So I upgraded to iTunes 12.7, and I ticked an innocuous option to synchronise my subscribed podcasts across devices.
Then when I went to view my podcasts, many of them had disappeared.
I suspect when you synchronise the podcasts, those you didn't subscribe to via the App Store (i.e. they were subscribed to via a RSS feed) get wiped since they are not registered in Apple's database (and thus there is no record of a podcast on Apple's side to synchronise with).
It's almost certainly not a corrupted library issue because the podcast files disappeared too - and iTunes didn't even have the grace to put them in my Recycle Bin - they just outright disappeared.
I went through one round of restoring podcasts by resubscribing to the podcasts for which empty folders were left (even if the podcast files inside were missing), but some directories (even those with files inside) were deleted too. Go figure.
Lucky I have a 5 month old backup to restore from.
Moral of the story: if Apple asks you to sync podcast subscriptions and settings, don't!
On a related note something similar has happened in the past when I changed my App Store to a different country and then back to the original one.
I think switching the country forces a sync, so hopefully disabling synchronisation will prevent this issue (I might test this - AFTER making a backup).
Related threads on Apple Communities:
Why did iTunes 11.1 (126) delete all (SEVERAL H... | Communities
where have my music and podcast libraries gone | Communities
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Saturday, September 16, 2017
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