This book reproduces, in expanded form, 19 papers presented at a conference held in Venice in 1996 on the subject of silk in Italy from the Middle Ages through the seventeenth century. The conference brought together a diverse group of scholars who addressed a broad range of topics: from technology to folklore, to the use of silk fabrics as markers of status, to the role of various social groups in the growth of the silk industry, and, above all, to the rise of the silk industry as a leading component of the Italian economy. All the papers are the work of distinguished specialists in their respective fields of expertise, and they all embody fresh evidence culled from archival or archeological sources. Students of economic history will be especially interested in the 12 contributions that approach the subject from an economic perspective, and it is on these that this review will focus, however briefly.