Page 99 - Upland Families, Elites and Communities

Poor Agriculture for Rich People?

Conclusions

For the examination of the account books of the Billiani family, proposed
here and the subject of future further investigation, it is essential to adopt
a microanalytical approach in order to be able to ensure that each individu-
al record can be grasped in its intrinsic and contextual meaning. The fam-
ily dimension that emerges from these books can be further understood
with recoursetoothersources,aboveall,populationregistersandnotaries’
deeds. By doing so, one could better reconstruct the community dimen-
sion to which even the individual records in the account books, due to the
peculiarities of the context examined, inevitably refer. This is the case of
the mobility of men between different mountain regions that affects the
management of mountain pastures, which shows how close observation in
a context such as that of the small community of Somplago obliges us to
consider wider spaces and more distant places (Trivellato 2011) in order to
be understood in depth.
The aim of our article was to describe agriculture in an Alpine region
through a rare and peculiar source, such as the account books of an en-
trepreneurial family. From their examination we can reinforce the inte-
grated character of these family enterprises, between pastoral and forestry
and agricultural spheres (Giraudeau 2017). For the latter, the presence of
minor grains and legumes, such as beans or turnips, shows how exchanges
could also take place at the level of the production of vegetable gardens,
traditionally a space of female labour and care, and not only of the fields.
This aspect, with profound cultural implications as well (Lorenzetti 2014),
had reflections in the wider variety of products on the tables of Carnic peo-
ple in those years.
The Billiani family’s involvement in agricultural production and com-
modity trading was joined by that in the craft sector for yarn production.
This aspect, too, further reinforces the pluriactive character of mountain
workers (Panjek 2015; 2023; Panjek et al. 2017), recognizable even for wom-
en, and not only for men, in the enterprises in which they collaborated
(Fornasin 2004). This character made firms like the Billiani more adap-
tive and resilient to possible market conditioning (Fornasin and Lorenzini
2020; 2017; Demo and Ongaro 2023).
The resilience demonstrated by these family groups seems to derive from
the diversification of economic activities practiced between the agricultur-
al, artisanal and commercial sectors. Commercial family enterprises, such
as those that dealt in timber (Occhi and Lorenzini 2022) or those devot-

97