Aristocrats in bourgeois Italy : the Piedmontese nobility, 1861-1930 / Anthony L. Cardoza.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cardoza, Anthony L., 1947- author.

Series:

Cambridge studies in Italian history and culture.

Cambridge studies in Italian history and culture

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Nobility--Italy--Piedmont--History.

Nobility.

Nobility--Political activity--Italy--Piedmont.

Nobility--Italy--Piedmont--Economic conditions.

Elite (Social sciences)--Italy--Piedmont.

Elite (Social sciences).

Piedmont (Italy)--History.

Piedmont (Italy).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiv, 248 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1997.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This book provides a full account of the Italian nobility in the post-unification era. It challenges interpretations which have stressed the rapid fusion of old and new elites in Italy and the marginality of the nobility after 1861, and instead highlights the continuing economic strength, social power and political influence of Italy's most prominent regional aristocracy. In Piedmont, the nobles were able to develop more indirect forms of influence to satisfy their hunger for leadership based on something older than constitutions or electoral politics. They remained a largely separate group within local society, distinguished by their attachment to the values of lineage, military service, landownership, and social exclusivity. This aristocratic exclusivity and influence survived the agricultural depression of the nineteenth century, before succumbing finally to the devastating effects of World War I.

Contents:

1. The making of the Piedmontese nobility: 1600-1848. From feudal aristocracy to service nobility: 1600-1790. Survival and adaptation in the French revolutionary era. The Indian summer of aristocratic primacy: 1815-1848. Internecine conflict and the end of aristocratic primacy

2. The long goodbye: aristocrats in politics and public life: 1848-1914. The place of the aristocracy in the new political order. The slow retreat from political office. The survival of aristocratic influence in public life. Aristocrats and Catholic lay politics in Piedmont. Informal networks of aristocratic influence

3. Old money: the scale and structure of aristocratic wealth. The distribution of wealth within the nobility. The structure of aristocratic wealth.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780511087110

051108711X

9780511585227

0511585225

9780511003004

0511003005

Publisher Number:

2027/heb00108 hdl