Conflicting Narratives: Health (Dis)information in Eighteenth-Century Italy

Abstract This chapter analyzes a series of interconnected Italian cases in its enquiry into how disinformation was created, and how it impacted on society. It argues that disinformation is an inherent element of information itself. Disinformation is understood here as an intentional construction of fictional and often conflicting narratives, helpful in times of crisis and also in routine governance in the pursuit of political goals both internally and internationally. Since health matters figured prominently in early modern public discourse and policy making, the article focuses on health-related cases to explain how disinformation worked and may still work today. During the eighteenth century, smallpox raged throughout the world. News of new outbreaks, and attempts to prevent it through inoculation, both sparked huge controversy, in which no participant in the dispute was above manipulating data and fabricating stories to bolster their arguments. After having laid out the context of early modern perceptions of diseases and health institutions, the chapter centres on specific instances: a successful text with Tuscan roots published in Milan by Giovanni Calvi (Tre consulti, 1762), and the port city of Livorno’s management of information about epidemics. The analysis of focal points such as port cities, along with the study of textual sources reveals the entire information chain (construction, circulation and reception). Ultimately the essay points out how disinformation itself is not an exception in the eighteenth-century media ecosystem, but is rather an essential part of interaction within public spaces.