ABSTRACT
Land is the main resource of the Pisticcesi; most of them derive some of their income from it, and many derive most of their income from it. Land has more than purely economic uses. It is still an important component of marriage settlements, and it is an element of prestige; it can give independence of employers and it is a security for a man attempting upward social mobility. Transactions in land, particularly transactions in the exceedingly small, economically useless plots of land, are transactions in prestige and social position. During the nineteenth century there was a general movement to convert public into private property, and the laws required that it should go to the landless. But what happened seems to have been rather more complex. Although the sale of demesne land was clearly matter for the rich, it should not be thought that this was illegal; nor was it illegal for a buyer to be closely associated with the council.
