Page 32 - Upland Families, Elites and Communities

Giulio Ongaro and Edoardo Demo

so hypothesize an underestimation of the manufacturing structures, given
that the tax surveys must be always carefully pondered (Alfani and Di Tul-
lio 2019, 47–56). According to Panciera (1996,24; 2004,239,309),already
at the end of the sixteenth century the local woollen manufactures were
recovering. Indeed, in the area of Schio there were five fulling mills, three
inside the village and two in the countryside. Therefore, according to this
estimate, there should be again be around 90 looms working in the area.
It is interesting to observe that the ups and downs of the sector between
the 1540s and the 1580s did not alter the names of the main protagonists
in the local woollen manufacturing: in 1579 the Zamboni family owned the
chiodara, the Pellizzari family one of the fulling mills, and the Vanzo family
the purgo, while among the workshop owners we find the Baretta, Zam-
boni, Bologna, Pellizzari, Canneti, and Rossi.
In the seventeenth century, the process of ‘ruralisation’ (Corritore 1993)
of the Venetian woollen industry was at an advanced stage and after the
1630 plague, wool manufacturing was almost entirely localized in the coun-
tryside. It was still a low-quality production, sold within the Venetian
state and in the bordering countries (Demo 2012, 27–8; Panciera 2014, 148;
Vianello 2004a, 169, 231–8). However, as anticipated, not all the villages
in the Vicentine countryside reacted positively to the crisis of the end
of the sixteenth century, and the hierarchies in the production of wool
clothes notably changes. Arzignano, for example, lost its leadership that
had endured since the fifteenth century; at the beginning of the seven-
teenth century just 2,000 garments yearly were produced, compared to
the 5,000 garments in 1563 (Vianello 2004a, 232). Moreover, in Marostica
wool production completely disappeared. In contrast, Schio was ‘already
before the 1630–1632 plague [...] one of the most active centres, the only
one where the [wool] manufacturing resumed quickly immediately after
the infection’ (Panciera 1996, 24–5; 2004, 253–4). The archival sources con-
firm this picture: in 1616 in Schio there were 30 mill wheels, 55 workshops,
16 chiodare and six fulling mills (therefore, for around 90 looms) (ascs,
b. 22.). Again, looking to the owners of these structures we find the same
surnames recalled above, mainly Zamboni and Baretta, together with Can-
neti, Toaldo, and Pellizzari. After the plague, as anticipated, the recovery
was very fast: between 1648 and 1652, 18 people residing in Schio were en-
rolled in the wool guild of Vicenza, and 12 more residents in the bordering
villages; in total, almost one fourth of the 121 peasants enrolled in the en-
tire province (Vianello 2004a, 232). The tax survey dated 1643 again records
30 mill wheels, more than 20 chiodare, a purgo and seven fulling mills, for

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