OLTRE L’EMERGENZA. ALCUNE RIFLESSIONI SU EBREI E COMMERCIO DEI GRANI IN ITALIA DURANTE LA PRIMA ETÀ MODERNA

Modern Period has been widely investigated in recent years. Despite the existence of strict formal prohibitions archival sources show that Jews took advantage of this activity to enhance their legitimacy in the eyes of political authorities. Their economic and relational background made them well suited to ensure the supply of cereals during emergencies, when the traditional provisioning systems failed. In case of war or famine political reasons led Christian authorities to abandon their usual formal restrictions, thus allowing Jews to freely engage in the grain trade. Emergency represents therefore the factor that could justify exceptions to the rules. This paper aims at making such general picture more nuanced and compelling by considering some regional peculiarities. Although less eye-catching and impactful than in times of crisis, at least in particular areas (notably, the Duchy of Mantua) and under specific conditions archival sources show that in non-emergency situations Jewish commitment was more continuous (and sometimes unrelated to urban provisioning), focusing also on new crops, such as rice.