Med kugo in kolero

Drawing on the example of the Northern Adriatic, the article presents movement restriction measures as preventive steps against contagious diseases. These measures (quarantine for persons suspected as potential carriers of disease and isolation of persons infected) were observed from the early modern period, when this area was the most exposed to plague epidemics, until the last decades of the nineteenth century, when cholera posed a major health threat. Because the discussion centres on coastal towns, primary attention is paid to maritime quarantine; however, the article also examines connections between the sea and the hinterland, as well as the border position of this area, which dictated the implementation of health measures in the towns and their wider surroundings.