A comparison of the institutional trajectories of common resources governance in two Alpine areas: Ticino and Trentino

'Commons' or common resources have historically played a critical role in traditional societies. In the Alpine region, villagers utilize collective land for livestock production and forests as an essential source of firewood and timber for construction. The forests also provide fruits, berries, and mushrooms that supplement the diet and secure the population’s existence during times of famine. Additionally, commons serve as a reserve of land that could be exploited in times of need.Given the fundamental importance of the commons for the peasants’ and villagers' survival, its management requires to establish stringent laws of use. The commons’ governance system remained essentially unchanged throughout the Ancien Régime in both Ticino and Trentino and was comparable between the two regions. However, after Napoleon’s invasion of the Alps, a dual system ruled the political environment and the commons in Ticino, while, in Trentino, the ancient system of the charters was fully removed in favor of a universal egalitarian system based on citizenship and municipal residency. In Ticino, the village’s founding families formed the Patriziati, which were public law organizations charged with managing the commons (forests, pastureland, and woods). The research stay has the practical purpose to collect, examine, and systematize the charters that have been formalized in Ticino over the centuries, up to the most recent ones, in order to create a dataset that will eventually be made public. Unlike in Trentino, where the charters system came to an abrupt end shortly after Napoleon's invasion, we can follow a longer evolution in Ticino, though with the caveat that Cantonal rules structured the most recent charters. A proper coding of Ticino community charters paves the way for the examination and comparison of the Ticino and Trentino's institutional trajectories pre- and post-Napoleon. The research stay will deliver two main outcomes. The first outcome is the construction of a dataset containing information about the charters. The primary objective is to compile the most comprehensive dataset possible, which includes all communities in Ticino that formalized a charter throughout the time period under consideration, which is roughly from the XIII century to the present. This dataset will be made available for use by the hosting organization IDUSI, the Alleanza Patriziale Ticinese (ALPA), and the Canton Ticino. Prof. Lisciandra will make a presentation at the conclusion of the research stay regarding the dataset, its prospective uses, and the sources of information employed.As a second outcome, following the scientific exchange, two articles will be written based on qualitative and statistical assessments. One article will explore the institutional divergence between Ticino and Trentino, as well as the institutional persistence of communal closures and discrimination against women in Ticino. Another article will discuss whether the two institutional trajectories have also brought a divergence in socio-demographic outcomes. Prof. Lisciandra and members of IDUSI (Prof. De Rossa and Prof. Massimiliano Vatiero) as well as Prof. Casari (University of Bologna) will collaborate on the two publications.