INTRODUCTION

The scholar analysing the historical population dynamics of Genoa will quickly notice its special and well-defined features. From 1805 Genoa was the capital of a small regional state that had just over half a million inhabitants in 1777. From the second half of the eighteenth century its economy was mainly based on two activities: first, overseas investments, supplying most of the income of its aristocratic oligarchy; and, secondly, shipping and trade, pursued either on an independent basis or on commission for foreign merchants.

After the outbreak of the French Revolution and during the wars between France and other European powers, the majority of the city's overseas financial investments were lost due to the bankruptcy of state treasuries and private financial difficulties. In 1805 the Genoese State requested and obtained annexation by the French Empire, hoping to save at least the second mainstay of its economy, sea-borne trade. But this also failed due to the proclamation of the continental blockade in 1806 which destroyed Genoa's port activities almost completely (Tarle, 1928).

With the fall of Napoleon, the Genoese territory became part of Savoy, but this new political situation did not provide any immediate advantage. Investment losses during the Napoleonic Wars had been very considerable and the development of shipping and trade was obstructed until 1830 by the highly protectionist policy pursued by the Turin government. It was only in the 1830s that the tariff and customs policy was moderated and the Genoese economy began to recover its sea-borne trade, relying primarily on increased investment in the developing manufacturing sector. The successful results already obtained by English, Belgian and French manufacturers with innovative production technologies showed that industrial investment offered significant opportunities. An increasing number of Genoese entrepreneurs decided to move in this direction, followed by a growing number of tradesmen in Piedmont and Lombardy (Guglielmino, 1948).

At the beginning of the 1850s the take-off process was well established in Genoa, Turin and Milan, as the chief towns of Liguria, Piedmont and Lombardy respectively, and economic growth in the latter decades of the nineteenth century was sustained by industrial development in ferrous metallurgy, engineering and chemicals (del Panta, 1989, p. 264). The industrial revolution was beginning to change not only the economy of the three urban poles, but also that of the surrounding territories.