The Nineteenth Century - Piemonte Feel

The nineteenth century opened with the Savoy state under the domination of Napoleon. In June 1800 the emperor won one of his most famous battles at Marengo, near Alessandria.
With the decree of 1801, Piedmont was annexed to France whereas the area around Novara became part of the Cisalpine Republic. A few years later, with Napoleon defeated, the Savoy dynasty regained possession of its former territories. In Piedmont the wind of the Risorgimento was blowing, bringing with it the influences of European liberalism and, as numerous exiles from all over the peninsula found refuge in Turin, political and intellectual debate. By 1850, the region, under the leadership of the Savoy monarchy, was committed to the unification of Italy. The process had begun with the first riots of 1821 and had been followed by the wars of independence (battle of Novara, 1849); it was concluded in 1861, despite the exclusion of Rome. Cavour’s reforms brought notable economic and social changes to the region, which was still rather backward in comparison with other modern European states. With the emergence of large-scale manufacturing industry, a more capitalist-based management of the countryside developed, involving investment in the land and crop renewal. After unification, Piedmont underwent a difficult phase of transition following the removal of the capital of the new kingdom of Italy from Turin to Florence (1864). Agriculture was hard pressed by the recession which crippled Europe for twenty years and by the customs war with France. After losing the privileged position of capital, Turin was hit by a series of financial disasters: the big Turin banks that had been involved in building speculation in the new capital, Rome, went bankrupt. Turin only overcame the crisis with the introduction of Giovanni Giolitti’s liberal policies which brought the long recession of the Italian economy to an end.