Struttura economica e redditi nell'economia veronese a metà del Settecento

The thesis focuses on the analysis of historical administrative data collected from tax registers in the Italian city of Verona during 1745. The research is chronologically placed at the middle of the XVIII century. This period is known as the “long lasting century”, representative of the economic recession that Italy and other European countries went through during 1630-1750. During those years, it is accomplished a long and difficult reconstruction process of demographic levels affected by the plague the years before 1630 in the Verona area. The thesis is organized in 4 chapters. In the first chapter we present the data archives of the Verona urban area at the half of the XVIII century. These data sources are used further to elaborate an analysis of the urban social structure. The second chapter focuses on the family structure, the real estate market, professions and qualifications of people living in Verona during 1745 and registered in the tax archives of each district (anagrafi contradali). We analyze further the income distribution of the Italian households located in this area. In chapter 3 we study analytically the income nature of the richest families from Verona (with cifra d’estimo between 3 and 7 liras and those families with cifra d’estimo above 7 lira). Cifra d’estimo in the context of historical tax archives represents one’s ability to pay: the higher cifra d’estimo is, the highest the taxes one is expected to pay. This study is elaborated starting from the income statements denounced by the inhabitants of the Verona urban area. The fourth chapter highlights interesting conclusions concerning the income distribution of the poorest Italian families, with cifra d’estimo below 3 lira.