Suchergebnisse

Summary
During World War One, almost 600,000 Italian soldiers were captured, and about 50,000 of them died. Most prisoners died of malnutrition and associated illnesses. The aim of this article is to study the differential mortality among Italian prisoners. To achieve this goal, the individual-level data of around 3,500 soldiers born between 1884 and 1899 in North-eastern Italy are used. In this article, the explanatory variables considered are: the military corps which the soldiers belonged to; demographic characteristics, such as age; socio-economic factors, such as occupation and literacy; and anthropometric factors, such as height. The analysis shows that the most experienced prisoners were better able to survive captivity and to overcome deficiencies in diet and illnesses. They were individuals who had the skills and the ability to overcome difficulties and to solve problems both during the conflict and in civil life.

SummaryThe aim of this study was to identify the characteristics of individuals who formed exogamic marriages in the Friuli region (north-east Italy) during the second half of the 19th century. Logistic regression models were devised to measure the influence of the determinants of exogamic marriage, taking into account not only variables related to context but also spouses' economic, social and cultural characteristics. The determinants of exogamic marriage differ for men and women, and also vary by region due to differences in geographical mobility and size of the marriage market. The majority of exogamic spouses belong to one of two categories: either older individuals, often, especially in the case of men, with a previous marriage; or the upper social classes.

AbstractThe research explores the effects of the environment on neonatal mortality in the early nineteenth century, controlling for social and economic factors. Individual data, relative to the resident population of Udine, a city in northeastern Italy, under French domination (1806–1815) have been used. The information collected regards births and deaths within the first month of life and is taken from the Napoleonic civil registers. The spatial distribution of some data within the urban area, heating in the houses where children were born or died, and a time series of temperature levels and corn prices are taken into account. The methodological approach adopted is based on logistic regression models and discrete-time event history analysis. The results point to excess winter neonatal mortality. Neonatal mortality was higher in peripheral areas of the city and in heated houses. A positive relationship between mortality and lower temperatures and corn prices has been found. As to socioeconomic status, peasant families and those of the upper class showed, respectively, the lowest and the highest mortality levels. This was arguably the result of the adoption of different breastfeeding practices.

Le nombre le plus souvent avancé pour estimer les pertes de l'armée italienne durant la Première Guerre mondiale est celui de la commission des réparations de guerre de 1921 qui comptabilise 650 000 décès. Cet article a pour objectifs de critiquer cette estimation, d'en proposer une nouvelle, et de fournir des informations sur la structure par âge et l'âge au décès des soldats italiens tombés durant la guerre. Le tableau d'honneur des soldats morts au combat ( Albo d'oro ) est utilisé dans cette étude, avec d'une part les tableaux récapitulatifs publiés à la fin de chaque volume, et d'autre part un échantillon de 11 000 décès militaires (représentant environ 2,1 % du total) extrait de cette source. Nous concluons que l'estimation de 650 000 décès militaires formulée immédiatement après la fin de la guerre est trop élevée, et le chiffre de 560 000 décès semble plus proche de la réalité. Les données de l' Albo d'oro montrent que le taux de mortalité a culminé durant la dernière année du conflit, et non en 1917 comme cela avait été affirmé. Il semble enfin que les décès dus à des maladies, plus fréquents dans les rangs de l'armée italienne que dans ceux des autres superpuissances, aient eu un impact bien plus important qu'on ne le supposait auparavant.

AbstractThis article looks at the key factors affecting the connection between peasant family size and farm size in Italy in 1930–1931. The association between farm size and family size was analyzed using a new dataset merging data drawn from both the Population Census of 1931 and the Census of Agriculture of 1930. We found a strict association between peasant family size, here considered as a production unit, and the surface area of the farm. The results seem to correspond to different causal relationship between family size and farm size according to access to land, and form of tenure. In some contexts, where sharecropping was widespread, farm size defines the size of the family. In others where small land ownership prevailed, it seems that family size shapes the size of the farm. In this study we propose a new explanation for peasant family size in the Fascist period. This is done adopting a cross-sectional perspective, providing a geographical analysis based on the 786 agrarian areas that formed the national territory in that period.

AbstractEducation has been frequently claimed to shape demographic outcomes. Mortality, fertility, and nuptiality have all been attested to be affected to some extent by education attainment. This article investigates the effects of education on fertility over time in a rural Italian community once controlled for potential confounders. Using individual-level data drawn from various sources, the study analyzes the role of education in shaping reproductive behaviors not only during the demographic transition (1890–1960) but also in the pretransitional period (1819–59). The results highlight the contrasting effects of literacy on fertility, which passed from a positive association in the ancien régime to a negative one in the transitional phase. Educated couples were therefore forerunners in the process of fertility decline because they were not only in the position to be the most pressed to control reproduction but also because they were likely aware of reproductive mechanisms, had the knowledge of more effective birth-control methods, had the economic possibility to get them, and had the necessary capacity to use them.

This paper aims at presenting some health maps of a historical population. The studies on the health status of past populations are usually focused on the causes of death. Our purpose is to present some descriptive analyses on non-deadly diseases. The present work focuses on the province of Friuli (north-eastern Italy) in the second half of the nineteenth century. The used sources are military call-up records. We collected about 300,000 records relative to military recruitment that took place between 1866 and 1909 (birth cohorts 1846-1890). Our main concern was the health status of the 20-year male population, and its association with environmental, socio economic and genetic factors. Generally speaking, we observe that the northern mountain area was the most advantaged, while young adults from the eastern and western parts of the province were the most disadvantaged. A lot of factors and causes contributed to determine the spatial distribution of specific diseases in Friuli, whilst others remain unknown because simple descriptive analyses are not sufficient to highlight them all. In particular, the distribution of the thyroidal hypertrophy was almost certainly due to the water quality, while the distribution of dental caries was probably related to genetic and dietary factors. ; Il presente studio si propone di presentare alcune mappe di salute relative ad una popolazione storica. Gli studi sullo stato di salute delle popolazioni del passato è incentrato solitamente sulle cause di morte. Il nostro obiettivo è di presentare alcune analisi descrittive sulla distribuzione di alcune patologie che non avevano effetto letale. Il lavoro è incentrato sul Friuli (Italia nord-orientale) nella seconda metà dell'Ottocento. La fonte utilizzata è costituita dalle liste di estrazione militare e consiste in circa 300.000 visite di leva svoltesi tra il 1866 e il 1909 (generazioni 1846-1890). Il nostro principale obiettivo è quello di valutare lo stato di salute della popolazione maschile di 20 anni e la sua associazione con fattori ambientali, socio-economici e genetici. In generale l'area montuosa settentrionale risultava essere la più avvantaggiata, mentre le aree più svantaggiate erano quelle della parte orientale e occidentale della provincia. Molti fattori hanno contribuito a determinare la distribuzione spaziale di alcune malattie specifiche del Friuli, mentre altre restano sconosciute perché le semplici analisi descrittive non sono sufficienti per evidenziarle tutte. In particolare la distribuzione dell'ipertrofismo tiroideo era dovuta quasi sicuramente alla qualità dell'acqua, mentre la distribuzione della carie dentaria era probabilmente legata a fattori di tipo genetico e alimentare.

Entre la fin des années 1920 et le début des années 1930, comme dans beaucoup d'autres pays européens, le régime fasciste italien prit des mesures pour lutter efficacement contre la baisse de la fécondité. Utilisant les données individuelles du recensement de 1961 dans quatre communautés présentant des profils sociaux et économiques variés, cette analyse se fixe pour objectif de vérifier si la campagne de propagande du régime et les mesures législatives en faveur de la natalité ont eu un impact réel et positif sur certaines catégories de population. L'étude montre que l'augmentation du taux de natalité est restée limitée aussi bien en termes d'intensité qu'en termes de durée. Cette augmentation est partiellement due aux mesures adoptées en 1937 qui ont sensiblement accru le taux de nuptialité. Au-delà de ce léger impact, l'analyse individuelle des données n'a pas montré d'effet significatif des politiques du régime fasciste italien sur le taux de natalité.

Résumé Cet article étudie les caractéristiques et la mortalité des cardinaux de l'Église catholique du XVI e au XX e siècle. Les cardinaux remplissent un rôle essentiel dans l'église : ils forment le Sacré collège, élisent le pape et l'assistent. Grâce à une base de données remarquable par la précision et la continuité des informations biographiques recueillies depuis le V e siècle, il est possible d'en analyser certaines spécificités. Durant la période étudiée (1586-1958), ils représentaient un groupe relativement homogène de 70 membres au maximum, résidant à Rome, pour la plupart nés en Italie et issus de l'élite économique. Leur espérance de vie aux XVII e et XVIII e siècles ne différait guère de celle des villageois ordinaires, mais l'aspect le plus frappant est qu'à partir des années 1830, elle ne s'est pas améliorée de manière significative, contrairement à la plupart des pays d'Europe. Les particularismes de la mortalité des cardinaux tiennent à des risques associés à leurs comportements et leurs styles de vie. Les périodes lors desquelles on observe les espérances de vie les plus faibles coïncident avec celles qui sont les plus difficiles pour l'Église d'un point de vue politique. Les cardinaux furent néanmoins pénalisés en termes de longévité tout au long des XVIII e et XIX e siècles, et c'est seulement à partir des années 1930 que leur espérance de vie commença réellement à progresser, se rapprochant de celle de la population générale.

ABSTRACTThe article explores the roles of household compositional factors and socio-economic status on widowhood and remarriage. By using micro-level data from a nineteenth-century Italian community for the period 1819–1859, we found evidence of the very predominant role of household structure in the decision to remarry for both widows and widowers. In particular, the interplay between the presence of a supportive family network and the presence of coresiding children from previous marriages stood out as the key factors. The presence of children aged 12 and under promoted the search for a new bride for widowers, whilst the presence of children of any age, especially young ones, decreased the chances of remarriage for widows.