Page 49 - Changing Living Spaces

The Privatization of the Common Real Estate in Lombard Alpine Valleys

the value of the common real estate were greatly reduced, but even the
privatized lands had low fertility and low yields. Many Alpine families
had to emigrate, reducing the population, especially in the high valleys,
which were far from the markets in the plain. At the same time, excessive
deforestation and reduced ‘maintenance’ of the forests increased the fre-
quency of landslides and floods, causing significant economic damage in
the valleys and the emigration of families who lost their homes and/or
workshops. However, in this negative context, some villages resisted the
negative economic conjuncture and produced high quality goods for niche
markets. These did not suffer demographic decline and gradually partici-
pated in the Lombard industrialization, creating small but very efficient
industrial districts. This also explains why in the Lombard Alpine valleys
the depopulation of the mountains did not reach the impressive levels in-
dicated by the INeA inquiry in the 1930s for Piedmont and, though to a
lesser extent, for Veneto.16

References
Abrate, M. 1960. Lo sviluppo della siderurgia e della meccanica nel Regno
di Sardegna dal 1831 al 1861. Leuven: Bibliothèque de l’Université,
Bureaux du Recueil.
Agnoletti, M. 1998. ‘Commercio e industria del legname fra XIX e XX se-
colo nell’Italia nord-orientale: aspetti tecnici e scelte imprendito-
riali.’ In Mobilità imprenditoriale e del lavoro nelle Alpi in età moderna e
contemporanea, edited by G. L. Fontana, A. Leonardi, and L. Trezzi,
31–45. Milan: CUeSP.
———. 2002. ‘Le sistemazioni idraulico-forestali dei bacini montani
dall’unità d’Italia alla metà del XX secolo.’ In Diboscamento montano
e politiche territoriali: Alpi e Appennini dal Settecento al Duemila, edited
by A. Lazzarini, 389–414. Milan: Angeli.
Agnoletto, S. 2005. ‘La Pieve di Lecco nei processi di modernizzazione: il
caso dell’uso dei boschi tra la repubblica Cisalpina e il Regno d’Italia
(1796–1814).’ Lecco economia 3:56–60.
Agrawal, A. 2007. ‘Forests, Governance, and Sustainability: Common
Property Theory and Its Contributions.’ International Journal of the
Commons 1 (1): 111–36.

16 About the economic development of the Italian Alpine valleys during the Nine-
teenth century see, among others, P. Tedeschi (2002, 61–78), L. Mocarellli (2002,
79–90), and G. Scaramellini (1978). About the INeA (Istituto Nazionale di Econo-
mia Agraria) enquiry, see Istituto Nazionale di Economia Agraria (1938).

47