The early-sixteenth century was a turbulent time for the Italian peninsula as competing centres of power struggled for political control. Nowhere was this more true than the area contested by Milan and Venice, an area constantly crossed and occupied by rival armies. Investigating the impact of successive crises upon the inhabitants of the Po Valley
Despite the laborious process of gathering the data and some limitations due to selective incompleteness, catasti and estimi (fiscal cadastres) provide precious information on demographic differences within Italy during the Late Middle Ages and early Modern Age. The authors compare three areas: the countryside surrounding Lucca in 1411 (Tuscany, 5,792 individuals) and Varese in 1530 (Lombardy, 2,703), and the "quasi-city" of Legnago in 1430 (Veneto, 2,101), reconsidering also the Florentine catasto of 1427. Family-type distribution, age at marriage, and residence after marriage are noticeably different, showing that the territorial diversity in family of nineteenth-century Italy was already present four centuries earlier.