In 1656-57 the territory of the Republic of Genoa, like other Italian states, was hit by a terrible plague that halved the population in the city. The Senate of the Republic when the epidemic was dying out, as a sign of gratitude to the Lord, commissioned a large ex voto from the famous painter Domenico Fiasella. The now elderly artist fixed on the canvas, next to the health and charitable commitment of the Genoese, the harrowing scenes of the disease, framing them within the city, idealized through the representation of its symbolic buildings, public and religious: the church of San Domenico , the Loggia of the merchants in Banchi, the Lantern, identity of the trade and maritime power of the Genoese, all dominated by the symbolic figure of death with a scythe.

Bibliography
Romano da Calice, La grande peste. Genova 1656-1657, Genova, Nova scripta, 2004