industry and production in the venetian terraferma 295
salvatore ciriacono and Michael Knapton—of paola Lanaro, Gian Maria
Varanini, and andrea Zannini)10; and the search for possible elements of
historical continuity to explain the genesis of industrial districts, with the
aim of demonstrating, to use the words of Fontana, “how industrialization
in numerous areas of the region has deep and durable roots.”11
the landscape today is decidedly richer than it was even a short time
ago. numerous volumes published in the last few years on the argument
of interest here have made it possible to grasp the peculiarities of manu-
facturing development in the “stato da terra.” these studies are mainly
characterized by in-depth archival investigations and the use of sources
conserved in the archives and libraries of Venice’s subject cities which
had long been under-utilized by scholars, such as notarial acts and judi-
cial sources. some examine single areas or particular enterprises; others
are best characterized as overviews motivated by the need to “overcome
the traditional division between the Dominante and the Dominio so as
to embrace in a single vision the entire territory subject to the republic
of Venice.”12 Most of these are dedicated to the textile industry and par-
ticularly its two principal sectors, wool and silk production, which repre-
sented the cornerstones of the Veneto’s pre-industrial economy. they not
only stimulated international commerce with the exportation of unfin-
ished and finished goods but also “constituted a supply of technical and
entrepreneurial know-how that would play a key role in the later phases
10 Beyond the works cited in note 8, see salvatore ciriacono, “L’economia regionale
veneta in epoca moderna. note a margine del caso bergamasco,” in Michael Knapton,
et al., Venezia e la terraferma. economia e società (Bergamo, 1989), pp. 43–76; Michael
Knapton, “city Wealth and state Wealth in northeast Italy, 14th–17th centuries,” in
neithard Bulst and J.-ph. Genet, La ville, la bourgeoisie et la genese de l’etat moderne (XII–
XVIII siecles) (paris, 1988), pp. 183–209; paola Lanaro, I mercati nella repubblica Veneta.
economie cittadine e stato territoriale (secoli XV–XVIII) (Venice, 1999); Gian Maria Varanini,
“Introduzione,” in Varanini, Comuni cittadini e Stato regionale. ricerche sulla terraferma
veneta nel Quattrocento (Verona, 1992), pp. xxxv–lxvi; Gian Maria Varanini, “elites citta-
dine e governo dell’economia tra comune, signoria e ‘stato regionale’: l’esempio di Verona,”
in Giovanna petti Balbi, ed., Strutture del potere ed élites economiche nelle città europee
dei secoli XII–XVI (naples, 1996), pp. 135–68; and andrea Zannini, “L’economia veneta nel
seicento. oltre il paradigma della “crisi generale,” in La popolazione italiana nel Seicento
(Bologna, 1999), pp. 473–502.
11 Giorgio Borelli, “un problema di storia economica: i distretti industriali,” Studi Storici
Luigi Simeoni 47 (1997), 119–27; Giovanni Luigi Fontana, “Industria e impresa nel nord
est d’Italia,” in antonio di Vittorio, carlos Barciela Lopez, and Giovanni Luigi Fontana,
eds., Storiografia d’industria e d’impresa in Italia e Spagna in età moderna e contemporanea
(padua, 2004), p. 165.
12 Fontana, Storiografia d’industria e d’impresa, p. 174.