ABSTRACT
The population of Italy and that of individual towns and cities would almost certainly have been higher in the quattrocento had there been an absence of high levels of localised morbidity and mortality. Within this context, the Italian city-states went on to enjoy a length period of ‘economic recovery, stable growth and dynamic equilibrium in economic and demographic movements’. The populations of Florence and Venice increased gradually to 70,000 and 100,00 respectively by the end of the 15th century and most other cities throughout the peninsula experienced similar growth, though the total urban population of Italy in 1500 was still smaller than before the Black Death. Aside from industrial capitalism 15th-century Italy also witnessed the emergence of commercial and financial capitalism. Much of the bullion that entered the Florentine economy found its way into the conspicuous consumption of gold and silver products and other luxuries.
