Managing common land in unequal societies. The case of the Lombard Alps in the eighteenth century

Is well known that commons played and play a leading role in mountain economies since the most important natural resources -pasturages, meadows, woods, water- belonged and belong to the communities and were and are used by the inhabitants. The contribution will deal with the managing of common land in Lombard Alps in the XVIIIth century with a special focus on features of the local societies. The research question is which way unequal societies, such as those of mountain areas, managed common land. In Lombard Alps there have been a double inequality regarding the use of common resources. First of all it is evident a clear divide between the “antichi originari” (inhabitants settled there at least for a century) who had access and managed common land and the “forestieri” (strangers) who had not. Secondly there was also a great income inequality between originari and forestieri and among the same originari. Consequently the contribution will focus on the way in which such social and economic structure affected the managing of the commons, with special regards to the access and use of pasturages and woods, and will demonstrate that in some cases the collective use of commons was not the best solution in terms of equality.