Page 42 - Upland Families, Elites and Communities

Giulio Ongaro and Edoardo Demo

of the village (such as the Zamboni and the Toaldo), who were involved in
silk reeling (as commissioners) and in the cocoons trade; between 1541 and
1563 in Schio there were 31 people who carried out these activities, with-
out considering the peasants who in practice reeled the silk or bred the
silkworms. It is interesting to note that for many of these 31 people, silk
was just one of various economic activities practised. For example, Biasia,
widow of Ludovico Calderin, in 1541 owned a fulling mill, and ‘last year
produced 50 libbre of silk.’ Moreover, Francesco Casolin ‘has a sewing shop
and usually commissions silk,’ as the shopkeepers Bergamasco, who in 1563
commissioned the reeling of around 200 libbre of silk. Gianpiero Tintore ‘is
a dyer’ in his workshop, and his nephew in 1563 produced 43 libbre of silk,
as did Giorgio, son of another dyer and owner of a dyeing plant. The work-
ers in the tanning sector were also involved in silk production and trade.
For example, Geronimo Montebello ‘is a leather goods manufacturer and
usually commissioned the reeling of silk,’ Geronimo Penzato in 1563 ‘has
a small leather shop [...] and produced 58 libbre of silk,’ and Gian Nicolò
Pellizzaro ‘is a leather goods manufacturer and a butcher, with his own
shop’ but in 1562 ‘produced 38 libbre of silk.’ Moreover, Giovanni Calegaro
‘is a leather goods manufacturer and a cobbler [...] and last year, 1563, pro-
duced 60 libbre of silk,’ while Piero di Pellizzari ‘is a shoemaker and usually
produces silk and clothes.’ The list goes on, including salt and food traders,
even workers employed in meat and fish salting, besides the merchants
in the woollen sector that were usually also involved in silk production
and trade. Among the latter we certainly find the most relevant families
of Schio, both the ones already made wealthy in the fifteenth century and
the ones recently arrived in the village; besides the Zamboni and the Toal-
do, the archival documents refer to the Baretta, especially Geronimo, who
‘usually commissions clothes and the reeling of silk,’ or to Giovanni Vanzo,
Amedeo Rigobello, Battista Fontana, Giuseppe Canneto, and Mattia Folco
– all names that we already mentioned in the previous pages.⁶ Finally, the
case of the Lodi family is particularly interesting: Ambrogio Lodi in 1541
‘is a haberdasher,’ besides being the owner, as anticipated, of the spinning
structure in which Adan ‘Spinner’ worked. In 1563 Ambrogio ‘is no more
a haberdasher. Iseppo and Francesco, his sons, commission the reeling of

⁶ The tax declarations are in asvi (b. 26, cc. 8 r., 10 r., 12 r., 13 r., 14 v., 16 v., 18 r., 21 r., 23 r.,
25 r., 26 r., 27 r., 42 v., 43 r., 45 v.–46 r., 50 v., 57 v., 59 v., 103 v., 107 v., 146 r., 160 r., 171 v.,
174 r., 193 v., 196 v., 214 v.; b. 28, c. 7 v.). We should also consider that the self-declarations
on the amount of silk produced and on the earnings from the trading activities probably
abundantly underestimate the figures.

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