in all haste to inform that "the virulent plague has been observed”. Lacking knowledge of the plague and the means to prevent it, they entrusted all matters relating to public health to the guards who would naturally be the first line of defense. However, after painstaking trial and error, Florence and Tuscany experienced deaths of enormous proportions. In the 17th century, the Italian economy entered a long recession. Commerce and industry declined, Italian agriculture stagnated, and poverty and banditry increased. Meanwhile, Italy was struck by the plague. One of the most advanced regions of Italy had fallen from grace. Interestingly, this situation is quite similar to the US recession of 2008. In both cases, government leaders implemented solutions that helped improve the quality of life of their citizens, while strengthening the relationship between the individual and the appropriation of goods. Public Health: An Unraveled Fabric Along with a sudden epidemic, it was widely believed that the incidence of plague was much higher in the lower classes than in the upper classes. Along with overcrowded or unsanitary conditions, this makes sense because despite the "more delicate and tender" characteristics of the nobility, they were free to flee and could afford remedies inaccessible to the common man. Vaccination being little known, the establishment of sanitary “cordons” was the first “preventative measure to which people could resort outside of prayers and processions”. Despite the limited remains of a once fertile population, the government has tried to reduce...... middle of paper ......Giulia. Stories from a year of plague: the social and the imaginary in baroque Florence. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989. Print.Cipolla, Carlo M.. Before the Industrial Revolution: European Society and Economy, 1000-1700. New York: Norton, 1976. Print.Cipolla, Carlo M.. Cristofano and the plague; a study of the history of public health in the time of Galileo. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973. Print. Fletcher, Robert. A tragedy of the great plague of Milan in 1630. Italy: The Lord Baltimore Press, 1898. Print.Kleiner, Fred S. and Helen Gardner. Gardner's Art Through the Ages: A Global History. 13th ed. Boston, MA: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2009. Print. Labarge, Margaret Wade. A 13th century baronial house. Brighton: Harvester, 1980. Print. Pollitzer, R.. Plague. Geneva: World Health Organization, 1954. Print.