Storia economica dell’Italia basso medievale e Business History: un binomio finito?

The economic history of late-medieval Italy, both of the regions gravitating around the great mercantile cities of the centre-north of the Peninsula (Venice, Florence, Genoa, Milan) and of the urban realities and countryside of the Mezzogiorno (not to mention the Rome of the popes), has attracted the attention of Italian and foreign historians since the late 19th century. For a long time, Italy and its extraordinary archives were an indispensable touchstone for anyone studying agriculture, manufacturing, trade and banking. Some of the decisive reasons for this interest can be traced back to aspects of historical research revolving around the concept of the cradle of capitalism and Renaissance civilization: hence the strong prominence of Italian businessmen, and their companies, in the historiography of the last century. In recent decades, and particularly in the last few years, these interests have rapidly petered out and the economic history of Italy between the age of Dante and that of Machiavelli has become almost a Cinderella story. This contribution seeks to explain the rise and decline of a historiography that, consciously or unconsciously, has suffered more than others from the backlash of the contemporary world.