324 anna bellavitis
society is a topic that merits reflection.14 in the course of the early modern
era, this abstract and entirely theoretical ideal of “proportion, measure,
harmony” continued to be invoked, but also contradicted by the eco-
nomic, social, and political reality, as will be seen in the first part of this
essay, dedicated to the patriciate.15
moving beyond the restricted confines of the governing class, we will
progressively descend through the social ladders, discussing the “bour-
geois” classes, that is to say, merchants, functionaries, and professionals.
this is a composite group, joined together by the fact that they exercised a
“honorable profession” and by a certain economic prosperity, and in many
cases, characterized by wealth, culture, and relationships similar to those
of the patriciate, but without exercising any political role. as in all urban
societies of the ancien régime, this group is difficult to define. in the case
of Venice, census data raise more questions than they answer, given that
they isolate a specific category, the cittadini who in 1607 were defined as
“lawyers, doctors, notaries and all those who exercise a honorable profes-
sion, and even non-noble priests when they are heads of households”: an
interesting definition of “bourgeoisie” which notably excludes merchants,
that is to say, one of the categories most heavily represented in the cat-
egory of cittadini, juridically described. the cittadini of the censuses rep-
resent a percentage of the urban population that, until the first half of the
18th century, represented between 5 and 9 per cent of the population; this
percentage then declined beginning in the 1760s, to 3–4 per cent.16
the rest of the population is defined, as has been recently noted, espe-
cially in negative terms, but nevertheless always represents between 80
and 90 per cent of the population and includes the most mobile categories,
14 anna Bellavitis, Famille, genre, transmission à Venise au XVIe siècle (Rome, 2008);
anna Bellavitis, nadia maria Filippini, and tiziana Plebani, eds., Spazi, poteri, diritti
delle donne a Venezia in età moderna (Verona, 1012); chojnacki, Women and Men; Raines,
L’invention; anna Bellavitis, “Genere e potere politico tra medioevo ed età moderna,”
Quaderni Storici 118/1 (2005), 230–38; isabelle chabot, “Ricchezze femminili e parentela
nel Rinascimento. Riflessioni intorno ai contesti fiorentini e veneziani,” Quaderni Storici
118/1 (2005), 203–29.
15 as ludovico Flangini wrote in the 18th century, cited in laura megna, “Riflessi pub-
blici della crisi del patriziato veneziano nel XViii secolo: il problema delle elezioni ai
reggimenti,” in Gaetano cozzi, ed., Stato, società e giustizia nella Repubblica Veneta (sec.
XV–XVIII), 2 vols (Rome, 1985), 2, p. 257, note 3.
16 Zannini, “Un censimento”; trebbi, “la società”; anna Bellavitis, “ ‘Per cittadini met-
terete.. .’ la stratificazione della società veneziana cinquecentesca tra norma giuridica
e riconoscimento sociale,” Quaderni Storici 89/2 (1995), 359–84; Beltrami, Storia della
popolazione.