Italian Merchants and Traders North of the Alps: Commercial Practices and Social Strategies

Italian merchants and traders north of the Alps exhibited 'dual integration,' maintaining strong ties with both their host communities and their homeland, as revealed by a study analyzing their commercial practices and social strategies. The research highlights that while these migrants often married into local society and permanently settled in German towns, they also preserved close relationships with relatives in Italy, evident through trans-Alpine inheritance transfers. This dual integration underscores the trans-national nature of their social networks. The study, focusing on the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, found that Italian traders initially specialized in marketing Italian goods but later diversified into banking and manufacturing. Their ability to rise socially varied significantly between Catholic towns, where they gained prominence, and Protestant cities like Frankfurt, where local resistance limited their civic rights and commercial privileges.

Häberlein, M. (2022). Italian Merchants and Traders North of the Alps: Commercial Practices and Social Strategies. Oeconomia Alpium II: Economic History of the Alps in Preindustrial Times, 141–158. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110522259-008