Lombard pre-unitarian industry refers to the characteristics and development of industry in the Lombard provinces from its founding to the Unification of Italy. Industry in Lombardy was born and developed from the early 19th century largely on private initiative, as opposed to elsewhere where industry was encouraged by the various governments through direct intervention or massive state orders. This feature, together with the lack of a favorable customs and industrial policy under the dependencies of the Austrian Empire, on which Lombardy depended, allowed local industry to strengthen over the years until it led Italian industrial development with the Unification of Italy..
Introduction The beginning of Lombard industry, understood as a concentration of labor and fragmented tasks often carried out with the aid of machinery, can be dated to the first half of the 18th century, when the Innocente Osnago silk factory was founded in Milan in 1736, where a few years later 50 Jacquard looms were in operation, employing about 300 people. Another less supported hypothesis dates the first modern Lombard factory to 1704 with the founding of the Tieffen woolen mill where workers worked with machinery imported from Flanders and France. However, the phenomenon of industrialization remained fairly marginal until the end of the 1700s, yet the main type of industry, with textiles predominating over others, persisted throughout the next century. According to Cesare Cantù, the first serious effort at industrialization in Lombardy occurred during the Napoleonic reign, in which the need to arm an army of about 50000 individuals gave the first major boost to the mechanical and textile industries..
While the Napoleonic Wars are referred to as the starting point for industrialization of a certain magnitude, according to Giovanni Merlini Lombardy's industrial development began in 1815 with the cessation of the state of war in Europe, causing industrial growth that lasted until 1847, when according to Merlini Lombardy's industry reached the peak of its prosperity. The uprisings of '48 in fact brought instability to the territory and took arms away from industry, however the situation persisted in the years to follow given the imposition of a military government that passed many ordinances that would significantly limit the growth of Lombard industries..
Textile industry The textile industry was certainly by value and employment the most profitable and important branch of Lombard industry. The most important branch of the textile industry was silk, among the most developed in Europe, followed by cotton and then all the others.
Silk industry The art of spinning and weaving was already active in Lombardy in the 1300s. To a century later date the laws of Gian Galeazzo Maria Sforza who, in order to encourage silk production, imposed on all landowners the planting of a certain number of mulberry trees, a plant on which silkworms fed..
At the dawn of Italian unification (1860) Lombardy produced just over 1400 tons of raw silk yarn out of the Italian total of 4200 tons (about a third of all production): followed by the Kingdom of Sardinia with about 900 tons, then Veneto with about 700 tons and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies with just under 600 tons; the remaining 600 tons were supplied by the remaining Italian states.
Of all the textile industries, the silk industry was for a long time the most important in Lombardy: local silk yarn production as of 1856 was about 4 million Milanese pounds, or about 1,300 tons per year, supplying about 70 percent of the total silk trade in Lombardy, to which was added yarn from the Veneto or other Austrian provinces, for a total of about 1870 tons traded or processed in Lombardy. Of all this, only a little over 20 percent was for domestic trade, while the rest was exported throughout Europe. Export took place even if to a small extent already from silk cocoons, with a total production of about 14500 tons of which 200 were exported and another 200 were used for silkworm breeding. The remaining cocoons in Lombardy were processed by an approximate number of 3100 spinning mills, of which 144 were steam-powered, for a total of 40000 reels: just under 80000 typically female employees worked in the aforementioned spinning mills, however most of the spinning mills were active full-time for only 60 days a year..
Of the raw silk produced about one-seventh was exported in the raw state, while the rest underwent at least one processing before being put on the market. After spinning, the silk had to undergo twisting in the 525 spinning mills out of about 530000 spindles: the total number of workers in the factories regularly operating almost all year round was about 35000 workers.. Then followed the manufacture of silk fabrics: this was almost totally concentrated between the provinces of Como and Milan and had 141 factories for 3400 looms, of which 835 at Jacquard, employing about 7500 individuals..
Finally, there were two silk cocoon waste processing factories in Milan and Bergamo for 1500 spindles producing approximately 800 tons per year of silk waste.. Although the data refer to 1856, the Manifattura Vercellone with its 140 workers was already known in this sector in 1840.. In the Bergamo area, spinning mills took advantage of the exploitation begun in 1804 of the lignite deposit at Leffe, a fuel that had advantages over the wood normally used for boiling water for yarns and drying them.Luigi Tatti Notizie sugli scavi di lignite in Valgandino, provincia di Bergamo 1854
Cotton industry
Much of the raw cotton was imported from the United States, with the remainder coming from India and Egypt. Of all the imported cotton, three-quarters was destined for processing in Lombard factories. There were 33 spinning mills in the region and a total of 123000 spindles, with 18 factories and 70000 spindles in the province of Milan and 9 factories and 30000 in the province of Como. In the province of Milan, spinning mills were particularly concentrated in the Altomilanese area, where the factories could draw water from the Olona and Ticino rivers necessary for the motive power of the machinery, while there was only one factory in Chiavenna, in the province of Sondrio, which, however, equaled the 3 factories in the province of Bergamo in number of spindles..
The Lombard factories in total processed 3300 tons of cotton, to which must be added about 240 tons of waste. As for employment, 3810 workers were employed in cotton spinning, among the main factories can be found:
Cotonificio Ponti in Solbiate Olona, it had 400 workers and 11000 spindles, for 450 tons of cotton processed Cotonificio Cantoni in Legnano, it had 257 workers and 5000 spindles, for about 120 tons of processed cotton Cotonificio Krumm of Legnano, it had 230 workers and 8100 spindles, for 200 tons of processed cotton Cotonificio Fumagalli e Stucchi of Peregallo, it had 226 workers and 8800 spindles, for 180 tons of processed cotton Cotonificio De Planta and Corradino in Chiavenna, it had 213 workers and 8500 spindles, for 240 tons of processed cotton
The rest of the factories were organized in smaller concentrations of 200 workers, averaging 115 per factory, while there were numerous factories that while employing fewer workers had higher yarn production. The average stood at about 100 tons of spun cotton per factory: others included the Cotonificio Candiani (131 t), Cotonificio Ferrario e Ottolini (138 t), Cotonificio Zuppinger (174 t), Cotonificio Crespi (157 t), and Cotonificio Schoch (138 t).. There are reports in 1840 of the Cremella Cotton Mill with 210 workers..
As for cotton weaving, there were just over 17,000 looms in Lombardy as of 1856, of which 15,000 were in the province of Milan alone: the 100 or so Jacquard looms were all located in the province of Milan. Those employed in weaving amounted to about 34000 people, who were, however, drawn during the periods of inactivity of the peasants, the activity of weaving not being carried on throughout the year.. Painting and printing of cotton fabrics was also present: the most important establishment in this field was certainly the Cavalli Printed Cotton Factory, which had more than 400 workers in 1840..
Other textile industries Industrial wool processing was introduced in Lombardy in 1816, while traditional wool processing was already present in the time of Francesco Sforza. In the early years of industrialization there was an attempt at large-scale introduction of the wool industry: two “grandiose” factories were founded in those years in Milan and Como: in particular, the Lanificio Guaita in Como, capable of employing up to 700 workers, is remembered. As early as 1840 the large-scale adventure of wool production in Lombardy could be said to have ended, mainly due to high duties on the import of raw material and competition from wool mills in more favored areas of the Austrian Empire of which Lombardy was a part, particularly Bohemia and Moravia... By 1856 wool spinning was particularly concentrated in the province of Bergamo, where there were 6 spinning mills for 4300 spindles: spun wool production stood at 750 tons. There were also 27 wool cloth factories and 30 carpet factories in the Bergamo area, whose goods were exported to the Duchy of Modena and Reggio, the Papal States, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, Hungary and Turkey. However, in Lombardy-Veneto the wool industry had developed greatly in the Schio district, to which was added competition from the Borgosesia district in neighboring Piedmont..
Linen processing was organized in medium to large factories, and flax needed for domestic consumption was produced there. Total production stood at just under 1,300 tons.. Among the factories were:
Linificio di Cassano d'Adda, with 400 workers employed and a total yarn of 600 tons. Linificio di Villa d'Almè that employed 375 people for a total yarn of 430 tons. Linificio di Melegnano with about 2100 spindles, more than 200 workers employed and a total yarn of 133 tons of linen. Archinto Linen Mill in Vaprio d'Adda, employing more than 300 workers.
As for weaving, industrial-type activity was entirely marginal, with the presence of 100 looms throughout Lombardy. More significant, on the other hand, was the handicraft-type activity, with about 14,000 looms scattered throughout the agricultural areas of the lower Po Valley..
Derived from the textile industry was the dyehouse industry, that is, where fabrics were dyed, where more than 1,800 tons of fabrics were processed annually, 230 of which were silk alone.. Finally, about 2,000 people were employed in hat factories of various types..
Machine industry
Iron and steel industry Lombardy, together with the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, was responsible for the manufacture of more than two-thirds of the cast iron produced in all the Italian preunitarian states just before Unification, which stood at about 30000 tons: this figure gives an idea of the primordial state at which the Italian iron and steel industry was, when in 1855 England alone produced 3000000 tons..
Among the largest and most famous industries in pre-unification Lombardy was certainly the Rubini ironworks in Dongo. Founded in the 18th century, in an area where iron was mined from local mines, it was the focus of a renovation by engineer Falck, a technician called from Alsace in 1840 to improve production. Among the main innovations the following are worth noting:
Installation in 1840 of the first “English-style” blast furnace (i.e., of circular cross-section and not square as in use until now in Italy) in the Italian peninsula and consequent doubling of the typical height: this first measure, which soon after spread throughout the surrounding area, made it possible to reduce coal consumption by 55%.