Calamities and the economy in Renaissance Italy : the grand tour of the horsemen of the apocalypse / Guido Alfani, Associate Professor of Economic History, Bocconi University, Italy ; translated by Christine Calvert.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Alfani, Guido, 1976-

Series:

Early modern history (Palgrave Macmillan (Firm))

Early modern history: society and culture

Standardized Title:

Grand tour dei cavalieri dell'Apocalisse. English

Language:

English

Italian

Subjects (All):

Economic conditions.

Social conditions.

Italy--History--16th century.

Italy.

History.

Italy--Social conditions--16th century.

Italy--Economic conditions--16th century.

Physical Description:

xii, 257 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire : Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.

Language Note:

Translated from Italian.

Summary:

Italy faced a number of catastrophes in the long sixteenth century' between the start of the Italian Wars in 1494 and the eve of the terrible plague of 1630. This economic and demographic history analyzes the effects of these catastrophes, detailing the action of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse - War, Famine and Plague, all followed by Death. Guido Alfani considers the short-term effects of the calamities affecting Renaissance Italy as well as the impact they had, in the medium and long term, on the general economic and demographic trend of the peninsula. The calamities are shown to be not only the source of destruction, but also the cause of a significant redistribution of population and wealth; in other words, they produced winners as well as losers. This overall picture of the economic conditions of Italy in the late Renaissance challenges the received wisdom and suggests that, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, the Italian economy was still healthy, innovating and dynamic. Book jacket.

Contents:

List of figures and tables

Acknowledgements

Introduction

War

Famine

Plague

Winners and losers

Population and the economy : underlying trends

Conclusion: towards the seventeenth century

Appendix

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781137289766

1137289767

OCLC:

822971474