Page 55 - 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. 55
maize in umbr ia (centr al italy)
century, it is important to verify its presence in individual city markets and
to determine in which period it started to actually be cultivated in local
farms. Theoretically, these two phenomena may not concur since city mar-
ket supplies of seeds and cereals hinged upon several factors other than the
companies’ production, such as imports from other regions and the dis-
semination capability of seed and cereal traders. By examining the phas-
es of maize expansion in Umbria, a complex scenario emerges. On the ba-
sis of available findings regarding this region, it seems therefore possible
to introduce some variations to the theory according to which maize first-
ly appeared on farms and, later, in the markets (Levi 1991, 156). In our case
study, in fact, the two processes have proved to be concurrent. Before ad-
dressing the data derived from the farms’ accounts, it is necessary to fo-
cus on two of Umbria’s neighbouring regions: Marche and Tuscany. In the
Marche region, first records about the presence of maize among the local
crops refer to the last years of the seventeenth century when initial small
quantities were attested, which demonstrate that maize was still a novel-
ty (Moroni 2016). In the case of Tuscan farms too, maize made its appear-
ance among other crops during the last years of the seventeenth century
and then took hold in the early eighteenth century (Mineccia 1983). The
available information suggests that maize arrived on Umbrian farms at the
very beginning of the eighteenth century, following a north-to-south route
through the Tiber Valley. Awaiting new findings which will prove this hy-
pothesis, we can only affirm at the moment that maize firstly appears in the
accounting records of the Bufalini family from San Giusto in 1707 (AB, 359,
110). This is a relevant piece of information because, due to the closeness of
Bufalini’s lands to Tuscany and their commercial relations with the Emilia
region, it allows to hypothesize that this geographical area was one of the
main paths of maize to Umbria. Not by chance, data concerning the cen-
tral part of the region are chronologically successive. In the Pio Collegio
of the University of Perugia, the first reference to maize dates back to 1766
(AUP, LEU, 1766-1784); on the properties of the noble family of Bourbon di
Sorbello the first reference to maize appears in 1806 and, in this case, it is
called “Sicily wheat” (ASP, ABS, I, 59). Another evidence of the nineteenth
century consolidation of maize presence on large Umbrian farms comes
from the Degli Oddi family’s lands where, in 1802, the distribution of small
quantities of maize seeds was noted for the first time among small farm-
ers. After these first steps, maize was able to spread quickly. Likewise, in
the case of the lands of the Benedictine monastery of San Pietro in Perugia,
53
century, it is important to verify its presence in individual city markets and
to determine in which period it started to actually be cultivated in local
farms. Theoretically, these two phenomena may not concur since city mar-
ket supplies of seeds and cereals hinged upon several factors other than the
companies’ production, such as imports from other regions and the dis-
semination capability of seed and cereal traders. By examining the phas-
es of maize expansion in Umbria, a complex scenario emerges. On the ba-
sis of available findings regarding this region, it seems therefore possible
to introduce some variations to the theory according to which maize first-
ly appeared on farms and, later, in the markets (Levi 1991, 156). In our case
study, in fact, the two processes have proved to be concurrent. Before ad-
dressing the data derived from the farms’ accounts, it is necessary to fo-
cus on two of Umbria’s neighbouring regions: Marche and Tuscany. In the
Marche region, first records about the presence of maize among the local
crops refer to the last years of the seventeenth century when initial small
quantities were attested, which demonstrate that maize was still a novel-
ty (Moroni 2016). In the case of Tuscan farms too, maize made its appear-
ance among other crops during the last years of the seventeenth century
and then took hold in the early eighteenth century (Mineccia 1983). The
available information suggests that maize arrived on Umbrian farms at the
very beginning of the eighteenth century, following a north-to-south route
through the Tiber Valley. Awaiting new findings which will prove this hy-
pothesis, we can only affirm at the moment that maize firstly appears in the
accounting records of the Bufalini family from San Giusto in 1707 (AB, 359,
110). This is a relevant piece of information because, due to the closeness of
Bufalini’s lands to Tuscany and their commercial relations with the Emilia
region, it allows to hypothesize that this geographical area was one of the
main paths of maize to Umbria. Not by chance, data concerning the cen-
tral part of the region are chronologically successive. In the Pio Collegio
of the University of Perugia, the first reference to maize dates back to 1766
(AUP, LEU, 1766-1784); on the properties of the noble family of Bourbon di
Sorbello the first reference to maize appears in 1806 and, in this case, it is
called “Sicily wheat” (ASP, ABS, I, 59). Another evidence of the nineteenth
century consolidation of maize presence on large Umbrian farms comes
from the Degli Oddi family’s lands where, in 1802, the distribution of small
quantities of maize seeds was noted for the first time among small farm-
ers. After these first steps, maize was able to spread quickly. Likewise, in
the case of the lands of the Benedictine monastery of San Pietro in Perugia,
53
