304 edoardo demo
Mulberry and silk-worm cultivation especially in Vicenza and its terri-
tory appears to have been especially precocious and intense. By the mid-
15th century, mulberry bushes were already widespread in the foothill zone
(schio, thiene, Marano, Valdagno, arzignano) and the area immediately
surrounding the city. Moreover, in the 1480s, mulberry cultivation and the
raising of silkworms were cited as the principal source of livelihood for
the population and the “treasure of the community.” this activity then
appears to have undergone another period of strong growth in the first
decades of the 16th century. around mid-century, in fact, Vicenza’s terri-
tory was able to produce at least between 35 and 40 tons of raw material
per year, a figure which placed it among the highest producers on the Ital-
ian peninsula at the time. silk certainly became one of the main invest-
ments of Vicenza’s ruling class, who introduced mulberry cultivation en
masse on their own landed possessions, such that the morari [mulberry
trees] and cavalieri [cocoons] could now be found both in the city and in
the countryside.26
In Verona’s territory as well, sericulture appears to have been widely
practiced beginning in the 15th century, though the sector’s development
seems to have been slower and more limited with respect to its counter-
part in nearby Vicenza. even if the introduction of morari cultivation in
the estates of the veronesi already in the late 15th century would seem to
reflect the principal farming innovation of the time, raw silk production
in Verona and its contado remained modest up through the first decades
of the 16th century. In the 1530s, annual production of raw silk still failed
to surpass 6.5 tons, compared to an average of more than 23 tons in and
around Vicenza. It was in the century’s fourth decade, however, that silk
cultivation would witness a stunning period of growth, already producing
more than 26 tons of raw silk by 1542 and registering an output that oscil-
lated between 42 and 52 tons annually between 1581 and 1589. nor does
the sector’s growth in Verona and the surrounding region seem to have
slowed down, given that production is documented as surpassing 65 tons
by the early 17th century.27
during the 16th century, sericulture spread and expanded throughout
much of the Venetian terraferma, though naturally to a more limited
extent compared to Vicenza and Verona. according to a 1559 estimate,
26 Molà, the Silk Industry of renaissance Venice, pp. 220–23; demo, L’“anima della città,”
pp. 47–52; Vianello, Seta fine e panni grossi, pp. 53–64.
27 Lecce, Vicende dell’arte, pp. 98–110; Molà, the Silk Industry of renaissance Venice,
pp. 220–23; demo, L’“anima della città,” pp. 47–52.