Random Interesting Fact: Quarantine
I’m just back from a truly wonderful holiday in beautiful Croatia, staying in a little harbour town called Cavtat right down at the bottom.
While there we had a little guided tour of nearby Dubrovnik on a tuk tuk. Our guide Toni (who incidentally looked like the actor Nicholas Hoult) showed us the first quarantine hospital just outside the port entrance, built in the 14th century to help prevent plague and leprosy entering the city.
Visitors to the city had to spend 40 nights there before they were allowed to enter the city. They progressed through 4 sections, spending 10 nights in each. The final section was much smaller (presumably as not everyone got that far).
The concept of quarantine had been introduced by the Venetians where 40 days (“quaranta giorni”) eventually became known as quarantine – derived from ‘quarantino’, the Italian word for a 40-day period. Initially there were only required to say for 30 days and it was known as “trentine”.
The monastery in the city also has the oldest pharmacy in Europe, established in 1317 and still running to this day.
So there’s an interesting little ditty for you.
