ABSTRACT
This chapter shows how projects of economic reform were embedded in the political battles of the Regency. Carlo Ginori (1702-57) was a leading member of the Spanish faction in Florence, and finally sidelined in 1746 when Francis Stephen made him the governor of Livorno—an important post, to be sure, but far from the seething center of Florentine politics. Ginori was the activist governor par excellence. He promoted industrial and commercial projects while trying to integrate the port’s trade more tightly to the Tuscan hinterland. Some of these schemes were successful. Some were too ambitious even for that ambitious age: for instance, trying to found a colony in the Caribbean Sea. For art historians, Ginori’s lasting contribution was the foundation of the Doccia porcelain works in 1737, which is still in operation today. Equally important was his contribution to the circulation of economic ideas in Tuscany. Ginori was a crucial figure for transmitting the liberal mercantilist ideas available in the 1750s, carefully selecting those texts most relevant to Tuscany, including such authors as Joshua Gee, Gerónimo Uztáriz, and Montesquieu. He was one of the first Florentines to combine practical improvement with an effort to appropriate contemporary economic thought.
