1st Edition
Leading the Economic Risorgimento Lombardy in the 19th Century
Lombardy, with about 10 million inhabitants, is today the most populated and prosperous region of Italy, and Milan is a renowned capital of art, fashion and design. During the 19th century until WWI, the region gradually became the leader in Italy’s economic development and distinguished itself in the European economic landscape for its long-standing industrial strength and diversified economy, which included one of the Europe’s most productive agricultural systems. It was the economic locomotive of contemporary Italy, contributing to the economic Risorgimento that complemented the country’s political resurgence.
The present volume gathers the contributions of some major experts on the subject, providing an in-depth analysis of Lombardy’s pattern of development, consisting of an exceptionally symbiotic and balanced interplay of sectors (agriculture, industry, trade, and banking) in a gradual yet steady growth process, also supported by progress in the education system. During the century, there was a shift away from an economy based on agriculture and commerce to a progressively more industrial economy and this process accelerated from the 1880s. The secret of this dynamic balance was Lombardy’s active relationship with the rest of Europe and with the international markets.
Aimed at scholars, researchers and students in the fields of early modern and modern history, economic and social history, the book provides a clear explanation of Lombardy’s economic development during the long 19th Century.
PART I: Features and Evolution of the Regional Economy: an Introduction
1. Lombardy’s development in the long 19th Century
Silvia A. Conca Messina
PART II: The Economic Area: Agriculture, Trade, Industry
2. Production Systems in Agriculture
Gianpiero Fumi
3. Lombardy’s Food industries in the Italian context: An Overview 1870-1914
Silvia A. Conca Messina
4. Towards the Consolidation of an Economic Region: Cities, Trade and Transport
Luca Mocarelli
5. Silk as the Leading Factor of Development
Roberto Tolaini
6. The Cotton Industry 1815-1914
Silvia A. Conca Messina
7. Iron and Metalworking
Sergio Onger and Valerio Varini
8. New Industries (1861-1914)
Andrea Colli and Ilaria Suffia
9. Fashion: Production, Commercialization and Consumption
Elisabetta Merlo
PART III : The Economic Players: Business, Finance, Institutions
10. The Economic and Social Rise of Milan’s Mercantile Community (1700-1859)
Stefano Levati
11. Noblemen in Business
Silvia A. Conca Messina
12. Sketching the very Wealthy: Men and Women of Property (1861-1900)
Stefania Licini
13. The Informal Banking Systems. A Mosaic between 19th and early 20th centuries
Pietro Cafaro
14. The Regional Financial System: Institutional Varieties and Complementarity (1861- 1914)
Giandomenico Piluso
15. Institutions and Agrarian Development. Fiscal Policies and Statistical Enquiries
Andrea M. Locatelli and Paolo Tedeschi
16. Church, Religious Orders and Congregations, Catholic movement
Giovanni Gregorini
17. Education, Institutions and Industrial Development
Giorgio Bigatti
Biography
Silvia A. Conca Messina is an Assistant Professor of Economic History in the Department of Historical Studies at the University of Milan, Italy.
