The Building Boon in Renaissance Florence

FAIN: FB-10502-70

Richard A. Goldthwaite
Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, MD 21218-2608)

Study of construction industry in Renaissance Florence as a problem in industrial organization and as an index to social and economic conditions of the lower classes of Florentine society. Building accounts contain a great variety of precise information about workers and the labor market--number of workers (often names), wage rates, earnings, duration of employment organization--and the extent of the documentation allows samplings of these conditions ranging from early 15th to early 16th century. Few other records yield such an abundance of information on economic conditions of the period. Also study of social and cultural implications of buildings in Renaissance Florence, especially causes (patronage) and effects (the consequent physical transformation of the city). Fellow to research in Florence.