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The next fifty years saw a period of relative political stability and economic progress for all the various
Italian States. Judicial and administrative reforms were carried out, generally marked by increased efficiency
in state structures. This was also due to the actions of statesmen and enlightened sovereigns like Maria Teresa
of Austria and Joseph II in Lombardy, Bernardo Tanucci at Naples, Pietro Leopoldo in Tuscany and Pius VI at Rome.
Following this brief but intense period came first the echo of the French Revolution (1789) and the tragic
end of the French monarchy (1792) and then the resounding reality of the Napoleonic armies. The latter's first
Italian Campaign (1796) carried with it the hope of an independent Italy before too long. Spanish predominance
in Italy, extending over some two centuries, had rather negative consequences for the country, whose economy, especially
in the rich northern and central regions underwent a disastrous decline. This brought in its train social and cultural
repercussions. The imbalance between the southern regions and the rest of the country increased, above all in the
agricultural sector. The south had mainly large feudal agricultural and pastoral estates and exported considerable
quantities of traditional Mediterranean crops (cereals, wine and olive oil) and sheep products (wool and cheese)
to the great urban areas of Central Italy and the Po Valley. The north, meanwhile, alongside its large-scale irrigation
cultivation was developing the production of silk (with its main working and trading centres in Lombardy) and the
characteristic landscape of mixed farming (especially in Tuscany, Umbria and Marche).
Besides silk, which was very profitable, other industrial-type activities were prospering (even if in this period
the production of the finished goods still had the character of a craft and an organization based on the medieval
corporations), such as the weaving of wool and flax. The Alpine and Apennine forests provided the raw material
for boat building, a particular speciality of Venice and Genoa. In addition, the pre-Alpine Lombard and Venetian
regions had well-developed metallurgy, due to the presence of metal-bearing deposits that had been utilized since
ancient times. Other important areas of production were the manufacturing of glass at Venice, paper at Fabriano
and the continuing quarrying at Carrara of the splendid marble of the Apuan Alps.
Also in the commercial sector the difference between the north and south of Italy was apparent in the active presence
of merchants from Tuscany, Genoa and Venice in the Spanish viceroyalty where they had fondachi or permanent commercial
bases. Moreover the Central and Northern regions were in constant contact with the rest of Europe through their
own trading offices at Lyons, London, Antwerp and Genoa. The ports of Genoa, Naples, Messina, Leghorn and Venice
were particularly active, the latter also being involved in Eastern Mediterranean trading.
The inflation provoked by the flow of precious metals from the New World through Spain also heavily involved
Italy. It increased the division between the lower classes and the feudal nobility, while landownership now also
became the only refuge of the trading middle-classes for their capital. The economic depression that characterized
the period of Spanish domination was further aggravated by the heavy taxation imposed by the viceregal rulers to
meet the financial demands of the state (weighed down by a muddled bureaucratic structure) and continuing military
committments.
In addition, devastation was caused by continued contests among the great European States, who found in Italy their
favourite battlefield, and recurrent epidemics of plague (as that in 1630 which overran Milan and Venice or that
of 1656 which struck Naples). The result was a dramatic drop in population, not only in the rural areas of both
the south and north but also greatly reducing numbers in the large urban centres. Consequently, at the beginning
of the 18C the population of Italy probably amounted to some 14 million inhabitants, being almost equivalent to
that of a century earlier.
The drop in investment returns and economic activities resulted in the utilization of capital that had previously
been accumulated and the construction of elaborate religious and civil buildings. When after the Peace of the Pyrenees,
however, Italy knew a period of relative peace the various States of the peninsula were no longer capable of competing
with the developed economies of the great European nations, who had succeeded in monopolising trade and industry.
Consequently at the opening of the 18C when the Spanish presence was declining in favour of Austria and the Bourbons,
Italy was heavily agricultural but dotted with medium and small towns that had kept, if not increased, their urban
characteristics.
Italy's political and economic difficulties during this period did not always have a reflection at the cultural
level. Following the revival of classical studies with humanism and the splendid flowering of the Renaissance,
which had made Italy the cultural centre of Europe, there was a further development in literature, the figurative
arts and architecture. The stimulus for this new phase came from the ideology behind the Council of Trent and the
general atmosphere of the Counter-Reformation. The magnificence of the resulting Baroque period and its expressive
liberty was to last well into the 18C. Also in the fields of science and philosophy Italy was to make fundamental
contributions, as through the renewal of research utilizing experimental methods as exemplified by Galileo and
the daring philosophical theories of Campanella.
Nevertheless, Italy had to concede to France cultural leadership. A contribution that was to play a significant
role in the political and philosophical debate leading to the revolutionary spirit of the 18C.
Earlier, however, and again from France, there had spread throughout Europe, of course including Italy, the new
spirit of Enlightenment. This was a reaction against the restrictions imposed by tradition and religious
faith, revaluing the human intellectual capacity and individual conscience in its ability to confront and resolve
the great issues of humanity and its destiny through the use of reason alone. Favoured also by the renewal of economic
and civil life through a series of reforms stemming from the tolerant and enlightened rulers of the period, Italy
made her main contribution in this field at Milan and Naples by the actions of statesmen and economists of the
calibre of Beccaria, Verri, Romagnosi, Galiani, Genovesi, Pagano and Filangieri.
Reforming activities were however abruptly interrupted by the events of the French Revolution, bringing
into question the very concepts of State and Society under the pressure of the new Jacobinism. In the social sphere,
the middle-class was to assert its indispensable economic importance, forced by a proletariat that was still uncertain
in its objectives. At the same time, especially in Northern and Central Italy, an expansion in agriculture was
under way due to the development of firms with an increased capital base and commercial outlets on the European
markets (silk, products from timber cultivation etc). Profits from agriculture accumulated by the upper and middle-classes
were directed into the Industrial Revolution that was already renewing the economy of all northwestern Europe.
Meanwhile Southern Italy, which had already registered the first signs of industrialization due to the farsightedness
of the Bourbon dynasty, still retained an agriculture based on large estates (latifundia) that were nevertheless
able to meet the needs of a population increased to over 5 million inhabitants.