La «Grande Trasformazione» dell'Italia centrosettentrionale tra XII e XIII secolo: una risposta a Poloni e Faini

This article is a reply to the observations made by Alma Poloni and Enrico Faini on my book 'Estate Management around Florence and Lucca, 1000-1250'. The two scholars have discussed some pressing issues, which sit at the centre of current historiographical debates. The relationship between demographic growth and economic expansion, the spread of credit-debt relations, the development of the manufacturing sector, its links with the increase of seigneurial demand, the characteristics and the evolution of peasant economy – all these problems should be addressed in order to renovate the research into the economic history of the central Middle Ages.