Calimala

Calimala, guild of wool merchants in 13th-century Florence; its members formed an important segment of the city’s merchant oligarchy. The guild took its name from the street on which its members kept their shops. The merchants of the Calimala imported woollen cloth from Flanders, England, and Champagne and, after refining it, exported it to the markets of Europe and East Asia. The guild’s operations included settling disputes among its members and defending their interests abroad. With the decline of European commerce in the last half of the 14th century, the Calimala diminished in importance.