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Milan
18ᵗʰ – 19ᵗʰ centuries

Contents

length
length for measuring land
metric lengths of 1803
area
for lumber
dry capacity
for grain
for coal
liquid capacity
mass
peso grosso
peso piccolo
apothecaries' weight
for precious metals
metric masses of 1803

Units of length

In 1781 the braccio of Milan replaced all other bracci then in use in Lombardy. It was later said to be 594.936 448 1 millimeters (which is, of course, an absurd precision for the time).

			miglio lombardo
		braccio mercantile		3000
		oncia	12	36,000
	punto	12	144	432,000
atomo	12	144	1728	5,184,000
0.344 mm	4.132 mm	49.578 mm	594.936 mm	1.784809 km

A Milanese statute of 1773 made the piede = 8 once, 9 punti and 4 atomi of the braccio's subdivisions, which works out to 435.184994 millimeters.

The units below were used in measuring land. Notice that Milan had two distinct sets of oncia, punto and atomo, with different values.

					gettata
				trabucco	2
			piede	6	12
		oncia	12	72	144
	punto	12	144	864	1728
atomo	12	144	1728	10,368	20736
0.252 mm	3.022 mm	36.265 mm	435.185 mm	2.611110 m	5.222 m

The Law of 1803
						lega metrica
						miglio	10
				decametro		100	1000
			trabucco		4	400	4000
		metro		2.5	10	1000	10,000
	palmo		10	25	100	10,000	100,000
	dito	10	100	250	1000	100,000	1,000,000
atomo	10	100	1000	2500	10,000	1,000,000	10,000,000
1 mm	10 mm	100 mm	1 m	2.5 m	10 m	1 km	10 km

Units of area

					pertica agraria
				tavola		24
		square trabucco			4	96
piedi di tavola or gettata-piede				3	12	288
oncia di tavola or gettata-oncia			12	36	144	3456
punto di tavola or gettata-punto		12	144	432	1728	41,472
atomo di tavola	12	144	1728	5184	20736	497,664
	13.152 sq. cm	157.8 sq. cm	2.273 sq. m	6.818 sq. m	27.272 sq. m	654.5179 sq. m

By the decree of 1803, the tornatura = 100 tavole = 100 are, and the tavola = 100 square meters.

	square braccio or quadretto
	braccia-oncia		12
braccia-punto		12	144
braccia-atomo	12	144	1728
2.048 sq. cm	24.580 sq. cm	294.958 sq. cm	0.353949 sq. m

The units of length could be squared in the usual way, that is, a square braccio (braccio quadrato) consisted of 144 once quadrate, an oncia quadrata of 144 punti quadrati, and a punto quadrato of 144 atomi quadrato.

For boards (wood)
		braccio d'asse
	oncia superficiale		12
punto superficiale		12	144
atomo superficiale	12	144	1728
8.193 sq. cm	98.319 sq. cm	1179.837 sq. cm	1.415798 sq. m

The braccio d'asse was the surface area of a board 4 braccia long and 1 braccio wide.

Units of dry capacity

For grain
						soma
					moggio	1⅛
				staio	8	9
			mina	2	16	18
		quartaro	2	4	32	36
	metà	4	8	16	128	144
quartini	4	16	32	64	512	576
253.879 mL	1.016 L	4.062 L	9.140 L	18.279 L	146.2343 L	194.514 L

The soma is used only for measuring oats. The moggio of grain is 1200 cubic once of the Milanese braccio.

By the decree of 1803, 1 soma = 10 mine = 0.1 cubic meter. 1 mina = 10 pinte; 1 pinta = 10 coppi.

For coal
					moggio
				staio	8
		quartaro		4	32
		metà	4	16	128
	quartini	4	16	64	512
stricken	431.729	1.727	6.908	27.631	221.0453
heaped	439.655 L	1.759 L	7.034 L	28.138 L	225.1033 L

Firewood was sold by the carro = 16 cubic braccia, about 3.369232 cubic meters.

Units of liquid capacity

							brenta
						staia	3
				mina or secchi		2	6
			quartari		2	4	12
			pinta	4	8	16	48
		boccali	2	8	16	32	96
	mezzo	2	4	16	32	64	192
zaina or biccchiere	2	4	8	32	64	128	384
196.756 L	393.513 L	787.025 mL	1.574 L	6.296 L	12.592 L	25.185 L	75.5544 L

The brenta contains 620 cubic once of the Milanese braccio.

Units of mass

Peso Grosso
		fascio or centinaio
	libbra grossa		100
	peso	10	1000
oncia	2 4/5	28	2800
27.233 g	76.252 g	762.517 g	762.517 kg

Peso Piccolo or Peso Sottile
					quintale
				rubbo	4
		libbra piccole		25	100
		oncia	12	300	1200
denaro		24	288	7200	28,800
grano	24	576	6912	172,800	691,200
47.279 mg	1.135 g	27.233 g	326.793 g	8.169 kg	32.679 kg

One libbra grosso = 2 1/3 libbra piccole.

Apothecaries' Weight
				libbra
			oncia	12
	dramma		8	96
scrupolo		3	24	288
grano	24	72	576	6912
47.279 mg	1.135 g	3.404 g	27.233 g	326.793 g

The metrication decree of 1803 did not affect apothecaries' weight, but during the Austrian occupation (1814 - 1859), the medicinal pound of Vienna (about 420.00768 grams) was supposed to be used.

For precious metals
			marco di zecca
			oncia	8
		denaro	24	192
	grano	24	576	4608
granotto	24	576	13,824	110,592
2.125 mg	50.998 mg	1.224 g	29.375 g	234.9973 g

For gems, the carato d'Olanda = 4 grani = 205.670 milligrams. Each grano was thus 51.417 milligrams.

Law of 1803
					tonnellata or migliaio
						quintale	10
					rubbo	10	100
			libra metriche		10	100	1000
			oncia	10	100	1000	10,000
	grosso		10	100	1000	10,000	100,000
denaro		10	100	1000	10,000	100,000	1,000,000
grano	10	100	1000	10,000	100,000	1,000,000	10,000,000
100 mg	1 g	10 g	100 g	1 kg	10 kg	100 kg	1000 kg

For earlier values, see