Agricoltura capitalistica e modificazioni dell'ambiente : boschi diffusi e biodiversità nella pianura irrigua lombarda d'età moderna

The goal of this article is to analyse the parallel process of deforestation and for-mation of the widespread forests in the low plain of Lombardy during the early modern period. The aim is to underline the role played in this process by the agri-cultural companies with early capitalistic vocations, particularly diffuse in this ter-ritory. By analysing the case of the Villarasca farm, in the Campagna Sottana Pa-vese, the qualitative and quantitative consistencies of these widespread forests are reconstructed, as well as their role in the affirmation of the peculiar Lombard land-scape, environment and agrarian and socioeconomic context. [Publisher's text]