family and society 321
marriages and births with the Avogaria di Comun in a Libro d’oro, begin-
ning at the start of the 16th century, is probably a cause of the scarce
propensity on the part of patricians to preserve private memories of such
events. on the contrary, in the case of cittadini originari, the choice to
leave a record of oneself and one’s family demonstrates the will to affirm
one’s social identity in the absence of a political role.4
after the quantitative research conducted in the 1950s, Venetian
demography has been the object of specific investigations, either of sin-
gle parishes or of social groups. in particular, research on the Stati delle
anime have made it possible to take a look at family composition, which
in the overwhelming majority of cases prove to be neolocal and nuclear,
in accordance with a widespread urban model. the practice on the part
of married couples of remaining in the parents’ home was, however, the
norm only in the patriciate, where the groom’s family took in the new
couple.5
the social structure of the Venetian population was determined espe-
cially by economic and political factors, which were tightly interwoven.
the myth of the origins of the city is a collective myth, devoid of a found-
ing hero—a myth which serves to establish the dominance of a harmo-
nious and egalitarian political group composed of the “best.” even in
appearance, patricians tended to avoid distinctions among themselves; for
a long time, sumptuary laws, while numerous and detailed, avoided pre-
scribing the clothing suited to each social group.6 in the self-celebratory
4 James S. Grubb, “memory and identity: Why Venetians didn’t keep ricordanze,”
Renaissance Studies 8 (1994), 375–87; James S. Grubb, Family Memoirs from Venice (15th–
17th centuries) (Rome, 2009); anna Bellavitis, Identité, mariage, mobilité sociale. Citoyennes
et citoyens à Venise au XVIe siècle (Rome, 2001).
5 daniele Beltrami, Storia della popolazione di Venezia dalla fine del secolo XVI alla
caduta della Repubblica (Padua, 1954); Reinhold c. mueller, “Peste e demografia. medio-
evo e Rinascimento,” in Venezia e la peste, 1348–1797 [exhibition catalogue] (Venice, 1979),
pp. 93–96; Paolo Preto, “Peste e demografia. l’età moderna: le due pesti del 1575–77 e
1630–31,” in Venezia e la peste, 1348–1797 [exhibition catalogue] (Venice, 1979), pp. 97–98;
Giovanni Favero, maria moro, Pierpaolo Spinelli, Francesca trivellato, and Francesco Via-
nello, “le anime dei demografi: fonti per la rilevazione dello stato della popolazione di
Venezia nei secoli XVi e XVii.” Bollettino di demografia storica 15 (1991), 23–110; andrea
Zannini, “Un censimento inedito del primo Seicento e la crisi demografica ed economica di
Venezia,” Studi veneziani 26 (1993), 87–116; Volker Hunecke, Il patriziato veneziano alla fine
della Repubblica (Rome, 1997); Romano, Housecraft; monica chojnacka, Working Women of
Early Modern Venice (Baltimore/london, 2000). on the sources, see Francesca cavazzana
Romanelli and ermanno orlando, Storia e struttura dei fondi parrocchiali veneziani. Prime
indagini (Venice, 2004).
6 Giuseppe trebbi, “la società,” in Storia di Venezia, vol. 6 (1994): Dal Rinascimento al
Barocco, ed. Gaetano cozzi and Paolo Prodi, pp. 129–213; Raines, L’invention; Giulio Bistort,