| Abstract: | This paper examines the social role of 'mercantesse' (entrepreneuses), women who, in contemporary Italian society, were the owners of manufacturing and trading activities. The first part is dedicated to the legal aspects, with particular reference to the institution of marital authorization and to the various social standing of three very different personae: the female merchant, the partner wife and the merchant-wife. The second part compares the regulatory aspects of this activity with the concrete reality, on the basis of census data and registrations at the Chambers of Commerce. Generally, the trends which come to the fore are unexpected ones, and are characterized by both the recognition of important and not exclusively economic power, as well as the legal, economic and social limits which conditioned not only access to this kind of activity but also the way in which it was carried out. |
