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Abstract: As a realistic paradox there were times in which the plague's effects were beneficial. Such was the case of the increasingly efficient administrative and financial reforms carried out by Pope Alexander VII and previously introduced by his predecessors. Among these were the deep changes concerning the road networks outside of the cities, which can be understood through an archival source of primary importance, the Taxae Wiarum of the Presidenza delle Strade. Beginning in 1654 the Taxae Wiarum became more systematic and frequent as to guarantee efficient connections between the city and the State. The Secretary of State, Cardinal Fabio Chigi, was mainly responsible for this. From 1665, when he was elected pope and took the name of Alexander VII, the Taxae increased and became systematic. Nonetheless the plague brought to the fore the limitations of this taxation system and the problems in the control of the territory. As the plague ended, the experience acquired in those times of crisis would lead to the creation of a new method of control, the Catasto Alessandrino, a fundamental instrument prior to the nineteenth century innovations.