Gino Luzzatto, Ca’ Foscari e la Storia economica

Gino Luzzatto is somehow the father of Economic History in Italy and was one of the most charismatic figures teaching at Ca’ Foscari, both for his political activity and for the commitment he showed in supporting the university’s growth and its success at the international level. For this reason, many studies were dedicated to him after his death and continue to be so. This essay provides both a brief overview of the years that led up to his appointment to the first chair in Economic History and an analysis of his concept of the discipline permeated with elements of law and sociology. It highlights the role Mediaeval History had in his work, as it did in the work of many other great international historians of the time, such as Bloch and Pirenne, who were linked to the journal Annales. The theoretical dimension of Gino Luzzatto’s approach was never separated from his conviction of the unity of human history and the purely practical nature of disciplinary specialisation.