The Privilege Room – Deed of Purchase – 11th may 1465
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The Privilege Room – Deed of Purchase – 11th may 1465
Learn more

The Privilege Room – Deed of Purchase – 11th may 1465

The Privilege Room

Deed of Purchase – 11th may 1465

In this document, which is exceptional for its dimensions and state of conservation, records a sale: on 11 May 1465, Pietro Gallarati purchased for more than 15,000 florins the privileges of a lord and extensive properties in the area of Cozzo.

It is a document of enormous importance, constituting the basis for the Gallarati’s lordship over Cozzo. A very costly support was necessary in order to register it: five parchments, each one obtained from a sheepskin.

Pietro acquired lands of all types: cultivated fields, vineyards, vegetable gardens, meadows, pastures, woods, marischi (marshes), and lands subject to becoming swampy.

The objective, clearly stated from the outset, was to form a large but compact estate, where he could operate freely, exercising the rights of a lord, redrawing lot boundaries, creating new roads, and excavating ditches and irrigation channels.

When Pietro died in 1504, the Cozzo estate, bordering on nearby villages, covered more than 6,000 pertiche (about 462 ha), and included an additional 4,000 pertiche (about 308 ha) of woods near S. Angelo.

The estate would remain largely intact over the years. With hereditary subdivisions and subsequent recombinations taking place over five centuries, its essential nucleus has survived to the present day.