Navegant en onades de ceps. Viticultura als vessants penedesencs de l'Anoia: el cas de la família Millaret (1630-1913)

Abstract

Catalan agriculture underwent extensive specialisation in its vineyards from the late seventeenth century onwards, as the crop took over previously uncultivated and for¬est lands. The exportation of spirits revital¬ised the country's economy, and became one of the cornerstones of the process of industrialisation. This rush towards viti¬culture was made possible thanks to the thousands of peasants who anonymously worked to extend the crop through the ra¬bassa morta sharecropping contract. One Catalan region where the process was par¬ticularly intense was the Anoia, and espe¬cially the eastern part of the region. The Millaret family, who arrived in Catalonia in the mid-1630s from Lot-et-Garonne (France) settled in two towns in the Anoia, Hostalets de Pierola and el Bruc. The Mil¬larets are prime examples of this dyna¬mism in viticulture, the intensity of the crisis in the late nineteenth century and the answers used to address it.