★ How should we review and reflect on this unexpected event after the COVID-19 pandemic? This book offers a novel historical perspective, drawing on the analysis of historical plagues and infectious disease outbreaks to prompt thoughts on the contemporary COVID-19 pandemic and humanity.
★ This book presents to readers the development and changes in theory, practice, and communication in human responses to plagues and epidemics from ancient times to the present - or perhaps some aspects have remained unchanged, and there are still many commonalities between the present and the past.
★ From the Plague of Athens, the Black Death in the 14th century to the Spanish flu, is the struggle between humans and microorganisms destined to be endless? In today's era of continuous technological progress, humans are still besieged by the familiar yet strange enemy of viruses. Looking back at history and learning from it, perhaps we can find overlooked lessons and rethink the present and the future.

Year 2020: Europe was dreaming of reaching new technological peaks and believed to have a guaranteed and permanent wellness. Of a sudden, it woke up besieged and humiliated by an enemy old and new at the same time: a virus. Did the Covid-19 pandemic bring us back of centuries or are we simply doomed to fight an everlasting fight with microbes? What can history tell and teach us about this? What does the Coronavirus pandemic have in common with the great epidemics of our past, from the Plague of Athens to the Black Death of the 14th century and the Spanish flu?

Francesco Maria Galassi: Physician, Paleopathologist and university Professor, in 2017 has been listed in the Forbes’ 30 under 30 Europe list for Science and Healthcare. Together with Elena Percivaldi, he is the author of Charlatans (Espress Edizioni, 2022).