Page 35 - Mocarelli, Luca, and Aleksander Panjek. Eds. 2020. Maize to the People! Cultivation, Consumption and Trade in the North-Eastern Mediterranean (Sixteenth-Nineteenth Century). Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 35
maize diffusion in the republic of venice: the case of the province of vicenza
However, in the 1590s, its diffusion was much more widespread; in 1595
for example, some staia of maize (i.e. dozens of litres) were reported not in
peasant houses, but in the estates of the noble families Trissino and Piovene
in Castelgomberto – close to Valdagno, in the Agno Valley (Fornasa 2002).
Moreover, another element that suggests that maize was fully included in
the local agricultural structure already in the 1590s is its mention in con-
tracts – such as the strammi in Castelgomberto referred to above – and es-
pecially the fact that it was no longer excluded from the tithes. On the con-
trary, as anticipated, this was an element that characterized the first steps
of its diffusion. In 1597 for example, Girolamo and Asdrubale Trissino, who
owned some estates in the Agno Valley, between Arzignano and Trissino,
shared the tithes of the sorgo turco cultivated in Castelgomberto (Fornasa
2002). Moreover, in 1599, Natale Faggion signed the contract for the col-
lection of the “sorgo turco tithe”; according to Fornasa, in the same year
the production of the new cereal in Trissino was around 500 staia (around
10,000 kg) (Fornasa 2003, 126).
Therefore, in the mid-1590s, maize – at least in the area close to the
mountains – spread out from the peasant gardens and was cultivated on
the estates of the noble families of Vicenza (and included in the tithes);
however, an archival source leads us to anticipate the diffusion of the new
cereal at the end of the previous decade. Indeed, the historical archives of
the Municipality of San Vito di Leguzzano include a relevant price series
of agricultural products, dated 1587-1708 (ASCSVL). In the sixteenth cen-
tury, San Vito was a village with around 1,000 inhabitants and part of the
administrative district (Vicariato) of Schio in the area of the Province of
Vicenza close to the mountains (Snichelotto 2019; Ranzolin, Snichelotto,
and Zuccollo 2007; De Tomasi 1993). Prices are recorded at the end of the
books that collected the fines imposed by the marighi and saltari (rural po-
lice officers) because of damages to public and private properties (Ongaro
and Savio 2019; Ongaro 2016; Snichelotto 2005). This means that they were
probably the prices used to fix the refunds due by the transgressors to the
owners of the fields and woods that had been damaged; therefore, they were
not real market prices, but were certainly closely related to them, given that
the price of every agricultural product was established on the basis of the
market price recorded for that product every year. The price series of San
Vito di Leguzzano is particularly interesting because already in 1587 the
price of maize (sorgo turco) was recorded almost uninterruptedly, togeth-
er with the prices of wheat, sorghum, buckwheat, millet, rye, panìco, vetch
33
However, in the 1590s, its diffusion was much more widespread; in 1595
for example, some staia of maize (i.e. dozens of litres) were reported not in
peasant houses, but in the estates of the noble families Trissino and Piovene
in Castelgomberto – close to Valdagno, in the Agno Valley (Fornasa 2002).
Moreover, another element that suggests that maize was fully included in
the local agricultural structure already in the 1590s is its mention in con-
tracts – such as the strammi in Castelgomberto referred to above – and es-
pecially the fact that it was no longer excluded from the tithes. On the con-
trary, as anticipated, this was an element that characterized the first steps
of its diffusion. In 1597 for example, Girolamo and Asdrubale Trissino, who
owned some estates in the Agno Valley, between Arzignano and Trissino,
shared the tithes of the sorgo turco cultivated in Castelgomberto (Fornasa
2002). Moreover, in 1599, Natale Faggion signed the contract for the col-
lection of the “sorgo turco tithe”; according to Fornasa, in the same year
the production of the new cereal in Trissino was around 500 staia (around
10,000 kg) (Fornasa 2003, 126).
Therefore, in the mid-1590s, maize – at least in the area close to the
mountains – spread out from the peasant gardens and was cultivated on
the estates of the noble families of Vicenza (and included in the tithes);
however, an archival source leads us to anticipate the diffusion of the new
cereal at the end of the previous decade. Indeed, the historical archives of
the Municipality of San Vito di Leguzzano include a relevant price series
of agricultural products, dated 1587-1708 (ASCSVL). In the sixteenth cen-
tury, San Vito was a village with around 1,000 inhabitants and part of the
administrative district (Vicariato) of Schio in the area of the Province of
Vicenza close to the mountains (Snichelotto 2019; Ranzolin, Snichelotto,
and Zuccollo 2007; De Tomasi 1993). Prices are recorded at the end of the
books that collected the fines imposed by the marighi and saltari (rural po-
lice officers) because of damages to public and private properties (Ongaro
and Savio 2019; Ongaro 2016; Snichelotto 2005). This means that they were
probably the prices used to fix the refunds due by the transgressors to the
owners of the fields and woods that had been damaged; therefore, they were
not real market prices, but were certainly closely related to them, given that
the price of every agricultural product was established on the basis of the
market price recorded for that product every year. The price series of San
Vito di Leguzzano is particularly interesting because already in 1587 the
price of maize (sorgo turco) was recorded almost uninterruptedly, togeth-
er with the prices of wheat, sorghum, buckwheat, millet, rye, panìco, vetch
33
