L'impact de l'occupation française sur l'économie italienne (1796-1815)

Abstract

The impact of the french revolution on the italian economy, 1796-1815 The difficultes of analysis of the Italian economy derive from its political divisions and marked differences in environmental conditions, besides the irregularity and unreliability of the statistical sources. Subsistence agriculture dampened internai demand ; late eighteenth century increase of primarily agricultural production was attributable to urban and foreign demand. The Revolutionary decade negatively affected the economy through the direct impact of war. In the Napoleonic period, agriculture responded to market levels : north-central Italy benefited, particularly for specialised crops like rice and olive oil, from the large markets of the Empire and republic-kingdom of Italy. If the massive transfer of property affected agricultu­ral procluctivity, this was primarily through a heightened awareness of commercial opportunites and improved agronomie education. Tarle's thesis of the Imperial exploitation of Italy as a colony, to supply crude silk, foodstuffs and raw materials and provide a market for French manufactures, while not mistaken, requires modification. The political shift in f rentiers and the Blockade forced a major redirection of trading patterns and repercussed selectively on manufacturing. If silk cloth production suffered, exports of crude silk expanded, not least through highly organized smuggling. Textile production in northern Italy gained from the protective tariffs ; foreign entrepreneurs from Svvitzerland and Germany set up isolated technologically modem enterprises in Lombardy, Piemont and Naple. State demand encouraged metallurgical, woollen and cotton production. The longer term effects were to accentuate regional differences between North and South.