Page 45 - Changing Living Spaces

The Privatization of the Common Real Estate in Lombard Alpine Valleys

At the end of the nineteenth century, the area of common real estate
in Lombardy remained relevant (for example, in the valleys of eastern
Lombardy it was 50 percent), but especially in the high valleys there were
many incolti produttivi, that is, uncultivated plots of land that were no
longer used as meadow or forest. The quality of common real estate and
the associated capability to produce fruits declined, and compared to the
Napoleonic period, the decline was significant in both size and value. In
the valleys of eastern Lombardy, for example, the area decreased by al-
most 30 percent, and the cadastral value was reduced by more than 70
percent. The common real estate ownership obviously brought fewer ben-
efits than before and did not allow the Alpine communities to help the
villagers, especially the poorest families. This happened while Lombard
agriculture in the plains and hills registered a great improvement in pro-
duction and yields in the nineteenth century, thanks to technological in-
novations, new landowners who made appropriate investments, and the
introduction of various agricultural contracts that allowed for the effi-
cient management of plots of different quality and crops.10
These events explain why the quality of life of Alpine families declined
sharply in the second half of the nineteenth century. The main problems,
of course, affected the poorest families, who depended on the rights to
the fruits of the common real estate: the loss of this income was not com-
pensated by subsidies of the authorities. The latter kept decreasing as the
Alpine communities received less money than before through local taxes
and rents of forests, pastures and associated buildings.
Other decisions of the Italian government and the impact of techno-
logical innovations worsened the living conditions in the Alpine valleys.
The Kingdom of Italy expropriated part of the assets of the ecclesiasti-
cal institutions and these reduced the aid and credits that had previous-
ly been guaranteed to the villagers and their workshops. There were no
banks in the Alpine valleys (the first ones arrived in the 1880s) and this
led to a lack of financial liquidity and consequently to a decline in artisan
activity.11 At the same time, local artisans had to face competition from
products made in the new factories in the plains where the workforce was
cheap and the quality-price ratio was good. The quality of the handmade
10 About the evolution of Lombard agriculture during the nineteenth century see,
among others: Fumi (2022), Tedeschi (2017), and Locatelli and Tedeschi (2018a;
2018b).
11 About the Lombard banking system during the nineteenth century, see: Cafaro
(2000; 2002).

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