Page 59 - 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. 59
Porters in the Eighteenth-century Port City of Trieste ...
Table 3.2: Facchini in the 1775 Trieste census, by gender and age
Age Male Female Total
N% N% N%
-15
21–25 2 0.6 0 0.0 2 0.5
26–30 16 5.1 2 2.0 18 4.4
31–35 53 17.0 9 9.1 62 15.1
36–40 49 15.7 12 12.1 61 14.8
41–45 86 27.6 18 18.2 104 25.3
46–50 25 8.0 11 11.1 36 8.8
51–55 40 12.8 22 22.2 62 15.1
56–60 7 7.1 15 3.6
61–65 8 2.6 10 10.1 30 7.3
20 6.4 5 5.1 13 3.2
66- 3 3.0
Total 8 2.6 99 100.0 8 1.9
5 1.6 411 100.0
312 100.0
Source: BCT, AD, CG, 1775
In Trieste too, the porters formed a layered and autonomous occupa-
tional and social category of workers. 30 percent of the men (and just un-
der a quarter of the entire workforce) settled in the city were private por-
ters, permanently employed in wholesale and forwarding firms, in stores,
and in various private companies (Table 3.3). Less than 14 percent of men
were public facchini. These were the customs porters (facchini di dogana
and facchini della muda) - there were 26 of them in 1775 - who served in
the free port customhouse. They were subject to special obligations laid
down in the rules of 1754, and were therefore the only ones recogniza-
ble as a formally constituted group. They were in charge of bringing the
goods to the customs scales and of delivering them outside the port. They
were paid by drivers or cart owners at certain rates, and when there was
not enough work at customs, they could join the free market (AST, CRS,
b. 457, doc. 15–16, 31 January 1754). Sanitary porters in charge of quaran-
tined goods (facchini di sanità) worked in the infirmary, and postal por-
ters (facchini di posta) worked at the post office. A few porters specialized
in carrying oil (facchini di olio), salt (facchini di sale, at the public warehouse
and salt administration), wine (porta vino) and flour and cereals (facchini
di farina e di grani).
59
Table 3.2: Facchini in the 1775 Trieste census, by gender and age
Age Male Female Total
N% N% N%
-15
21–25 2 0.6 0 0.0 2 0.5
26–30 16 5.1 2 2.0 18 4.4
31–35 53 17.0 9 9.1 62 15.1
36–40 49 15.7 12 12.1 61 14.8
41–45 86 27.6 18 18.2 104 25.3
46–50 25 8.0 11 11.1 36 8.8
51–55 40 12.8 22 22.2 62 15.1
56–60 7 7.1 15 3.6
61–65 8 2.6 10 10.1 30 7.3
20 6.4 5 5.1 13 3.2
66- 3 3.0
Total 8 2.6 99 100.0 8 1.9
5 1.6 411 100.0
312 100.0
Source: BCT, AD, CG, 1775
In Trieste too, the porters formed a layered and autonomous occupa-
tional and social category of workers. 30 percent of the men (and just un-
der a quarter of the entire workforce) settled in the city were private por-
ters, permanently employed in wholesale and forwarding firms, in stores,
and in various private companies (Table 3.3). Less than 14 percent of men
were public facchini. These were the customs porters (facchini di dogana
and facchini della muda) - there were 26 of them in 1775 - who served in
the free port customhouse. They were subject to special obligations laid
down in the rules of 1754, and were therefore the only ones recogniza-
ble as a formally constituted group. They were in charge of bringing the
goods to the customs scales and of delivering them outside the port. They
were paid by drivers or cart owners at certain rates, and when there was
not enough work at customs, they could join the free market (AST, CRS,
b. 457, doc. 15–16, 31 January 1754). Sanitary porters in charge of quaran-
tined goods (facchini di sanità) worked in the infirmary, and postal por-
ters (facchini di posta) worked at the post office. A few porters specialized
in carrying oil (facchini di olio), salt (facchini di sale, at the public warehouse
and salt administration), wine (porta vino) and flour and cereals (facchini
di farina e di grani).
59
