The Feudal-Enterprise of Cicco Simonetta and the New Lordships of Lomellina (15th Century)

Abstract

The lordship of Cicco Simonetta on Sartirana and other localities in Lomellina deserve the definition of fief-estate, given the importance of the entrepreneurial, agrarian, and hydraulic activities which Simonetta realized. In this study, this fief is compared with other new lordships implanted by the Visconti and Sforza in the same region, equally active in entrepreneurial attitudes and features. On the contrary, many of the older lineages were less able to interpret the great possibilities of change in Lombard agricolture, and suffered an inexorable decline.