OUR DATASETS

Data-Driven History

Florentine governments of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were obsessive data collectors, even if they didn’t always know what to do with all the data they collected. Fortunately for DECIMA, they kept detailed records about the people who lived in Florence. DECIMA allows researchers to access and analyze data taken from three different Florentine censuses, allowing for comparison of the city’s demographic and economic profiles across 81 years.

The DECIMA collection of early modern censuses currently includes three Florentine surveys and one from seventeenth-century Livorno, the Grand Duchy’s port on the Mediterranean.

Along the way DECIMA has collaborated with a variety of researchers whose data has migrated through the DECIMA ecosystem. Much of that data can be found in our collection of thematic maps.

Early Modern Florence

The DECIMA collection of early modern censuses currently includes three Florentine surveys: a population census from 1551; a property census from 1561; and a population census from 1632. Our data have been standardized to provide users with easy access to the demographic, economic, and spatial information contained within the original documents.

1551

Each line in the 1551 descrizione refers to a household, i.e. a group of individuals organized under a single named individual. The 11,743 households listed in this urban population survey have been translated into database entries comprising twenty-seven separate fields. The data contained in these fields can be categorized under two headings: demographic and spatial.

More about 1551

1561

An entry in the 1561 Decima ricerca refers to a parcel of property, such as a house, a shop, or part of a structure. Each of these 8,691 items has been translated into an entry in the DECIMA database comprising sixty-six separate fields. The data contained in these fields can be divided between three headings: demographic, economic, and spatial.

More about 1561

1632

Each line in the 1632 descrizione represents a household, i.e. a group of individuals organized under a single named individual, the head. There are 14,715 households listed in the census, each of which is represented in our database with thirty-one fields. The data contained in these fields can be divided into demographic and spatial information.

More about 1632

Livorno

The newest phase of the DECIMA Project has taken us down to Livorno, the Grand Duchy’s port on the Mediterranean. Building from the methodology that inspired our work on the Tuscan capital, we are in the process of integrating seventeenth-century census information with a map of Livorno – this time, in 3D! Click the following link to learn more about the work of our Livorno team.

 

More about Livorno

Glossaries

Not fluent in Italian? Not a problem

Have you ever tried to navigate in a new city where you do not speak the local language? We know wayfinding – even digital GIS wayfinding – can sometimes pose many of the same challenges.

Here you will find everything you need to make sense of the terms and phrases you will encounter in DECIMA. The following glossaries highlight key terms, concepts, and place names to assist you as you begin using the mapping tool. Look up English translations for common property and occupational titles, compare street and landmark names have may changed since the 16th century, and learn the basics of the Florentine monetary system.

These glossaries were compiled from the Grande Dizionario della Lingua Italiana (GDLI), ed. Salvatore Battaglia (Turin: Unione Tipografico-Editrice Torinese, 1961-2002).

Street Names
Occupations
Shops and Property
Currency and Wages
This project is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada

Archivio di Stato di Firenze

Archivio di Stato di Livorno

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