Narrare il contagio. Peste, colera e virus tra le righe dei grandi romanzi

This essay analyzes, according to recent achievements of the so-called "medical humanities", the history of the great flu epidemics considered, however, by means of literary narratives. This is through the critical reading of some works that have marked the history of medieval, modern and contemporary literature. The aim is not, of course, the simple use of the literary work as a source for the history of epidemics - there is already a sufficiently thorough scientific literature on this topic - but rather the highlighting of a gradual awareness, by civil society, of the importance of medicine and hygiene as fundamental tools for human progress.