ABSTRACT
The aim of this chapter is primarily that of surveying research and material available in Italy on the subject of wealth and the wealthy in modern times. Given that neither the economic nor the sociological literature has shown interest in the last 20–30 years in such a field of research, the only realistic approach to it had to start from a systematic survey of the direct and indirect contributions provided in the more distant past as well as of the relevant material which can be fruitfully employed. The chapter deals with the consequences in terms of wealth of industrialisation efforts which took place in Italy after unification, ending in the successful take-off of a part of the nation, i.e. the ‘little country’ formed by Piedmont, Liguria and Lombardy known as the industrial triangle. It then illustrates, in a less systematic way, the main features of the Italian business entourage in the first half of the twentieth century.
