CHAPHTER E5A C1AHf5 fPiPR1 E5A fEfAP5PE E5A 1fBPiE 155
saltus extends across the lands abandoned in the fourteenth century and those
areas remain open to hunting and livestock cultivation today.23
On the other hand, Sicily’s landscape was more intensely developed and
forestation was already greatly reduced at the end of the Middle Ages, dur-
ing which time the woods were devoured by the sugar industry, which also
transformed the coastal marshes in order to plant sugar cane. The structure of
latifundia that was set in place between 1200 and 1320, taking the place of the
casal habitat, led to the privileging of wheat over grass, which subordinated
livestock farming to growing cereals. The latter dominated the use of Sicilian
land and left little room for pastoral activities. The sort of geographic divisions
that are found in Sardinia are not characteristic of Sicily. Open spaces for wan-
dering are limited and the production of cheese and leathers leaves little sur-
plus for export.
The Sicilian livestock situation led them to have to import significant quanti-
ties of buckskin and occasional horses and mares from Sardinia. In 1409, the mer-
chant Gabriele Tarago brought back no less than 40 Sardinian mares to Sicily.24
Through the notaries of Palermo and Alcamo, it is possible to pinpoint the resale
of some of these animals.25 Doubtless, these transactions occurred after 1350,
as they do not appear in Francesco Balducci Pegolotti’s Pratica della mercatura,
which provides accounts of the exports of salt, grains, cheese, sheepskins, and
buckskins from Sardinia to Pisa, Majorca, Genoa, and Venice. The production of
wine and oil in Sardinia seems to have been insufficient on a permanent basis,
forcing the island to import wine and oil from Gaeta and Puglia, as well as nuts
from Naples.26 Such was also the case in Sicily, although to a lesser extent.
Neither island seems to have given rise to ecological niches earmarked for
export, along the lines of those in the Corsican cape, which are analyzed by
Peregrine Horden and Nicholas Purcell.27 There, the Genoese seigniorial es-
tates could ensure the perennial production of wine and oil destined for wide
distribution. In Sicily, a few successful experiments at raising crops for export
23 John Day, “La Sardegna e i suoi dominatori dal secolo XI al secolo XIV,” in Galasso, La
Sardegna medievale e moderna, p. 107, on the high percentage (more than 53) of shep-
herds in the population of the Sarrabus mountains in 1316 and close to 10 percent in those
of the Sulcis, while amounting to only 45 percent in the Campidano.
24 Archivio di Stato, Palermo (ASP) Protonotaro 5, f. 190.
25 Henri Bresc, “Contributo a una etnografia della Sicilia medievale: i marchi del bestiame,”
Archeologia medievale 4 (1977), pp. 331–339.
26 Francesco Balducci Pegolotti, Pratica della mercatura, ed. Allan Evans (Cambridge, 1936),
pp. 119–122, 124, 178, 208.
27 Peregrine Horden and Nicholas Purcell, The Corrupting Sea. A Study of Mediterranean
History (Oxford, 2000).