ABSTRACT
The second half of the 1840s was characterized by harsh winters and a series of crop failures — most famously of potatoes, but also of sweet corn and other cereals — which in many countries generated real agricultural and economic crises, almost invariably resulting in political ones. It all began with the 1845 failure of the potato crop. 1846 produced a very poor grain harvest, which further deepened the food crisis, despite the improvement of the potato crop on the disastrous yield of the previous year. In Northern Italy prices increased rapidly especially from September–October 1846, partly because Venetian and Lombard merchants encouraged exports towards the richer markets in northern Europe, where prices were higher. Price increases caused the first bread riots, which aimed at preventing further exportation of grain. A similar pattern occurred elsewhere in Italy, especially in the Papal State, where public order and law enforcement had always been precarious.
