industry and production in the venetian terraferma 301
growing steadily in these years). It was precisely between the 1550s and
1560s, in fact, that wool production in the capital saw a phase of prolonged
expansion, passing from an average production of little more than 5000
pieces per year between 1516 and 1547 to more than 25,000 pieces in 1575.
this boom in production was determined in large part by the consider-
able adaptive capacity demonstrated by the production of new, medium-
quality fabrics (defined recently by panciera as “the Italian road to lighter
fabrics”), a typology which found ample placement in Levantine markets
between the late 16th and early 17th centuries.21
When compared to the above-mentioned cases of Verona, Vicenza, and
padua, the evolution of the wool sector in Bergamo was clearly a case
unto itself. despite a reduction (though not a traumatic one) in the quan-
tities produced between the mid- and late-16th century, the 16th century
did not turn out to be a century of withdrawal in the wool industry, unlike
what occurred in almost all the other cities of the Venetian terraferma.
rather, with the end of the 16th century there began a phase of consistent
expansion that would not conclude until the beginning of the 18th cen-
tury; this expansion was owed particularly to the innovative production
choices made by the merchants of Bergamo. they made a strategic choice
to furnish articles which imitated those produced in the Low countries,
characterized by their relatively simple workmanship, low cost, attractive
appearance, use of mediocre-quality wool and employment of rural labor
from the valleys; all of which aspects closely linked production in Ber-
gamo to that of the Flemish and dutch centers.22
the serious losses caused by the collapse in fabric production in the
majority of the terraferma’s urban centers in the last 30 years of the 16th
century would be compensated in part by the consistent development
of headwear and knitwear production during the course of the century.
stockings, knitted hats, and other clothing accessories contributed impor-
tantly to contrasting the consequences of the crisis of traditional wool
production with regard to both employment and commerce. such devel-
opments occurred in both padua and Verona, where the production of
knitted goods witnessed a rapid development especially in the second
21 panciera, L’arte matrice, pp. 13–66; edoardo demo, “Le manifatture tra medioevo ed
età moderna,” in Giovanni Luigi Fontana, ed., L’industria vicentina dal medioevo a oggi
(padua, 2004), pp. 21–126; Vianello, Seta fine e panni grossi, pp. 63–64.
22 panciera, L’arte matrice, pp. 28–38; Walter panciera, “Il lanificio bergamasco nel XVII
secolo: lavoro, consumi e mercato,” in de Maddalena, romani, and cattini, eds., Storia di
Bergamo, 3:99–132.