Opening a debate: Nobility and economic transformation in 19th century Northern Italy

During the 19th century, in northern Italian regions a large proportion of capital, investments and improvements in the agricultural sector and agro-food production, as well as, increasingly, in railways and infrastructures, industrial and financial sectors – came from noblemen. They aimed to expand their own revenues, fostering economic progress and applying scientific and technological innovations to agriculture and industry. Several noblemen played a leading economic role, as they were the richest, heirs to large properties and estates and to complex administration systems originating from early modern times and updated to meet the new managerial necessities. They often held scientific interests (and sometimes scientific knowledge), and belonged to wide, national and international social (and political) networks which could easily be used for economic goals. The paper aims to open a debate on the role of nobility as a powerful economic élite in the economic development of northern Italy, basing on the initial results of ongoing research into primary sources. The literature on the topic has focused on several cases of Italian entrepreneurial noblemen, or on nobility estate management, and has shed light on their dynamic role. Their contribution, however, has generally been perceived as not particularly influential in the economic process, as noblemen were generally conservative on a social level and the 19th century is usually identified as the century of the irreversible decline and loss of political and economic power on the part of the aristocracy compared to the rise of the bourgeoisie. By contrast, the role of the nobility’s investments, capital and economic activities in northern Italy’s economic development seems to us to deserve and require broader attention and investigation. As data are still being collected, the essay will assess some emerging results focusing on: the management of properties and large estates, where noblemen acted as a sort of ‘corporate director’, governing a complex structured enterprise; - investments and enterprises: agriculture innovations and experimentation, railway construction, public debt, textile industries and banking seem to have been the investment sectors preferred by noblemen; - the increase, after Unification and particularly during the years of the agrarian crisis (1873-1896), in noblemen’s diversification of capital and investments, from land to other uses, such as investments in the financial sector and in joint-stock companies (transport, communication, public utilities, banking, insurance, overseas ventures, new sectors and industries).