Montagne condivise, montagne contestate. Le risorse d'uso collettivo nelle Alpi orientali (secoli XVI-XIX)

In the Eastern Italian Alps, for centuries common woodland and pasturelands have been two fundamental resources whose management has involved different actors. The local communities were entitled to the usufruct of these lands. The State – the Republic of Venice, the French and Austrian governments – oversaw the collective management of these lands in order to guarantee long-term supplies for the urban centres or the needs of strategic economic sectors. A third perspective concerns the marketing of the products obtained from these lands and the operators involved in these trades. The paper analyses the relations between these three components, shedding light on central activities of the Alpine economy in the preindustrial period.