ABSTRACT
Yet in 1848 insurrections did occur, throughout Italy. Few had predicted them. True, living standards had been declining for at least two decades. The poor harvests of 1845 and 1846 had made matters a great deal worse, and doubled the price of bread. Urban artisans were hit by trade recession and (in Naples) by tariff reform. The professional classes suffered from poor job prospects and censorship, and businessmen complained about the slow expansion of the railways. But most of these grievances were not new, and the harvest of 1847 was good. There seemed to be no immediate political danger to the existing regimes. The Austrian army was intact; the Mazzinians were few, and discredited.
