Papers by Claudio Lorenzini
Quaderni Storici, 2023
Throughout the early modern period, the eastern Alpine area was one
of the lumber supply areas o... more Throughout the early modern period, the eastern Alpine area was one
of the lumber supply areas of northern Italy. Venice and the Republic conditioned the market as a center of consumption (population and industries), a commercial hub in the Mediterranean basin, and a state authority capable of formulating specific legislation on its forests.
Among the main protagonists of the timber industry were the merchants who, thanks to the river and the streams used for transport, were able to build and maintain those links between the mountains and the plains essential for effective trade, accumulating substantial wealth, and exercising an indisputable power both in the areas of production and in the markets of outlet. Due to the peculiarities of the market and the supply chain, timber merchants (especially the Venetian ones) were forced to maintain multiple residences, establish vast parental alliances (also across the Alps, in the imperial territories), maintain relations with various institutions, from communities to states.
From a comparative perspective, the contribution focuses on the case of four generations of the Bianchini family of Venice, reconstructing their progressive rise in the timber trade in the eastern Alpine area during the first half of the sixteenth century and their sudden decline over the course of a century.
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Papers by Claudio Lorenzini
of the lumber supply areas of northern Italy. Venice and the Republic conditioned the market as a center of consumption (population and industries), a commercial hub in the Mediterranean basin, and a state authority capable of formulating specific legislation on its forests.
Among the main protagonists of the timber industry were the merchants who, thanks to the river and the streams used for transport, were able to build and maintain those links between the mountains and the plains essential for effective trade, accumulating substantial wealth, and exercising an indisputable power both in the areas of production and in the markets of outlet. Due to the peculiarities of the market and the supply chain, timber merchants (especially the Venetian ones) were forced to maintain multiple residences, establish vast parental alliances (also across the Alps, in the imperial territories), maintain relations with various institutions, from communities to states.
From a comparative perspective, the contribution focuses on the case of four generations of the Bianchini family of Venice, reconstructing their progressive rise in the timber trade in the eastern Alpine area during the first half of the sixteenth century and their sudden decline over the course of a century.
of the lumber supply areas of northern Italy. Venice and the Republic conditioned the market as a center of consumption (population and industries), a commercial hub in the Mediterranean basin, and a state authority capable of formulating specific legislation on its forests.
Among the main protagonists of the timber industry were the merchants who, thanks to the river and the streams used for transport, were able to build and maintain those links between the mountains and the plains essential for effective trade, accumulating substantial wealth, and exercising an indisputable power both in the areas of production and in the markets of outlet. Due to the peculiarities of the market and the supply chain, timber merchants (especially the Venetian ones) were forced to maintain multiple residences, establish vast parental alliances (also across the Alps, in the imperial territories), maintain relations with various institutions, from communities to states.
From a comparative perspective, the contribution focuses on the case of four generations of the Bianchini family of Venice, reconstructing their progressive rise in the timber trade in the eastern Alpine area during the first half of the sixteenth century and their sudden decline over the course of a century.