The Arte dei rigattieri (merchants of second-hand goods in Florence) has never been the subject of a systematic study, even in scholarship devoted to the history of trades. Underpinned by a large collection of archival material, this book analyzes the social life and economic activity of rigattieri in fifteenth-century Florence. It offers invaluable information on issues such as the relationship between socio-political affiliations and economic interest as well as the structures of consumption and the spending power of different social groups. Furthermore, through the lens of the Arte dei Rigattieri, this work examines the connection between the development of the political bureaucracy, the establishment of Medicean power, and contemporaneous processes of identity construction and social mobility.
Author(s): Alessia Meneghin
Series: Routledge Research in Medieval Studies
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2020
Language: English
Pages: 250
City: Abingdon
Cover
Half Title
Series
Title
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
Acknowledgments
Part I The Guild, Identity of Artifices, and Economic Activities
1 Methods and Problems in the Study of the Guild of Second-Hand Dealers in Florence
2 The Structure of the Guild and Statutes
3 The Rigattieri in the Socio-Economic System of Fifteenth-Century Florence
Part II Work, Investments, and Social Mobility
4 Credit, Concurrent Activities, and the Appraisal of Goods
5 Land Ownership, Investments, and Profits
6 From Sellers of Old Rags to the Urban Elite
Conclusions
Appendix A: Florentine Quarters, Gonfaloni, and Parrocchie
Appendix B: Glossary
References
Index
