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Poor Agriculture for Rich People?
Table 3.1 The Account Books of the Billiani Family: Work and Business Relations
withMenand Women(1685–1810)
Book Time lapse Duration Male Female Total Women ‘Firms’
(years) ‘firm’ ‘firm’ () per year*
a – . .
c – . .
d – . .
e – . .
f – . .
g – . .
h – . .
i – . .
l – . .
n – . .
Notes *Average. Based on data from asu, ab, bb. 3–6.
gard to foodstuffs, for example, we observe products from gardens and
fields, such as beans, but also meat from ‘small’ animals, such as goats
and calves. We have already mentioned the example of Margherita, wid-
ow of Giovanni Battista d’Anna, who, in exchange for wine and meat, spun
hemp and tow. More articulate was the activity of Ursula Pillinini who in
1718, also assisted by her daughter, weeded brambles and brush to produce
raclis, the wooden supports for beans. In addition, she reaped sorghum, re-
turned soil to the plants in the fields, hoed, harvested turnips, hauled hay
andlumber(asu, ab,b. 4, d,c.67).Insome cases,asforsisters Pasqua
and Maddalena Cossio from Mena between December 1775 and December
1776, the activity of spinning hemp could be continuous, alternating with
clearing brambles and brush (farbarazzi) and making and transporting hay
(asu, ab, b. 5, l, c. 280).
Except when the records indicate specific quantities of yarn, the labour
days engaged in all the tasks we have listed are all generically recognized
with 5 soldi (0.25 lire); a pesenale of sorghum (12.5 liters) was worth 2 lire
and 3 soldi (asu, ab, b. 5, l, c. 280), more than eight labour days. A day’s
work done by a man for the same tasks was worth 10 to 12 soldi: more
than twice as much. In some cases, as for hay production, men earned
up to three times what women were compensated (15 soldi versus 5). It is
needless to dwell on the fact that this was a common and persistent con-
dition in labour relations in the modern age (Mocarelli and Ongaro 2019,
75–85).
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