ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses Welfare Provision in Piedmont. Until the 1750s the Duchy of Savoy, comprising Savoy, Nice and Piedmont, underwent a process both of consolidation of its international position and of internal stabilisation. The Catholic revival fuelled private charity. Economic stagnation and general backwardness dominated Piedmont until the 1830s. The reforms of Victor Amadeus II, started between 1696 and 1703, were interrupted by the War of the Spanish Succession, and resumed between 1713 and 1730. The social and economic crisis of the late 18th century merged with that caused by the war with France. The changes to poor relief and health care occurring under Victor Amadeus II have an ideological dimension, but it is mainly an ideology of efficient absolutism and administrative centralisation, of the reduction of ecclesiastical influence, privilege and immunity, of mercantilism and fiscal efficiency. Napoleon's victory at Marengo ended nearly a decade of war. Piedmont became the 27th military division of the French Empire.
