The men behind the writings in the Lazzaretto Nuovo came from the foothills of the Alps, about 120 miles from Venice. The republic had assigned them a tiring, dangerous task, but one that was intended to defend the lagoon—and Europe itself—from the plague that raged in the eastern Mediterranean in the 16th century. The bastazi had to empty the holds of ships arriving from Constantinople and other ports, and sborar le robe—that is, remove the goods from their wrappings, sacks, and trunks, and air them out for days.