‘Per popolo e per confini’. Florentine tavola delle possessioni and the Property Registration in the Middle of the Fourteenth Century

Abstract

In the mid-fourteenth century, the authorities of Florence resolved to establish registers of all the real properties within the Florentine dominion. A project, unprecedented in the Florentine history, to record and compile an inventory of estates was conceived. The article considers the circumstances behind the project, primarily the socioeconomic and political factors that drove the authorities’ decision. Details are discussed regarding the selection of officials responsible for the project and the work they did. Analysis of the project in question enables to address certain specific issues of late medieval perception and rationalisation of urban and off-urban space.