Page 44 - 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. 44
plex Gateways
about 80% of the entire workforce. The Boatmen Guild was also quite im-
portant in terms of number of members (during the eighteenth centu-
ry there were 210 registered members on average) and activities carried
out: they were the only ones authorized to move freely with their boats
within the harbour and the only ones entitled to carry goods and people
(Dondero 1996, 36–152; Piccinno 2000, 134–64).
The porterage system inside the port deserves to be looked at in
greater detail, because of its quite unique features and complex and dif-
ferent problems it had to confront. Its work environment was character-
ized by contradictions and contrasting elements, which would vary over
time. In the Genoese port, since the fifteenth century, porters did not
simply carry cargoes to and from ships and port warehouses, but they
also transported them over a much wider geographic area. Since wagons
were not allowed to enter the city, in order to avoid excessive traffic, it
was up to these porters to carry the goods to retailers’ warehouses and
to the shops, as well as to the stationes from where they would be car-
ried farther by pack animals across the Apennine passes (Grossi Bianchi
and Poleggi 1980, 97–100). This transport service was provided by sev-
eral guilds. Their work was governed by strict internal rules (so-called
Statuti), as well as by regulations enforced by the magistracy of the Padri
del Comune. However, because of this complex and articulated system,
guilds’ business scopes would often overlap, with frequent fighting over
the right to transport cargoes arriving at the port. This work fragmen-
tation did not really match the level of skills and professionalism of the
porters, who would often look for better job opportunities by changing
employer and moving from one guild to another. The strongest and most
evident contrasts were reported between three guilds entirely made up
of foreigners – the Caravana of Bergamo, the Swiss porters in charge of
transporting oil, and the grassini coming from Domodossola and trans-
porting cured meat, cheese, butter and candles – and those, which were
the majority, of the so-called national porters, who were carrying wine,
wheat, and coal: the porters of Ponte Mercanzia, etc. Basically, frictions
were mostly caused by the privileges enjoyed by foreign guilds: they were
better paid, enjoyed more advanced forms of social security, and had
stronger barriers against the admission of new members. This last con-
dition in particular ensured a higher volume of work and more secure in-
come to registered members. Indeed, as can be seen from the data report-
ed in Table 2, during the difficult period between the fall of the Republic,
44
about 80% of the entire workforce. The Boatmen Guild was also quite im-
portant in terms of number of members (during the eighteenth centu-
ry there were 210 registered members on average) and activities carried
out: they were the only ones authorized to move freely with their boats
within the harbour and the only ones entitled to carry goods and people
(Dondero 1996, 36–152; Piccinno 2000, 134–64).
The porterage system inside the port deserves to be looked at in
greater detail, because of its quite unique features and complex and dif-
ferent problems it had to confront. Its work environment was character-
ized by contradictions and contrasting elements, which would vary over
time. In the Genoese port, since the fifteenth century, porters did not
simply carry cargoes to and from ships and port warehouses, but they
also transported them over a much wider geographic area. Since wagons
were not allowed to enter the city, in order to avoid excessive traffic, it
was up to these porters to carry the goods to retailers’ warehouses and
to the shops, as well as to the stationes from where they would be car-
ried farther by pack animals across the Apennine passes (Grossi Bianchi
and Poleggi 1980, 97–100). This transport service was provided by sev-
eral guilds. Their work was governed by strict internal rules (so-called
Statuti), as well as by regulations enforced by the magistracy of the Padri
del Comune. However, because of this complex and articulated system,
guilds’ business scopes would often overlap, with frequent fighting over
the right to transport cargoes arriving at the port. This work fragmen-
tation did not really match the level of skills and professionalism of the
porters, who would often look for better job opportunities by changing
employer and moving from one guild to another. The strongest and most
evident contrasts were reported between three guilds entirely made up
of foreigners – the Caravana of Bergamo, the Swiss porters in charge of
transporting oil, and the grassini coming from Domodossola and trans-
porting cured meat, cheese, butter and candles – and those, which were
the majority, of the so-called national porters, who were carrying wine,
wheat, and coal: the porters of Ponte Mercanzia, etc. Basically, frictions
were mostly caused by the privileges enjoyed by foreign guilds: they were
better paid, enjoyed more advanced forms of social security, and had
stronger barriers against the admission of new members. This last con-
dition in particular ensured a higher volume of work and more secure in-
come to registered members. Indeed, as can be seen from the data report-
ed in Table 2, during the difficult period between the fall of the Republic,
44
