Chiara Frugoni's 'Paure medievali' links medieval fears to modern fake news and climate anxiety

In her book 'Paure medievali. Epidemie, prodigi, fine del tempo' (Il Mulino, Bologna 2020), historian Chiara Frugoni delves into how medieval anxieties—such as plague, famine, and the perception of religious outsiders—echo in today's concerns regarding climate change, pandemics, and misinformation. The text is structured into five chapters that tackle themes of xenophobia, racism, catastrophism, and superstition. Frugoni utilizes iconographic analysis, referencing pieces like Ambrogio Lorenzetti's 'Allegory of Bad Government' and the Limbourg brothers' 'Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry' (1412–16). She draws parallels between medieval anti-Jewish sentiments and the contemporary scapegoating of the Chinese during COVID-19, quoting Vinicio Capossela's 'La peste,' while critiquing cultural regression and seeking to distinguish fact from superstition.