MAESTRANZE. – A term used to designate in Sicily the guilds of arts and crafts, which, numerous though under different names and with special characteristics, developed in every city of Italy during the Middle Ages.
The earliest origins of the Sicilian maestranze can be traced back to the period of Arab domination,
though the existence of the first Sicilian craft associations is only certain from the early fourteenth century. At their head were the consuls and councillors, the former being appointed by the guild and recognized by a patent from the Commune. The functions of the consul were chiefly to represent the college, to intervene in settling all disputes that might arise over matters relating to the craft, to decide, together with two councillors, on the admission or rejection of new apprentices, to preside over meetings, and to administer the guild’s property. As a higher authority there was the praetor or major consul, who resolved any controversies that might arise between the consuls themselves or between them and third parties. Each maestranza was governed by its own statutes or chapters, which had to be approved by the Commune, a copy of which was kept in its archives.
Each craft formed a separate group, each having its own quarter, which took its name from the craft that carried on its trade and craft there (contrata barberiorum, contrata planellariorum, etc.), its own church, its own patron saint, its own laws and customs. Entry into a craft was no easy matter for those not brought up and trained in it, since both the craft and the workshop, with its tools and even its customers, were strictly hereditary. The guilds, though united, each under the command of its respective consul, also formed the civic militia; in Palermo, in fact, the fourteen bastions with the arms and tools supplied by the Commune were, in case of need, entrusted to them.
The first decline of the maestranze in Sicily began in the second half of the eighteenth century because of their rigidly closed caste structure, when the damage they caused to national industry by their monopolistic nature was noted, and in order to restore free enterprise to the crafts, by royal decree of 16 November 1784 all the statutes of the maestranze were abolished and they were divided into two classes, namely the maestranze of the mechanical arts, numbering 44, under the authority of a delegated minister, and those concerning food supplies, numbering 15, subject to the Senate in its capacity as food-supply magistracy. All the maestranze that could not be included in the above two categories were to be considered abolished forthwith as “illegitimately existing.” Though restored by royal decree of 13 October 1812, after the revolution of 1820 all the maestranze of every kind were definitively suppressed by royal rescript of 13 March 1822, following a report by the director general of police, in which they were described as “a united force opposing the power of the government.” In modern usage the term maestranze commonly refers to the workers of shipyards and vessels, sometimes organized into companies under the direction of engineers, or to the workers of any industrial complex. To address their economic and social problems, more comprehensive terms are now used (v. INDUSTRIALISM; PROLETARIAT). For trade-union issues, V. TRADE UNIONISM AND TRADE UNIONS.