Les Amorini et la terre au XIXe siècle. La politique foncière d’une famille noble de Bologne

Abstract

The Amorini and landholding in the XIXth century. The landholding policy of a noble family from Bologna The choices made by the marquess Amorini Bolognini of Bologna in the management of their estates were hardly expressive of some noble atavistic landholding behavior having been carried on continouslv since the modern era ; on the contrary, they turn out to have undergone considerable change in the XIXth century, while still privileging the ownership of land. This article analyses the innovations the Amorini introduced in the management of their considerable landed estate -approximately 1 100 ha situated on fertile soils in the Pô basin -, with the help of a regressive analysis capturing the dynamics of the family investments by comparing synchronic sources, for instance probate inven¬ tories of the XIXth century with those of the XVIIIth. It turns out that Antonio Amorini quickly adapted to the upheavals which took place on the land market around the napoleonic era, and succeeded in increasing quantitatively and qualitatively his landed estate while rationalizing its cultivation. Thus, his approach was similar to that of the bourgeois elites of the time ; as the century wore on, himself and his heirs wove increasingly close economic and social relationships with these elites.