ABSTRACT
The eighteenth century was a period of great demographic expansion for Naples: while the population totalled 220,000 inhabitants in 1707, by the end of the century-despite the devastating effects of the 1764 plague-it had passed the 400,000 mark. 1 However, this demographic increase was not accompanied by economic growth. Naples had become the capital of an independent kingdom with Charles of Bourbon (1734-1759), and was therefore a centre of attraction for the inhabitants of the kingdom, but it continued to be a parasitic market rather than the centre of a solid productive system. The capital's economic crisis grew worse in the latter half of the eighteenth century when the increase in the prices of the main foodstuffs-a tomolo of grain cost 136 grana in 1734, 160 in 1760, 199 in 1790 and varied between 210 and 3 55 grana in the period 1791-1805 - was not matched by a corresponding increase in wages which remained inflexible? The general move to the city and the presence of the guild system, which sanctioned the exploitation of labour by the manufacturers, led to a tight salary squeeze.
