The method adopted to tax transhumant shepherds changed several times over the centuries. Originally, it was based on numerazione, that is, the actual counting of livestock in transit. This operation was carried out three times.
The first took place when the flocks departed from Abruzzo; the second upon entering Apulia, at the riposo near the Saccione stream. Here the sheep were kept long enough to be counted and to determine the posta assigned to them within one of the 43 locazioni into which the Tavoliere delle Puglie had been divided. From this term derives the title locato, used to designate livestock owners. The size of the assigned posta naturally depended on the number of animals declared. The third and final count took place during the return journey to Abruzzo. Only then was payment of the fida made — the tribute owed to the Crown to cover the expenses of the customs system.

Alongside these direct revenues, there were also indirect ones deriving from the taxation of pastoral products, which shepherds were required to trade exclusively in the Foggia market: meat, milk, and above all the wool of the gentile breed. This was a valuable product, over which the Kingdom effectively held a monopoly. Shearing took place shortly before the return to Abruzzo, and the wool was deposited in Foggia to be weighed and assessed by appointed officials. Since the Crown controlled the Foggia market, this deposit also served as a guarantee for the payment of the fida.

In a short time, the revenues generated by transhumance became one of the main — if not the principal — items in the Bourbon state budget. For this reason, whenever disputes involving shepherds arose, the “benevolent” royal hand intervened promptly in their favor.

Reforms of the Fiscal System

In 1515 the fiscal system was modified, shifting from numerazione to direct transazione with representatives of the locati in order to determine the price of grazing rights. The objective was clear: to eliminate the costs of personnel responsible for counting livestock.

In 1553, about a century after the establishment of the Dogana di Foggia, the system changed again with the introduction of professazione volontaria. Shepherds were required to declare (profess) the number of animals they owned; on the basis of this declaration, they were assigned a posta proportional in size and quality.

This system allowed the amount of the fida to be adjusted according to market conditions or possible epidemics. Although welcomed by the locati, it also produced a side effect beneficial to the Crown: in prosperous periods, large owners tended to inflate their declarations in order to secure the best lands, thus increasing state revenues.

During the seventeenth century, there were years in which nearly 6,000,000 animals were officially recorded on the Tavoliere, although it was known that the territory could sustain at most about 1,500,000. To cover the costs resulting from excessively large locazioni, the locati began subleasing part of their lands to small shepherds who, having failed to obtain land during the professazione, were forced to bear higher expenses.

In 1615 the system returned to transazione, before reverting once again to numerazione in 1638. With various modifications, the three systems — numerazione, professazione volontaria, and transazione — continued to alternate over the centuries.

Between 1788 and 1789, when the economic importance of transhumance had already significantly declined, the locati — by then accustomed for generations to returning annually to the same locazioni — were offered an alternative to paying the fida: leasing the land for a period of six years. This was an extreme attempt to counter the growing pressure to abolish the Dogana and grant the lands in enfiteusi to the shepherds and massari who had previously used them.