Tax surveys for the Florentine contado known as estimi and from 1364 as Capi di famiglia (the heads of family) allow a regional investigation into demographic and fiscal differences of Florence's hinterland after the Black Death and into the fifteenth century. Collectively, they show that the dichotomy of city versus countryside needs revision and elaboration. Until 1427, such a division was false even within the traditional contado of Florence, without considering Florence's formerly independent citystates and their contadi, each of which received different privileges and obligations depending on the historic circumstances of its submission to Florentine rule. The city of Florence did not treat all areas of the contado alike — suburban parishes, plains, mountains, and territories on the fringes of the Florentine state recently annexed into its traditional contado. Only part of this story, moreover, can be detected from these negotiations and initial treaties.

To see the mosaic of taxation carved into the political geography of the Florentine contado, the historian must go beyond a prima facia reading of the written records and reconstruct tax rates for individual villages and communes by linking names between two fiscal reports. The first of these were the village estimi collected by local syndics, rectors, or Florentine “ commissioners,” who assessed the worth of peasant possessions, principally land and animals.