Quarantine, trade and health policies in Ragusa-Dubrovnik until the age of George Armmenius-Baglivi.

A Decree of 1377 of the Rector of Dubrovnik-Ragusa officially issued quarantine. The obligation of a stay for 4 weeks on a separate site (islands or caravenserai) originated mainly from the need to protect the safety and quality of the commercial network and merchandise rather than for medical aetiopathogenetic purposes. The well documented network of representatives of the Republic in European ports and cities and the attention of the Ragusan rulers to medicine (the best physicians were sought in the Italian Universities) favored the first official quarantining as a legal system aimed at protecting the economic interests of the city during the golden age of the Republic. This included the 17th century lifetime of the physician George Armenius-Baglivi, who grew up in the cosmopolitan atmosphere of Ragusa, which explains his marked inclination to develop his medical skills in the best Italian universities, coming from Ragusa to Lecce and finally to Rome. How much uncertainty and obscurity does the passage of time cast over history, if false displaces true even for recent events, which took place right before our eyes?