Rural Communities and Public Works. The Veneto Example (13th-15th Centuries)

Abstract

In the 13th and 14th centuries, the communal and seigneurial governments of Padua, Treviso, Verona, and Vicenza proceeded to organize and regulate their Contadi with a great diversity of timing and methods. Even after the creation of the Venetian Terraferma at the beginning of the 15th century, these processes deeply influenced the criteria of distribution of public works (maintenance of river banks, construction, and maintenance of fortifications and walls) and military dues among the rural communities of the various Contadi. There was only slow and partial assertion of principles of equity, comparison, progress beyond privileges and exemptions, and general interest, helped by the rural communities’ creation of representative institutions (Territori). The Venetian government’s attitude was characterised by great caution and respect for the status quo ante; it was more inclined to pursue a broad, fair distribution of burdens among the rural communities of the whole dominion for major works benefitting the capital alone, such as the big, late 15th-century project to divert the river Brenta from outflow in the Venetian lagoon.