ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on conflicts arising in two sizeable communities in the Valley of the Agno and Trissino. It examines of notaries deeds offers valuable information on the emergence of new forms of social regulation and various practices for resolving conflicts. From the 1530s Venice's terra firma became the arena for numerous conflicts between nobles, which often led to real and sometimes violent vendettas, or faide, which could only be resolved by the intervention of the Venetian patriciate. The ritual invited the individual back into society, but it also forced them to acknowledge their responsibility through oath, gesture and ceremony. Giovanni Guerati, representing his sister Angela, and Giovanni Zuchetti presented their arguments for reconciliation. During the medieval and early-modern periods, the European judicial structures and procedures that had previously decided on social and political conflicts were going through a phase of profound transformations.
