Page 164 - Panjek, Aleksander, Jesper Larsson and Luca Mocarelli, eds. 2017. Integrated Peasant Economy in a Comparative Perspective: Alps, Scandinavia and Beyond. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 164
integr ated peasant economy in a compar ative perspective
Introduction
Abruzzo is a region of central Italy which formed the northernmost part
of the Kingdom of Naples over the centuries of interest in this paper. It was
divided into three provinces: Abruzzo Ultra II (with L’Aquila as its main
city), Abruzzo Ultra I (Teramo) and Abruzzo Citra (Chieti). The geomorp-
hic conformation of the regions is such that the mountainous area occupi-
es more than two thirds of its current territory, CRESA (2002, 30). In the
centuries considered here, the percentage was even higher (approximately
80%) because the region also included some high-altitude municipalities.
To the north lay 14 settlements forming the Cittaducale district, which was
lost in 1927 with the creation of the province of Rieti. To the south, the city
of Agnone became part of the new province of Molise in 1811.
The largest mountain mass of the entire Apennines was, and is, con-
centrated in a roughly elliptical shaped area of over 9,500km2 (8,225km2
plus the 1,362km2 of the Cittaducale district) which contains the highest
peaks.
Three mountain ranges divided by wide intermountain basins, run
along a north-west/south-east axis. The highest group is located to the east
and consists of the Laga Mountains (2,455m), the Gran Sasso (2,914m), the
Morrone 2,060m) and the Maiella (2,795m). The Velino (2,487m) and Si-
rente (2,349m) ranges occupy the centre, while further to the west, on the
edge of the upper Sangro river valley, the ridges of the Meta Mountains cul-
minate in the peaks of Mount Pretoso (2,247m) and Mount Meta (2,241m).
This imposing mountain mass shares some features with Alpine ter-
ritory (temperature, snow cover and general climate), (Farinelli 2000, 130).
Luigi Granata in 1830 referred to it as the ‘Siberia of the Kingdom of Na-
ples’ (Granata 1830, 199).
These environmental characteristics have long fostered the image of
an area suffering from isolation, backwardness, and stagnation. The most
recent historiography (De Matteis 1993; Costantini 1998, 2000; Felice 1995;
2000, Bulgarelli Lukacs 1993a; 2000; 2006; 2013; Nardone 2013; Piccioni
1993; Pierucci 2007; 2013) has contributed to a redefinition free of the stere-
otypes that the documentary evidence has proved to be unfounded.
This paper aims to illustrate the mountain’s ability to balance the eco-
nomic system, deploying flexibility and creativity in response to exter-
nal stresses on the local economy and market. In relation to the areas ad-
dressed in this volume, we will try to answer the question of whether or
not the mountain economy of Abruzzo was an integrated economy accord-
162
Introduction
Abruzzo is a region of central Italy which formed the northernmost part
of the Kingdom of Naples over the centuries of interest in this paper. It was
divided into three provinces: Abruzzo Ultra II (with L’Aquila as its main
city), Abruzzo Ultra I (Teramo) and Abruzzo Citra (Chieti). The geomorp-
hic conformation of the regions is such that the mountainous area occupi-
es more than two thirds of its current territory, CRESA (2002, 30). In the
centuries considered here, the percentage was even higher (approximately
80%) because the region also included some high-altitude municipalities.
To the north lay 14 settlements forming the Cittaducale district, which was
lost in 1927 with the creation of the province of Rieti. To the south, the city
of Agnone became part of the new province of Molise in 1811.
The largest mountain mass of the entire Apennines was, and is, con-
centrated in a roughly elliptical shaped area of over 9,500km2 (8,225km2
plus the 1,362km2 of the Cittaducale district) which contains the highest
peaks.
Three mountain ranges divided by wide intermountain basins, run
along a north-west/south-east axis. The highest group is located to the east
and consists of the Laga Mountains (2,455m), the Gran Sasso (2,914m), the
Morrone 2,060m) and the Maiella (2,795m). The Velino (2,487m) and Si-
rente (2,349m) ranges occupy the centre, while further to the west, on the
edge of the upper Sangro river valley, the ridges of the Meta Mountains cul-
minate in the peaks of Mount Pretoso (2,247m) and Mount Meta (2,241m).
This imposing mountain mass shares some features with Alpine ter-
ritory (temperature, snow cover and general climate), (Farinelli 2000, 130).
Luigi Granata in 1830 referred to it as the ‘Siberia of the Kingdom of Na-
ples’ (Granata 1830, 199).
These environmental characteristics have long fostered the image of
an area suffering from isolation, backwardness, and stagnation. The most
recent historiography (De Matteis 1993; Costantini 1998, 2000; Felice 1995;
2000, Bulgarelli Lukacs 1993a; 2000; 2006; 2013; Nardone 2013; Piccioni
1993; Pierucci 2007; 2013) has contributed to a redefinition free of the stere-
otypes that the documentary evidence has proved to be unfounded.
This paper aims to illustrate the mountain’s ability to balance the eco-
nomic system, deploying flexibility and creativity in response to exter-
nal stresses on the local economy and market. In relation to the areas ad-
dressed in this volume, we will try to answer the question of whether or
not the mountain economy of Abruzzo was an integrated economy accord-
162
