Crescita e competizione : il mercato di Salò e la Riviera del Garda fra Tre e Quattrocento

This article examines the rise of Salò as the principal market centre of the Riviera del Garda between the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Drawing on statutes, fiscal records, notarial documents, and institutional sources, it reconstructs the growth of the weekly market, the role of local and immigrant entrepreneurs, and the connections linking the Garda area to Lombardy, the Alpine regions, and Venice. The study shows that Salò's commercial expansion strengthened its political centrality and attracted credit, trade, and professional services, but did not produce a fully hierarchical regional economy. Manufacturing remained distributed among specialised local centres, while Maderno and, increasingly, Desenzano competed with Salò for administrative and commercial primacy. The case therefore highlights both the integrating force and the limits of a late medieval rural market. [Publisher's text]