contado

plural contados · plural contadi

1. historicalThe land controlled by a medieval Italian city-state lying outside the city itself; the hinterland; the countryside under the control of a city.

   Milan was the most aggressive and successful of the mainland states. It was also one of the richest, its prosperity extended into its contado by canals and irrigation […].

   2011, David Gilmour, The Pursuit of Italy, Penguin, published 2012, page 65

   1 more example

   The population of the contado at the time may be tentatively estimated on the basis of Giovanni Villani's information that, in 1338, it contained 80,000 men fit to bear arms, more than three times the number in Florence city (25,000).

   2014, Ole Jørgen Benedictow, The Complete History of the Black Death, page 704