More than forty years ago an elderly informant in the italian speaking village where i was doing research see journal of social history spring 1974 strapped. Indispensable immigrants recreates the world of peasants who streamed into the cities of late medieval and early modern northern italy to carry crushingly heavy containers of wine written in an easily accessible and unassuming style it is solidly grounded in previously untapped archival and visual sources. This book by lester k little is clearly a labour of love by a former director of the american academy of rome just as clearly the authors heart lies not i. 2017 indispensable immigrants the wine porters of northern italy and their saint 1200 1800 journal of modern italian studies vol 22 no 5 pp 642 644. Indispensable immigrants recreates the world of peasants who streamed into the cities of late medieval and early modern northern italy to carry crushingly heavy containers of wine written in an easily accessible and unassuming style it is solidly grounded in previously untapped archival and visual sources