[4] It came to a stop by forcible quarantine of the poorer districts, and the efforts of Martinus Ludheim, a visiting German physician from Bavaria.

[citation needed] It is estimated that the plague may have claimed up to 1,250,000 lives throughout the Kingdom of Naples, making it one of the deadliest epidemics in history.

[1][6] Outside the Kingdom of Naples, in Rome (capital of the Papal State), around 23,000 people (or 19% of the local population) perished.

[4] During the seventeenth century, the economies of the Italian region were facing intense competition from northern Europe due to the Atlantic slave trade.

[8] Damage to the rural areas of Italy would destroy the surplus of manpower and supplies traditionally produced in the countryside, therefore curbing the capacity for urban recovery.