Relationship between Climate and Famine from 1250 to 1350 in Central Italy

TL;DR

This paper investigates how long-term climate and geological events in central Italy from 1250 to 1350 influenced natural and human history, including famine and plague, through a multidisciplinary statistical-historical analysis.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis of climate, geological, and historical data to understand their combined impact on famine and societal changes in medieval Italy.

Findings

Correlation between climatic events and famine periods

Identification of extreme natural events like earthquakes and eruptions

Linkage of climate variability to the 1347-1351 plague wave

Abstract

This study aims to present an overview of how climate change brought about by events such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, flares and variations in solar activity, etc. have characterized the area of central Italy, analyzing and comparing astronomical, geological, meteorological, seismological, historical and climatic data, taking as reference some specific locations in the period between 1250 and 1350. The ultimate goal is to understand how long-term climatic and geological events in this geographical area have changed the territory both from a natural and anthropic point of view, leading to highlight the occurrence of extreme events such as wave of plague of the period 1347-1351. The analysis is performed using a statistical-historical approach and particular attention is paid to minimize any effect due to the error in the event of a lack of data.