Markets and marketplaces in Medieval Italy, c.1100 to c.1440
By: Dennis Romano
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: 2015
Language: eng
Number of pages: 271
ISBN-13: 9780300169072
Copyright date: 2015
Subjects: Commerce; Marketplaces; Medieval; Marktplatz; Markt; Medieval Cities and towns; Markets; History
Description: Cathedrals and civic palaces stand to this day as symbols of the dynamism and creativity of the city-states that flourished in Italy during the Middle Ages. Markets and Marketplaces in Medieval Italy argues that the bustling yet impermanent sites of markets played an equally significant role, not only in the economic life of the Italian communes, but in their political, social, and cultural life as well. Drawing on a range of evidence from cities and towns across northern and central Italy, Dennis Romano explores the significance of the marketplace as the symbolic embodiment of the common good; its regulation and organization; the ethics of economic exchange; and how governments and guilds sought to promote market values. With a special focus on the spatial, architectural, and artistic elements of the marketplace, Romano adds new dimensions to our understanding of the evolution of the market economy and the origins of commercial capitalism and Renaissance individualism.--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages [250]-262) and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction; title: Part one: Space and place. The marketplace as civic symbol ; The evolution of marketplaces ; The organization of the marketplace; title: Part two: Buying and selling. Market infrastructure: streets, shops, and stalls ; The choreography of buying and selling ; Regulating and controlling the marketplace; title: Part three: Marketplace ethics. Bona fide, sine fraude (in good faith and without fraud) ; Combatting fraud and promoting trust: embellishing the marketplace; title: Epilogue: "È il bene comune nel mercatare".