Gleaning Becattini’s Thought - The four volumes of Scritti sulla Toscana (Writings on Tuscany) by Giacomo Becattini span a period of over 50 years. Just as the gleaner gathers the ears of wheat left in the field after reaping, the author has gleaned in the 910 pages of the work some themes representative of the contents: 1. The period of youth. 2. The influence of economic thought on his formation. 3. The evolution in his opinion on sharecropping. 4. The studied on Prato. 5. Politics and relations with the Pci. 6. The Free School of Artimino. The third and sixth of these are dealt with more extensively, the third in view of the interesting turn taken in Becattini’s approach to the issue of sharecropping,. The meetings of the Free School of Artimino (1991-2005) represent a unique experience and this explains for the ample room given to recollections of those weeks. The appendix contains some jokes that Becattini exchanged with the Artimino School group, and the citations contained in this part are therefore fictional, being part of the joke.
EconLit Classification: R200, B310
Keywords: Tuscany, Sharecropping, Industrial District, Giaco