industry and production in the venetian terraferma 307
wefts for velvets, and other items for export, generally crude (meaning not
dyed) and destined for the markets of northern and central Italy where
the manufacture of textiles was widespread (Ferrara, Florence, Mantua,
Milan, and Genoa in particular). In later years a greater specialization
in production would arise, of which we shall look at two examples. the
raw silk obtained in Verona was particularly “thick,” probably at least in
part because of increasing demand from the German market, and thus
the region seems to have oriented its production toward semifinished
articles suitable for needlework, haberdashery, passementerie, tapestries,
weavings, and tassels. In Vicenza, in contrast, where the raw silk seems
to have been particularly “fine” and under the influence of transalpine
markets (especially Lyons, but others as well), production appears to have
gone more in the direction of orsogli to be used as the warp for weaving
silk fabrics of greater value, though there is also no lack of evidence for a
lower-quality production similar to Verona.34
While the production of spun and semifinished goods was well devel-
oped, the severe prohibitions of the Dominante (aimed at defending the
capital’s silk manufactures) meant that for the entire first half of the 16th
century, the activity of silk weaving was practically non-existent in the
cities of the terraferma. alongside the making of small clothing accesso-
ries such as handkerchiefs and silk veils, there is in fact no trace of cloth
production except the small amounts produced as contraband.35
With the sporadic destruction of illegal looms and repeated bans, it was
only in the second half of the 16th century that the weaving of silk cloth
was officially admitted in five cities of the terraferma, following Venice’s
concession for the production of black velvet. the first to obtain the said
concession was Verona in 1554, followed by Vicenza in 1561, Brescia in
1562, crema in 1565, and Bergamo in 1568. however, black velvets never
seem to have achieved a position of significant importance within overall
silk production, initially occupying a rather marginal place before disap-
pearing altogether. In later years, silk weaving would certainly take off,
not in velvets but in the production of ormesini (a light, fine fabric in great
demand on the German market whose production is attested in Brescia,
Bergamo, and particularly in Vicenza and Bassano); or mixed manufac-
tures of silk and wool, or made using low-quality silk like the buratti,
34 Molà, the Silk Industry of renaissance Venice, pp. 241–45; demo, L’“anima della città,”
pp. 210–12; Vianello, Seta fine e panni grossi, pp. 99–101.
35 demo, L’“anima della città,” pp. 212–15.