[Cholera epidemic in Brescia in 1836]

Cholera first made its appearance in Italy in 1836. According to reports of the time the consequences were catastrophic: both the number of the people falling ill and the incidence of mortality were high. On the basis of extensive documentation from various archives, the disease appears to have been known in its clinical aspect but its aetiology remained obscure. Hence physicians were powerless to combat such a scourge. The sense of unease and confusion that accompanied the evolution of these sad events drove the population to the use of religious practices of various kinds. It is still possible to find signs of such devotion in churches, votive chapels and ex voto offerings.