Page 385 - 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. 385
household income str ategies in the lombar d valleys ...
they also benefited from the rent and/or fruits of their land (for which they
used to receive loans too): this means that they integrated income sources
from different sectors (including agriculture), but they were not peasants.
Moreover, such high skilled workers represented a minority of the work-
force and so most families of the Alpine villages belonged to the peasant
population and had to resort to the IPE.
All these activities entailed a precise division of labour inside the fam-
ily: adult males usually worked in manufacturing activities outside the
home and carried out hard agricultural tasks and wood exploitation; wives
and sons were employed in manufacturing activities at home in the textile
branch (mainly spinning) and in less demanding works outside the house,
such as agricultural works, animal husbandry and the collection of wild
grass, firewood, leaves and wild vegetables and fruits.
2. The decline of household income strategies in the Lombard
valleys during the 19th century
The household income strategies progressively lost their relevance du-
ring the 19th century when some important institutional and technological
changes strongly reduced the competitiveness of the products made in the
Lombard valleys. The related decrease of jobs obliged a relevant part of the
youngest inhabitants of the Alpine villages to accept permanent emigration
on the plain and also in other European countries and in America.
The French invasion and the Napoleonic age strongly modified the po-
litical context: the Lombard valleys were included in the Cisalpine Repub-
lic and the new administrative situation was confirmed during the Napo-
leon age and, after, by the Congress of Vienna who included the Lombard
Alpine valleys in the Austrian Empire. This influenced the productive sys-
tems and the rural economy of the Alpine villages and in particular for the
valleys of the Eastern Lombardy. French, and then Austrian governments
in fact decided to increase taxation on the land and to promote the selling
of common land and other common real estate linked to the agricultural
sector, such as hay lofts, cattle sheds, stock rooms and flour mills. This re-
duced the total incomes related to the land and also the fruits which the
poor families of the village could obtain by the exploitation of the common
land (Pichler 1996, 35–62).
This evidently increased the relevance of non-agricultural activities
for the Alpine families whose survival depended on the IPE. But on the
383
they also benefited from the rent and/or fruits of their land (for which they
used to receive loans too): this means that they integrated income sources
from different sectors (including agriculture), but they were not peasants.
Moreover, such high skilled workers represented a minority of the work-
force and so most families of the Alpine villages belonged to the peasant
population and had to resort to the IPE.
All these activities entailed a precise division of labour inside the fam-
ily: adult males usually worked in manufacturing activities outside the
home and carried out hard agricultural tasks and wood exploitation; wives
and sons were employed in manufacturing activities at home in the textile
branch (mainly spinning) and in less demanding works outside the house,
such as agricultural works, animal husbandry and the collection of wild
grass, firewood, leaves and wild vegetables and fruits.
2. The decline of household income strategies in the Lombard
valleys during the 19th century
The household income strategies progressively lost their relevance du-
ring the 19th century when some important institutional and technological
changes strongly reduced the competitiveness of the products made in the
Lombard valleys. The related decrease of jobs obliged a relevant part of the
youngest inhabitants of the Alpine villages to accept permanent emigration
on the plain and also in other European countries and in America.
The French invasion and the Napoleonic age strongly modified the po-
litical context: the Lombard valleys were included in the Cisalpine Repub-
lic and the new administrative situation was confirmed during the Napo-
leon age and, after, by the Congress of Vienna who included the Lombard
Alpine valleys in the Austrian Empire. This influenced the productive sys-
tems and the rural economy of the Alpine villages and in particular for the
valleys of the Eastern Lombardy. French, and then Austrian governments
in fact decided to increase taxation on the land and to promote the selling
of common land and other common real estate linked to the agricultural
sector, such as hay lofts, cattle sheds, stock rooms and flour mills. This re-
duced the total incomes related to the land and also the fruits which the
poor families of the village could obtain by the exploitation of the common
land (Pichler 1996, 35–62).
This evidently increased the relevance of non-agricultural activities
for the Alpine families whose survival depended on the IPE. But on the
383
