3. Where it came from.

3. Where it came from.

In October of 1347, a few Italian merchant ships returned from a trip to the Black Sea, which was a port used to trade with China. When the ships docked in Sicily, many of those on board were dying of plague. Within days the disease had spread throughout the city and the surrounding countryside.

An eyewitness recalls the events:

"Realizing what a deadly disaster had come to them, the people quickly drove the Italians from their city. But the disease remained, and soon death was everywhere. Fathers abandoned their sick sons. Lawyers refused to come and make out wills for the dying. Friars and nuns were left to care for the sick, and monasteries and convents were soon deserted, as they were stricken, too. Bodies were left in empty houses, and there was no one to give them a Christian burial."