La crescita economica dell’Occidente medievale: Un tema storico non ancora esaurito. Centro Italiano di Studi di Storia e d’Arte di Pistoia. Atti 25. Rome: Viella, 2017. ix + 488 pp. €33.
realize how mutually pervasive the interaction between man and water is. So pervasive, in fact, that it touches every aspect of human endeavor. Leonardi’s interdisciplinary effort, performed on two different yet surprisingly similar contexts such as Catania and Freiburg, has been described as a rare and virtuous example of “total history” (v), and rightfully so. It offers a vivid and precious picture of the many geographic, environmental, and cultural factors that shaped the intricate relationship between urban societies and water in Europe from the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries.