On Men and Bears: a Forgotten Migration in Nineteenth-Century Italy
Journal: History Workshop Journal
Year: 2013

This article centres on a unique type of migration: the seasonal travels of animal-trainers, mainly orsanti (bear-trainers), from the Italian Apennine region to the rest of Europe in the mid nineteenth century. These migrants set out from the walled mountain towns of Bedonia and Compiano and from surrounding villages in the province of Parma, at the intersection of Liguria, Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna. They roamed Italy and Europe, reaching as far as Turkey, Russia and Scandinavia, with their car