Between home and manufacturing: the use of wood and charcoal in early modern northern italy: Two case studies

This chapter concentrates on two urban case studies (Bologna and Milan), with some final remarks on a rural context, i.e., the Lombard Valleys in the province of Brescia. It describes the type of energy sources (signally faggots, wood and charcoal) employed for different aims in houses and in the manufacturing structures in the case studies selected. The authors decided to use the temperature averages because they certainly represent the main cause of wood consumption in urban homes. The main sources for reconstructing wood consumption and prices in eighteenth-century Bologna are represented by the account books of seven charitable institutions which annually recorded the amounts of various types of woods stored in their warehouses as well as their prices and their use. Even if there were some differences in the aims of these institutions and their social and economic relevance, the data recorded in their account books allow us to reconstruct the trend in wood consumption and prices.