massaro

Massaro is an old or regional form of massaio. In central and southern Italy it was widely used for the sharecropper or farm manager who oversaw the running and cultivation of farms, or who directed a sheep or cattle operation. Historians also use it for the medieval farmer of a manso, a unit of land.

Because the word covers both a sharecropper and a farm manager, it does not prove the family owned land. Compare contadino, a peasant or farm worker, bracciale, a hired laborer, and possidente, a property owner, and check several acts for the same man.