The 1530s were years of transition in which Venetian editing began to move away from the patterns of the first three decades of the century with gradual innovations which then became more firmly established in the 1540s. Behind these changes lay two simultaneous and interrelated developments: an expansion in the printing industry and an increase in the number of those wanting to read and use the vernacular.

Relatively few new presses had opened in the period of turmoil which followed the disastrous defeat at Agnadello in 1509, and the late 1520s brought the closure of three major printing houses, those of Giorgio Rusconi and his heirs (1527), Gregorio de Gregori (1528), and Bartolomeo and Agostino de Zanni (also 1528). But many presses successfully continued production from the 1520s into the politically calmer years that followed. The Aldine press closed temporarily at the end of 1529 with the death of Andrea Torresani but was given a new lease of life from 1533 onwards by Aldo's enterprising and combative son Paolo. Other examples of continuity are Bernardino Stagnino and Bernardino Vitali, who went on printing until 1538 and 1539 respectively; Bernardino Benagli and Nicolò Zoppino, who printed until the early 1540s; and the presses of the Sessa, Scoto, Nicolini da Sabbio and Bindoni families, which were well enough established to last until near the end of the century or beyond.