L'epidemia di Spagnola a Firenze 1918-1920 : spunti per una revisione di conteggi e modelli epidemiologici

The article examines the 1918-1920 excess mortality data from Spanish flu epidemic in Florence, Italy. Two local documentary sources (the statistical abstracts published by the town administration and the admission registers of the Florence main hospital) provide empirical evidence for a revision of the national mortality data. The Italian case-study shows a pronounced excess mortality among women, as it happened even in England and India. Specific social and epidemiological expla- nations are debated. The Spanish flu was not socially-neutral; it did not change the traditional nexus between economic poverty and sanitary vulnerability. [Publisher's text]