Page 174 - 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. 174
integr ated peasant economy in a compar ative perspective
changes in urban manufacturing due to competition from new products
arriving from England and other north-western countries in Europe. The
production, which had moved from the major cities to the small towns and
villages, took root in some areas that began to specialise in the produc-
tion of clothing, thus obtaining significant revenues that contemporary ob-
servers did not fail to detect and quantify. It has also been pointed out that
manufacturing development was favoured by the intervention of the feudal
system and the Church while the link with urban corporations was never
severed, at least for the wool industry, which developed earlier than others
(Cirillo 2002 and Id. 2012). In 17th and 18th century Abruzzo, crafts, pluriac-
tivity and proto-industry coexisted. We focus on the latter because it rep-
resents an important step in the transformation of the production process.
There were significant instances of proto-industry in the mountains of 17th
century Abruzzo. The production of woolen cloth was of particular impor-
tance. In the late Middle Ages, the cities of L’Aquila, Teramo and Leonessa
were the major production centres. In the 17th century, the activity appears
localised in the foothills of the Maiella and especially in the high Aventine
valley with the communities of Taranta, Palena, Gesso and Lettomanop-
pello, a location whose specialisation gave the name ‘tarantole’ to the cloth
produced there. There was also a division of labour between the commu-
nities, since only yarn was produced in Lettomanoppello, and there is ev-
idence for the presence of entrepreneur merchants practising a division of
the profits, one third of which went to the local operators (Bulgarelli Lukacs
1989, 154–55). This area, located along the L’Aquila – Salerno route already
mentioned by Maurice Aymard, became one of the three most important
southern areas for wool manufacture (Aymard 1970, 136–9). It maintained
a leading position over time, even managing to survive during the 18th and
19th centuries despite competition from products of the most advanced ar-
eas in Europe, with government protection until the unification of Italy
(1861).
The Aventino Valley is not the only case of widespread textile produc-
tion in the Abruzzo foothills. There is still no map of the manufacturing
activities in the mountainous region, but it is certain that the Teramo area
counted several mountain communities (Montorio, Isola del Gran Sasso,
Pietracamela, Tussicia, San Giovanni a Scorzone and especially Campli)
located in the Gran Sasso and Laga Mountains, which supplemented the
meagre income from farming with the production of woolen cloth for cen-
turies. The raw material coming from the sheep remained in the Abruzzo
172
changes in urban manufacturing due to competition from new products
arriving from England and other north-western countries in Europe. The
production, which had moved from the major cities to the small towns and
villages, took root in some areas that began to specialise in the produc-
tion of clothing, thus obtaining significant revenues that contemporary ob-
servers did not fail to detect and quantify. It has also been pointed out that
manufacturing development was favoured by the intervention of the feudal
system and the Church while the link with urban corporations was never
severed, at least for the wool industry, which developed earlier than others
(Cirillo 2002 and Id. 2012). In 17th and 18th century Abruzzo, crafts, pluriac-
tivity and proto-industry coexisted. We focus on the latter because it rep-
resents an important step in the transformation of the production process.
There were significant instances of proto-industry in the mountains of 17th
century Abruzzo. The production of woolen cloth was of particular impor-
tance. In the late Middle Ages, the cities of L’Aquila, Teramo and Leonessa
were the major production centres. In the 17th century, the activity appears
localised in the foothills of the Maiella and especially in the high Aventine
valley with the communities of Taranta, Palena, Gesso and Lettomanop-
pello, a location whose specialisation gave the name ‘tarantole’ to the cloth
produced there. There was also a division of labour between the commu-
nities, since only yarn was produced in Lettomanoppello, and there is ev-
idence for the presence of entrepreneur merchants practising a division of
the profits, one third of which went to the local operators (Bulgarelli Lukacs
1989, 154–55). This area, located along the L’Aquila – Salerno route already
mentioned by Maurice Aymard, became one of the three most important
southern areas for wool manufacture (Aymard 1970, 136–9). It maintained
a leading position over time, even managing to survive during the 18th and
19th centuries despite competition from products of the most advanced ar-
eas in Europe, with government protection until the unification of Italy
(1861).
The Aventino Valley is not the only case of widespread textile produc-
tion in the Abruzzo foothills. There is still no map of the manufacturing
activities in the mountainous region, but it is certain that the Teramo area
counted several mountain communities (Montorio, Isola del Gran Sasso,
Pietracamela, Tussicia, San Giovanni a Scorzone and especially Campli)
located in the Gran Sasso and Laga Mountains, which supplemented the
meagre income from farming with the production of woolen cloth for cen-
turies. The raw material coming from the sheep remained in the Abruzzo
172
