“Effetto Buddenbrook”. Imprese mercantili e percorsi di mobilità sociale nella Bologna dell'età moderna

Throughout the early modern period Bologna was one of the leading manufacturing centers in Europe. Silk production was crucial to the city prosperity, and local craftsmen and traders pioneered important changes in the way the production process was managed. Relevant and widespread proto-industrial activities further contributed to the city’s early integration in international trade networks. The mercantile community, and above all traders associated to the powerful Silk Guild (Arte della Seta), played a key role. And merchants were vital actors in the economic as well as in the social life of the city. Indeed business success frequently paved the way to swift social ascents and many members of mercantile families were able to join the patriciate. However business imperatives and patrician lifestyles often proved too difficult to reconcile and this affected business continuity adversely. This was precisely the case of the Ghelli family, whose vicissitudes are discussed in the paper. The Ghelli’s mercantile success did not survive the third generation, which abandoned the family business, triggering a rapid reverse of fortune. Referring to Thomas Mann great novel, business historians have defined this sort of downcurve “the Buddenbrooks syndrome”. This pattern is summed up by the famous say, quoted among others by J. Schumpeter: “three generations from overalls to overalls”