Page 40 - Upland Families, Elites and Communities

Giulio Ongaro and Edoardo Demo

century there were at least eight plants (Demo 2001a, 207), increasing to
13 in 1507, at least 29 in the 1560s, then growing exponentially at the end
of the century, exceeding a hundred (Demo 2001a, 208).
The growth of the silk sector in the city was flanked by a similar growth
in raw silk production in the countryside, especially in the northern part
of theprovince(Vianello 2004b, 188–94): in 1504 in the province of Vicen-
za 60,000 libbre (around 20 tonnes) of raw silk were produced (Vianello
2004b, 50; Demo 2004, 57), and in this sense Schio played a crucial role, as
is testifiedby therecurringreferencetothe villageinthe sixteenthcentury
trials on the selling of raw silk or on the renting of the mulberries (asvi,
Banco del Sigillo, b. 5, fasc. 1, trials dated 12 February 1516, 28 February
1516, 8 April 1516; b. 14, fasc. ‘Testium mei Joannisbatiste de Abrianis no-
tarii ad officium Sigilli,’ 3 April 1527).
In the 1530s production was around 74,000 libbre (around 25 tonnes),
and by the mid-century the province produced between 30 and 40 tonnes
of fine silk (Demo 2001a, 50–1; 2001b, 6; Panciera 2014, 141; 2017, 213).
These figures increased until the end of the century and then stabilized
at the beginning of the following one. The relevant growth of silk process-
ing in the city meant that the raw silk produced in the countryside was
not enough to supply the urban spinning plants, and the Vicentine mer-
chants started to purchase the raw materials in the bordering provinces.
However, despite this situation, the increase in raw silk production also
produced an increase in the export of this product and of the semi-finished
silk products. While at the beginning of the sixteenth century the trajec-
tories of the silk trade were directed toward other Italian cities, over the
years they also reached other foreign markets, and in the 1570s the Vicen-
tine merchant-entrepreneurs produced mainly ormesini (plain, light, and
inexpensive silk clothes) that were particularly appreciated in the German
area(Demo2001a,210–11;2004,57;Panciera2014,141–2;2017,215).There-
lationship between the province of Vicenza (including Schio) and the Ger-
manareawas notone-way;if the ormesini were heading north, the special-
ized silk workers came precisely from the Trento area – besides the ones
coming from Venice and Grisons (Panciera 2017, 215). The growth of silk
weaving in Vicenza produced contrasts with Venice, given the competition
between the two productive areas; this happened especially in the 1560s
and 1570s, and ended with formal permission from the Venetian author-
ities to produce ormesini in Vicenza in 1581 (Panciera 2017, 215; Zannini
2010, 147–8). Meanwhile, however, the workforce from Rovereto, in the
Trento area, that supported the growth of the silk industry in Vicenza, al-

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