Fattori, caporali e capisquadra. Note su mediatori e « mercato » del lavoro agricolo nel Ferrarese dell'Ottocento

During the Nineteenth century the Po Valley experienced an increasing labour commodification in rural activities. Through a case-study (Ferrara) the article uses a variety of sources (agricultural treaties, newspapers and periodicals, population and vital registers, business records and justice of peace) in order to understand the functioning of the rural labour 'market', highlighting the specific characteristics of a territory strongly marked by land reclamation. It shows that the labourers continued to be recruited through personal networks and labour mediation at several levels, including on the one hand "fattori" and "caporali" and, the other, "foremen" and "boari". Moreover, the article outlines a double evolution of the labour market following an exacerbation of social conflict at the end of the century. While the labour movements tried to control the recruiting of labour, the increasing landholders' discretion included the import of "scabs" from other municipalities and provinces. The actors of labour mediation were therefore subjected to tensions that require a prosopographical reconstruction.