Based on the indications contained in the call, the text examines the data, hypotheses, ideas, and suggestions that emerged from the work of the LV Settimana di studi. The commentary focuses on some of the most relevant aspects addressed by the speakers: the effects of epidemics on social mobility, the relationship between mobility and economic inequality, the resistance of the upper classes to the rise of the 'new people,' the interrelations between geographical mobility and social advancement, the role of emulation and ostentation in climbing social hierarchies. It also points out a number of themes that could be subject to further research and insights, such as the social mobility of women, technical elites, and minorities, as well as processes of downward mobility.