Growth of international markets and transformation of local production systems in the Italian agri-food sector (1861-1914)

In the last few decades of the 19th century and early 20th century, the demand for Italian foodstuffs from domestic and international markets increased (abroad, particularly in Europe and in the Americas, in part as a consequence of mass migration). Innovative technological processes and scientific knowledge, new machinery, the availability of steam and electric power and new preservation and transport systems allowed production to grow. Some small firms transformed themselves into larger enterprises, controlling the purchase of agricultural products from the farms, providing the processing of food and selling the produce on domestic and international markets. In some cases, the advent of new manufacturing systems shifted agro-food production from a craft to an industry. The paper aims at shed light on the role played by new entrepreneurs in the harvesting, processing and trade of products such as cheese, citrus fruits and pasta. The study focuses on their business strategies and the development of commercial relations and new markets, which seem to have been particularly important in promoting the growth and transformation of the local production and processing systems. The last part of the contribution outlines the initiatives of Francesco Cirio, a self-made entrepreneur who connected domestic production of foodstuffs to international markets, investing in canning, transport and distribution - providing new opportunities for Italian produce

From migration to cruise holidays : sailing the oceans in the 19th and early 20th centuries

The aim of the research is to highlight the key factors that sustained the shift from ocean liners to cruise ships. The contribution tries to analyse in a comparative international perspective: the company strategies; innovation in technology and shipbuilding; marketing strategies; the role of the states; credit availability; increasing demand of tourism activities and leisure

Alle origini del welfare aziendale : industria, manodopera e opere sociali degli imprenditori nell'Italia dell'Ottocento

Il saggio prende avvio dalle origini dell\u2019industrializzazione italiana, delineando il passaggio dall\u2019iniziale offerta di servizi primari \u2013 intesi in via prioritaria a fronteggiare il problema di una manodopera altamente fluttuante \u2013 a forme d\u2019intervento pi\uf9 propriamente riconducibili al welfare d\u2019impresa, introdotte anche in risposta all\u2019emergere della \uabquestione sociale\ubb e giunte a compiuta realizzazione con i villaggi operai di fine secolo. Stabilizzare la forza lavoro educandola ai ritmi del lavoro industriale e prevenire i conflitti tra capitale e lavoro sono i due elementi chiave alle origini del welfare aziendale

Nobility and Agricultural Innovation : agribusiness, management and investments in Northern Italy (1815-1861)

Traditionally, scholars have underlined how, for much of the 19th century, the endurance, or the survival, of the nobility\u2019s social and economic power was still based on large-scale land ownership, which usually represented the majority of the nobility\u2019s assets and in many cases was extended or reinforced (e.g. thanks to public sales of former common properties or of expropriated Catholic Church estates). Nevertheless, the contribution of nobility to the improvement of land and production has been undervalued, as \ue9lites mostly tried to maintain the old agrarian structure exploiting peasant work and conserving their social power as long as possible. By contrast, according to our research results, it seems that until Unification, in the northern area, 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) \u2013 came from noblemen. Many of them aimed to expand Italy\u2019s trade, fostering the economic progress and applying scientific and technical innovations to agriculture. Some played a natural 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. Finally, they all belonged to wide, national and international social (and political) networks which could be useful for their business and which still deserve an in-depth attention and a broader investigation. The main objective of the paper is to reassess the contribution of nobility in 19th century Northern Italy economic transformation (particularly, but not only, in Lombardy), focusing on their investments in land and innovation and their involvement in agri-business. The aim is to propose new evidence that noblemen followed an entrepreneurial behaviour, supported the progress of science and techniques and influenced the foundation of new enterprises and economic institutions. Through an ongoing wide and long research on primary sources as fiscal sources, notarial deeds and family archives (part of a research project led by Silvia Conca Messina and jointly funded by Cariplo Foundation and Lombardy Region), the paper addresses the question whether nobility involvement in the agri-business was only a mean to achieve rents with the less effort, maintaining their social status, or was instead\u2013 as we affirm - the result of an entrepreneurial behaviour laying on a sort of class-expertise. The essay first focuses on the management of properties and large estates, where noblemen acted as a sort of \u2018chief manager\u2019, governing a complex structured enterprise. Then the paper concentrates on the role and type of investments aiming at the improvement of land and cultivation, livestock and production. Moreover, the contribution enlightens how and why landlords introduced agriculture innovations and experimentation (silk, wine, especially), according to the transformation of the local and international demand and markets

The transformation of dairy processing in the Alpine area from late 19th Century to World War II

In the second half of the 19th Century, major economic changes took place in Switzerland and Northern Italy, where the dairy sector had a long-term important role. The dissemination of scientific knowledge and new machines contributed to the modernisation of traditional processing, as the production of butter or milk storage. At the same time, the improvement of road communications and, above all, the development of railways (made much more efficient by the opening of the Gotthard tunnel in 1882) multiplied the opportunities for exchange between the two sides of the Rhaetian Alps. changes also occurred in the production of cheese, activities that began to separate from the primary sector to find its headquarters also in industrial enterprises, some of them with wide commercial networks. The contribution aims to highlight some features of this transformation, emphasizing the common routes and the peculiarities of two environments in close contact with each other. The Swiss institutions and operators were usually the channel to bring in the Po Valley new techniques and modern entrepreneurial experiences. The paper also addresses the dynamics of commercial interchange, affected by the trade policies adopted and the agreements signed between the Italian and the Swiss Confederation Governments

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 \u2013 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 \ue9lite 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\u2019s investments, capital and economic activities in northern Italy\u2019s 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 \u2018corporate director\u2019, 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\u2019s 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)

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

Traditionally, the contribution of nobility to the enhancement of northern Italy\u2019s 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 \u2013 as we affirm \u2013 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\u2019s 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\u2019s 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

Approximate k-state solutions to the Dirac-Yukawa problem based on the spin and pseudospin symmetry

Using an approximation scheme to deal with the centrifugal (pseudo-centrifugal) term, we solve the Dirac equation with the screened Coulomb (Yukawa) potential for any arbitrary spin-orbit quantum number {\kappa}. Based on the spin and pseudospin symmetry, analytic bound state energy spectrum formulas and their corresponding upper- and lower-spinor components of two Dirac particles are obtained using a shortcut of the Nikiforov-Uvarov method. We find a wide range of permissible values for the spin symmetry constant C_{s} from the valence energy spectrum of particle and also for pseudospin symmetry constant C_{ps} from the hole energy spectrum of antiparticle. Further, we show that the present potential interaction becomes less (more) attractive for a long (short) range screening parameter {\alpha}. To remove the degeneracies in energy levels we consider the spin and pseudospin solution of Dirac equation for Yukawa potential plus a centrifugal-like term. A few special cases such as the exact spin (pseudospin) symmetry Dirac-Yukawa, the Yukawa plus centrifugal-like potentials, the limit when {\alpha} becomes zero (Coulomb potential field) and the non-relativistic limit of our solution are studied. The nonrelativistic solutions are compared with those obtained by other methods.Comment: 21 pages, 6 figure

What Do Patients Value in the Hospital Meal Experience?

A number of previous studies have reported on the aspects of hospital food service that patients value, but usually as a secondary finding, and not generally based upon patient-centred approaches. This study employed a questionnaire produced ab initio from interviews with patients and hospital staff, the data from which were subjected to factor and cluster analysis, in order to identify and prioritise the factors that contribute to the meal experience empirically. The most important factors, food and service were as identified by other authors. In decreasing order of importance were social, personal and situational factors. The results confirm that improving the quality of the food and the efficiency with which it reaches the patients remain the most important objectives of hospital food service