276 luciano pezzolo
The 15th and 16th centuries witnessed the growth of the Venetian manu-
facturing sector, likely at a rather modest rate early on and at a higher speed
over the course of the 16th century. Several factors favored this growth, and
they depended both on the dynamics of international markets as well as
on the emergence of local energies. Growing European demand for luxury
products (spices, silk, porcelain, etc.) and more common ones (medium-
and lower-quality cloths, food supplies, etc.), above all in urban areas and
generated by demographic growth, became ever more constant toward the
end of the 15th century and stimulated the Venetian commercial system. In
addition, the availability of precious metals from Central Europe improved
the capability of Europeans to purchase products from the East. Even at
the beginning of the 17th century, Venice seemed to enjoy a luminous pros-
perity, which nonetheless was destined to wane soon.
The Restructuring of an Economic SystemIn the 1950s and 1960s, the issue of the Venetian decline came to join, and
even bypassed in importance, the analysis of its economic success. The
pioneering study of Carlo M. Cipolla regarding the economic decline of
Italy in the 17th century46 offered a point of reference for other scholars
interested more in 17th-century shadows than in the bright lights of the
Renaissance. In Cipolla’s view, the causes of the depression that struck
the industrial and commercial apparatus of the Italian peninsula during
the 17th century—and in particular the wool industry—had to be sought
in an inability to keep up with foreign competitors, who were able to
take over the place of Italian products in the markets of Europe and the
Levant. The English “new draperies,” lighter and with more fashionable
colors, better satisfied a changing demand; and, moreover, they could be
sold at lower prices. Cipolla identified three fundamental causes in this
decline: 1) the guild structure of Italian manufacturing centers hindered
flexible production and the introduction of innovations, targeting instead
on the safeguarding of traditional principles (high product quality, elimi-
nation of competition between members of the same trade); this resulted
in 2) the cost of labor in Italy being excessive in proportion to productiv-
ity, unlike what was happening in competing countries, which reflected
the rigidity of the labor market; and 3) the heavy hand of the fisc in the
46 Carlo M. Cipolla, “The Decline of Italy: The Case of a Fully Matured Economy,”
Economic History Review 5 (1952), 178–87.