Agri-business and nobility in Northern Italy : land, investments and markets (1815-1861)

Traditionally, the contribution of nobility to the enhancement of northern Italy’s land and agro food production during the 19th century has been undervalued. The paper aims to address the question of whether the nobility considered land mainly as a means to collect rents with the least effort, maintaining their social status, or rather – as we affirm – they also developed entrepreneurial behaviour founded on a sort of class-expertise. Indeed, in a considerable number of cases, they owned and invested capital in large estates with a well-structured administration which they inherited from the past and improved upon; they organised complex production systems, introducing technical innovation; they were directly interested in market trends; they could take advantage of their local and international social networks. Finally, they acted as models for many of the bourgeoisie who became richer and became landowners themselves. Through ongoing extensive research using primary sources (fiscal sources, notarial deeds and family archives), the essay will first focus on the general features of the noblemen’s involvement in the management and improvement of lands, through agrarian innovation and experimentation (e.g. in silk or wine production), according to the circumstances of the markets. The second part will illustrate the case of the Lombardy noble family Lucini Passalacqua, who seems to exemplify the tendency towards innovation which was widespread among the region’s noble landowners. The third part of the paper will shed light upon the business strategies of Genoese noblemen, traditionally tied to financial businesses, and who, during the 19th century, largely invested in land development, also acquiring vast estates in Piedmont and Lombardy.