Page 43 - Mellinato, Giulio, and Aleksander Panjek. Eds. 2022. Complex Gateways. Labour and Urban History of Maritime Port Cities: The Northern Adriaticin a Comparative Perspective. Koper: University of Primorska Press.
P. 43
Assistance to Ships and Cargo Handling in the Early Modern Port of Genoa
Guilds and related industry Average number of guilds members
XVI c. XVII c. XVIII c. 1797–1820
Porters
Caravana Portofranco 40 55 110 220
Grassini 12 12 40 40
Oil 13 13 18 19
Wine 171 171 180 360
Grains - - 500 780
Coal (Ponte Spinola) - - 130 350
Shore Services Ponte Mercanzia - - 48 180
Lesser Companies
- - 210 250
Measurers
Grains 18 18 30 30
Oil
Coal 8 ?? ?
Ligaballe
Barilai - -- 34
Bottai
15 40 124 ?
? 23 35 ?
15 14 14 ?
(*) Around 1818, 37 children of masters were reported as awaiting registration,
while 54 masters were working the trade without being properly enrolled (ASG,
CM, 464, doc. 23 August 1818).
(**) These guilds were an integral part of the Boatmen Guild until the mid-
eighteenth century.
From an initial examination of reported data, it can be observed that
some guilds (i.e. stoppieri da pece and barrel makers) had a relatively lim-
ited number of members (between 10 and 50) which would remain more
or less constant over time. Others, conversely, especially between the end
of the eighteenth and the first decades of the nineteenth century, would
increase significantly in the number of registered members. This trend
was particularly relevant in sectors employing less skilled labour, such as
in manual carriage and packaging (ligaballe) of goods. There are several
explanations for this situation. In the first case, authorities had allowed
mass hiring in order to give jobs to the many war veterans, especially af-
ter the Napoleonic wars and under the Savoy rule. In the latter case, it
was due to a strong increase in traffic volumes of packed rather than bulk
goods, for which more workers were needed to handle them. These car-
goes mostly featured textile raw materials, metals, spices, various man-
ufactured goods, hides, soda, pitch, saltpetre, alum, and some foodstuffs
– sugar, dry fish, dried fruit and nuts, etc. (Doria 1988 140–1). Porters
were certainly the most numerous group of port workers, accounting for
43
Guilds and related industry Average number of guilds members
XVI c. XVII c. XVIII c. 1797–1820
Porters
Caravana Portofranco 40 55 110 220
Grassini 12 12 40 40
Oil 13 13 18 19
Wine 171 171 180 360
Grains - - 500 780
Coal (Ponte Spinola) - - 130 350
Shore Services Ponte Mercanzia - - 48 180
Lesser Companies
- - 210 250
Measurers
Grains 18 18 30 30
Oil
Coal 8 ?? ?
Ligaballe
Barilai - -- 34
Bottai
15 40 124 ?
? 23 35 ?
15 14 14 ?
(*) Around 1818, 37 children of masters were reported as awaiting registration,
while 54 masters were working the trade without being properly enrolled (ASG,
CM, 464, doc. 23 August 1818).
(**) These guilds were an integral part of the Boatmen Guild until the mid-
eighteenth century.
From an initial examination of reported data, it can be observed that
some guilds (i.e. stoppieri da pece and barrel makers) had a relatively lim-
ited number of members (between 10 and 50) which would remain more
or less constant over time. Others, conversely, especially between the end
of the eighteenth and the first decades of the nineteenth century, would
increase significantly in the number of registered members. This trend
was particularly relevant in sectors employing less skilled labour, such as
in manual carriage and packaging (ligaballe) of goods. There are several
explanations for this situation. In the first case, authorities had allowed
mass hiring in order to give jobs to the many war veterans, especially af-
ter the Napoleonic wars and under the Savoy rule. In the latter case, it
was due to a strong increase in traffic volumes of packed rather than bulk
goods, for which more workers were needed to handle them. These car-
goes mostly featured textile raw materials, metals, spices, various man-
ufactured goods, hides, soda, pitch, saltpetre, alum, and some foodstuffs
– sugar, dry fish, dried fruit and nuts, etc. (Doria 1988 140–1). Porters
were certainly the most numerous group of port workers, accounting for
43
