Page 224 - 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. 224
integr ated peasant economy in a compar ative perspective
bour market. The increase of the population during the 18th century is to be
considered in connection with the expanding demand for foodstuff in the
city and opportunities in non-agrarian activities (Kandler 1846; Dorsi 1989;
Kalc 2009; Panjek 2015, 90, 101–2).
With the booming of the maritime emporium the central and the east-
ern karstic area of Trieste gained a favourable position because of being
passed through by the main traffic routes between the city and its wider
hinterland. This is particularly true for the villages of Bazovica and Opčine.
Bazovica was situated on the road to Rijeka, which was built in the 1760s.
The village became a rest station for cartmen and their yoke animals, the
place of the customs house and the seat of the border guards. In the mid-
1780s the chaplaincy of Bazovica was established while in the 1790s an ele-
mentary school was opened. Bazovica had the biggest territory among the
karstic villages including crop fields, meadows and extensive grazing lands,
all also combined with scattered trees, typical for the karstic landscape as
a whole, and an area of wood. The location of Opčine was even better and
more favourable for taking advantage of the traffic. The village laid on the
crossing between the road to Carniola and the central Austrian provinc-
es and that heading towards Italy. The position of the village improved af-
ter the opening of the road section directly connecting it with the city and
shortening a lot the travel distance for merchandise and people. This of-
fered new income opportunities for the locals from Opčine and Trebče:
they were engaged with their oxes as a supportive traction force for the car-
riages traveling up and down the very steep new road connection between
the karstic plateau and the city underneath. This activity lasted until a new
gentle sloping path was built in 1830s (Zubini 2007).
With the expansion of the city, the villagers of the karstic area had
been offered opportunities for extra-agrarian income also in the construc-
tion of infrastructure, especially for the transportation of materials. They
were involved in this and in road maintenance in the framework of the du-
ties they owed to the public interest. Once finished the corvée they con-
tinued to provide paid service and to get involved in other construction
activities. Some richer peasants became contractors of road maintenance
employing their fellow villagers as labourers. With the urban agglomerate
and the request for construction materials rapidly expanding in some vil-
lages they opened stone quarries, and were engaged in preparing, trans-
porting and selling stony material and in other services (Panjek 2015; Kra-
jevni leksikon 1990).
222
bour market. The increase of the population during the 18th century is to be
considered in connection with the expanding demand for foodstuff in the
city and opportunities in non-agrarian activities (Kandler 1846; Dorsi 1989;
Kalc 2009; Panjek 2015, 90, 101–2).
With the booming of the maritime emporium the central and the east-
ern karstic area of Trieste gained a favourable position because of being
passed through by the main traffic routes between the city and its wider
hinterland. This is particularly true for the villages of Bazovica and Opčine.
Bazovica was situated on the road to Rijeka, which was built in the 1760s.
The village became a rest station for cartmen and their yoke animals, the
place of the customs house and the seat of the border guards. In the mid-
1780s the chaplaincy of Bazovica was established while in the 1790s an ele-
mentary school was opened. Bazovica had the biggest territory among the
karstic villages including crop fields, meadows and extensive grazing lands,
all also combined with scattered trees, typical for the karstic landscape as
a whole, and an area of wood. The location of Opčine was even better and
more favourable for taking advantage of the traffic. The village laid on the
crossing between the road to Carniola and the central Austrian provinc-
es and that heading towards Italy. The position of the village improved af-
ter the opening of the road section directly connecting it with the city and
shortening a lot the travel distance for merchandise and people. This of-
fered new income opportunities for the locals from Opčine and Trebče:
they were engaged with their oxes as a supportive traction force for the car-
riages traveling up and down the very steep new road connection between
the karstic plateau and the city underneath. This activity lasted until a new
gentle sloping path was built in 1830s (Zubini 2007).
With the expansion of the city, the villagers of the karstic area had
been offered opportunities for extra-agrarian income also in the construc-
tion of infrastructure, especially for the transportation of materials. They
were involved in this and in road maintenance in the framework of the du-
ties they owed to the public interest. Once finished the corvée they con-
tinued to provide paid service and to get involved in other construction
activities. Some richer peasants became contractors of road maintenance
employing their fellow villagers as labourers. With the urban agglomerate
and the request for construction materials rapidly expanding in some vil-
lages they opened stone quarries, and were engaged in preparing, trans-
porting and selling stony material and in other services (Panjek 2015; Kra-
jevni leksikon 1990).
222
