302 edoardo demo
half of the 16th century. Greater labor mobility, a widespread use of mul-
tiple supply sources, and the assumption of roles of responsibility even by
women were some of the most singular and characteristic aspects of this
sector, one which included entrepreneurs using a strong centralization of
production, such as the employment of 30–40 children under the control
of supervisors and those merely involved in the acquisition and resale of
goods.23
In the Veneto, however, there was more than just an urban produc-
tion of varying qualities. already by the 15th century and even more so
during the 16th and 17th centuries, wool-working had spread widely to
numerous rural centers, especially, though not solely, in the foothill and
low-alpine areas that could count on a significant availability of raw mate-
rials, hydraulic energy, and lumber in loco. Indeed, it would not be an
exaggeration to argue that, after the great pestilence of the 1630s, wool
textile production would be located almost exclusively outside of the cit-
ies and the guild system. such was the case in particular for multiple rural
localities around Bergamo, Brescia, Vicenza, and treviso in which, during
our period, it is possible to find a lively, viable weaving operation; some of
these, such as Gandino near Bergamo or schio and Valdagno near Vicenza,
would continue to play an important role even in the following centu-
ries. their production was nearly always geared (with some exceptions)
to making cloth of mediocre quality, through the use of second-choice
“local” wools, low-level imports, and even the remains of the shearing and
teaseling processes, and they were characterized by their lower prices
and durability. the cloth typical of rural industry was made not only for
local buyers but also was widely sold in other territories of the republic,
as well as in neighboring states. though a production whose value was
decidedly inferior to the high-quality textiles characteristic of urban wool
production in the 15th and 16th centuries, it would be a mistake to con-
sider the rural manufactures of the Venetian terraferma a phenomenon
of little economic importance, given that, from the 1720s on, the artisans
and merchants of the foothill towns demonstrated an ability to exploit the
opportunities offered by a phase of economic recovery and demographic
23 carlo Marco Belfanti “Le calze a maglia: moda e innovazione alle origini dell’indu-
stria della maglieria (secoli XVI–XVII),” Società e Storia 69 (1995), 481–501; carlo Marco
Belfanti, “Maglie e calze,” in carlo Marco Belfanti and Fabio Giusberti, eds., Storia d’Italia.
annali. XIX. La moda (turin, 2003), pp. 583–625; carlo Marco Belfanti, “the hosiery Manu-
facture in the Venetian republic (16th to 18th centuries),” in Lanaro, ed., at the Center of
the Old World, pp. 245–70; andrea caracausi, Dentro la bottega. Culture del lavoro in una
città d’età moderna (Venice, 2008).