“At every church they dug deep pits down to the water level; and thus those who were poor who had died during the night were bundled up quickly and thrown into the pit. In the morning when a large number of bodies were found in the pit, they took some earth and shovelled it down on top of them; and later others were placed on top of them and then another layer of earth, just as one makes lasagne with layers of pasta and cheese.”

Florence, Italy, c. 1350. Quoted in