This article provides an overview of economic inequality, particularly of wealth, in the Florentine state (Tuscany) from the early fourteenth to the late eighteenth century. Regional studies of this kind are rare, and this is only the second‐ever attempt at covering such a long period. Consistent with recent research conducted on other European areas, during the early modern period we find clear indications of a tendency for economic inequality to grow continually, a finding that for Tuscany cannot be explained as the consequence of economic growth. Furthermore, the exceptionally old sources we use allow us to demonstrate that a phase of declining inequality, lasting about one century, was triggered by the Black Death from 1348 to 1349. This finding challenges earlier scholarship and significantly alters our understanding of the economic consequences of the Black Death.

The wool manufacture, along with the International trade and finance, was one of Florence’s leading sectors in the Late Middle Ages. The sixteenth century has been only touched by the historical-economical studies, perhaps because it was traditionally considered a period of decadence. More recent research has instead highlighted the need to rethink these conclusions, demonstrating how the textile sector represents a good point of observation for deepening the critical points and evaluating the prospects of the economy of the city of the Lily in the 16th century. Alongside the analysis of a case study and the critical re-elaborations of what literature offers on more general topics, the book presents a long-term view of the process of the rise and decline of the Arte della Lana in Florence, reinterpreting it in the light of new archival investigations.

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La religione è senza dubbio il fenomeno culturale più importante nella storia del mondo. Essa era onnipresente nella vita quotidiana medievale e della prima età moderna. In tutte le epoche e tutte le culture, essa è stata condizionata dall’economia; per altro verso ha esercitato una profonda influenza non solo sulle teorie, ma anche sulla pratica, le consuetudini, le norme, i consumi, gli strumenti e in genere sulla complessiva organizzazione economica. Gli stessi flussi migratori, che hanno prodotto effetti e trasformazioni significative nell’assetto economico europeo sono stati in molti casi collegati a problematiche di tipo religioso. Il volume che raccoglie gli atti della Settimana di Studi datiniana esplora attraverso 44 contributi scientifici questa relazione dinamica e complessa, che coinvolse le tre principali religioni europee: Cristianesimo, Giudaismo ed Islamismo, ma anche le esperienze particolari all’interno di ogni confessione. Esse infatti conobbero, in contesti diversi, diverse interpretazioni e divergenti espressioni dogmatiche e dottrinali, cui corrisposero significative differenze nella evoluzione degli strumenti e dei rapporti economici europei e del Mediterraneo, a partire dall’inizio del secondo millennio.