Archaeometry of Air Pollution: Urban Emission in Italy during the 17th Century

Past sources of air pollution in the cities of Northern Italy are investigated by a critical analysis of a 17th-century treatise written by B. Ramazzini, a medical doctor interested in the associations between work, environmental pollution and health. In this paper, past emissions due to domestic and craftsman's activity have been recognised and classified according to the potential damage to cultural heritage. The indoor environment experienced concentrations of smoke due to bad ventilation and domestic combustion for lighting and heating. High indoor concentrations of sulphur dioxide were common from the burning of sulphur for domestic and workshop activities. The outdoor environment experienced smoke for the combustion necessary for several workshop activities and uncontrolled dangerous emissions. The urban pollution was not homogeneous; the craftsmen's activities were organised in different specific areas so that the environmental deterioration potentials changed from site to site inside the same town.