The Development of Agricultural Science in Northern Italy in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Century 3031206568, 9783031206566

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ITALIAN AND ITALIAN AMERICAN STUDIES

The Development of Agricultural Science in Northern Italy in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Century Martino Lorenzo Fagnani

Italian and Italian American Studies

Series Editor Stanislao G. Pugliese, Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY, USA

This series brings the latest scholarship in Italian and Italian American history, literature, cinema, and cultural studies to a large audience of specialists, general readers, and students. Featuring works on modern Italy (Renaissance to the present) and Italian American culture and society by established scholars as well as new voices, it has been a longstanding force in shaping the evolving fields of Italian and Italian American Studies by re-emphasizing their connection to one another. Editorial Board Rebecca West, University of Chicago, USA Josephine Gattuso Hendin, New York University, USA Fred Gardaphé, Queens College, CUNY, USA Phillip V. Cannistraro†, Queens College and the Graduate School, CUNY, USA Alessandro Portelli, Università di Roma “La Sapienza”, Italy William J. Connell, Seton Hall University, USA

Martino Lorenzo Fagnani

The Development of Agricultural Science in Northern Italy in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Century

Martino Lorenzo Fagnani University of Pavia Pavia, Italy

ISSN 2635-2931 ISSN 2635-294X (electronic) Italian and Italian American Studies ISBN 978-3-031-20656-6 ISBN 978-3-031-20657-3 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-20657-3 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover illustration: bauhaus1000/Getty Images This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

Acknowledgments

This book is the fruit of many years of work. The core of its content derives from my doctoral research at the University of Pavia, in which I analyzed the evolution of agricultural science in Italy, France, and the Iberian Peninsula in the latter half of the eighteenth century and the first two decades of the nineteenth century. My studies led me to live for a long time in Madrid, to explore the archives of many scientific and cultural institutions in Italy, Spain, and France, and to reconstruct a knowledge network of international scope. But this book would never have seen the light of day if I had not had the opportunity to discuss the results of my research in numerous contexts both during my doctoral work and as a postdoctoral researcher, receiving advice on how to improve them and suggestions for supplementing them with the works of other experts on these subjects and in associated branches of historical science. I presented the results of my work at the 2019 and 2022 conferences of the European Rural History Organization in Paris and Uppsala, respectively, at the European Social Science History Conference in 2021, the Summer School in Economic History organized in August 2021 in Susa by the Université Panthéon-Sorbonne, the Université Toulouse-Jean Jaurès, the École Pratique des Hautes Études, the Archives Nationales of Paris, and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique of Paris, at the conference L’Italia della pasta: produzione, consumo e culture in età medievale e moderna organized by the Centro Interuniversitario di Studi e Ricerche sulla Storia delle Paste Alimentari in Italia (CISPAI) in v

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Campobasso in September 2021, at the Storia e Scienza conference organized in October 2021 by the Società Italiana di Storia della Scienza, at the Frontier Research in Economic and Social History (FRESH) Meeting in Lund in November 2021, at the convention Il “militare” nelle Italie di Napoleone: società, cultura e istituzioni organized in December 2021 by the Archivio di Stato di Torino and by the Fondazione Luigi Firpo— Centro di Studi sul Pensiero Politico, at the conference Attraverso la Storia organized in Bologna in April 2022 by the Società Italiana per la Storia dell’Età Moderna, and at the conference of the European Society for Environmental History organized in Bristol in July 2022. During these years of research, I have had the privilege of immersing myself in the history of science, the history of ideas, and economic history with many highly competent people, to whom I am deeply indebted. I would like to begin by thanking my supervisors in the Department of Humanities of the University of Pavia, Davide Maffi and Alessandra Ferraresi, who have been a great source of inspiration in my research from the beginning. I have benefited greatly from long discussions with them on the topics of my doctorate; their teachings, historiographic methodology, and exceptional human qualities have been of enormous value to me over the years. I would also like to thank the Coordinator of Doctoral Studies in History of the University of Pavia and the entire doctoral committee for their aid in my research. My gratitude also goes to Andrea Zannini of the University of Udine, Manuel Vaquero Piñeiro of the University of Perugia, and Paola Bianchi of the University of Turin for their careful review of my work and their insightful comments that did much to improve it. A particular thanks to Stefano Levati of the University of Milan, whose precious advice has been a constant support in all these years. I am grateful also to Mario Rizzo of the University of Pavia for his generosity and openness to debate. And while still within the realm of the University of Pavia, I must add my gratitude to Matteo Di Tullio, Giovanni Vigo, and Francesco Torchiani, they too are prodigious sources of advice and patience. I have been very fortunate to find a great deal of support also beyond the walls of my doctoral alma mater. My thanks go to Carlo Capra, Antonino De Francesco, and Giulia Giannini of the University of Milan, Luciano Maffi of the University of Parma, Paolo Tedeschi of the University of Milano-Bicocca, Gianpiero Fumi and Claudio Besana of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Lavinia Maddaluno of Ca’

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

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Foscari University of Venice, and to the researchers in the Department of Social and Political Sciences at Bocconi University—where I am an academic fellow contributing to courses in economic history and business history—who shared their opinions and suggestions on a range of subjects and work strategies. For their valuable advice, my gratitude also goes to Andrea Caracausi of the University of Padua, Michela Barbot, Christophe Bonneuil, and Niccolò Mignemi of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique of Paris, Pierre Cornu of the Lumière University of Lyon, and Emma Spary and Staffan Müller-Wille of the University of Cambridge. I also enjoyed very illuminating conversations with Stefano d’Atri of the University of Salerno, Rossano Pazzagli of the University of Molise, Ida Fazio of the University of Palermo, Andrea Zagli of the University of Siena, Giacomo Bonan of the University of Turin, Monica Azzolini and Simona Negruzzo of the University of Bologna, Omar Mazzotti of the University of Parma, and Manuela Militi of CISPAI. I thank Laurent Brassart of the University of Lille for his perspectives on the history of agriculture in France. As regards Great Britain, I am similarly indebted to Paul Warde of the University of Cambridge and Henry French of the University of Exeter. As regards Spanish history, I thank Juan Pan-Montojo of the Autonomous University of Madrid, Ofelia Rey Castelao of the University of Santiago de Compostela, and Daniel Muñoz Navarro and Salvador Calatayud Giner of the University of Valencia for their highly valuable advice, and Pasqual Bernat for his consultations regarding Catalonia. Particular thanks are merited by Óscar Recio Morales of the Complutense University of Madrid, who guided my research and growth as a scholar during my time as a resident of that city. My gratitude also goes to Agnese Visconti, whose extensive knowledge of the history of botany was of great help in mapping out my research path over the years. And I must add Augusto Pirola, Nicola M. G. Ardenghi, and Simone Orsenigo for having provided me with an inside view of the Pavia Botanical Garden, its collections, and its history. I thank Eugenio Camerlenghi of the Accademia Nazionale Virgiliana di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti of Mantua, whose knowledge of agricultural science and agronomy has allowed me to fully grasp the more technical aspects in the history of this science. I am also indebted to Cesare Repossi for his advice regarding the cultural history of Lombardy; to Michele Simonetto, Emanuele D’Antonio, Claudio Lorenzini, and Liliana Cargnelutti for information regarding the history of Veneto and Friuli; to Pierangelo

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Gentile of the University of Turin and Andrea Merlotti, Director of the Centro Studi del Consorzio delle Residenze Reali Sabaude, for having shared their knowledge of Piedmont history; to Alessandro Carassale for sharing his knowledge of the history of oliviculture in Liguria; to Roberto Navarrini, President of the Accademia Nazionale Virgiliana, and the late Daniela Ferrari, former President of the Mantua Institute of Contemporary History, for their gracious help in familiarizing me with the archives of Mantua. I must also thank the staff of the many historical archives that I visited in Italy, Spain, and France for their warm reception and the attention they dedicated to me at each visit. Particular thanks go to Ines Mazzola and Maria Angela Malavasi of the Accademia Nazionale Virgiliana of Mantua, to Lucio Fregonese and Maria Carla Garbarino of the Pavia University History Museum, to Paolo Mazzarello and Francesca Cattaneo of the University Museums System and to the staff of the Biblioteca Universitaria of Pavia, to Flora Bonalumi of the National Braidense Library, to the most helpful staff of the Istituto Lombardo Accademia di Scienze e Lettere and its Cancelliere Rita Pezzola, to the most kind staff of the State Archives of Milan, Pavia, Mantua, Brescia, and Udine, of the Vincenzo Joppi Civic Library of Udine, and of the Library of the Botanical Garden of the University of Parma, to Esther García Guillén, Irene Fernández de Tejada de Garay, Abel Blanco Asenjo, and Gloria Perez de Rada Cavanilles of the archives of the Real Jardín Botánico of Madrid, Fabiola Azanza Santa Victoria of the archive and library of the Real Sociedad Económica Matritense, to Mónica Verges Alonso of the archives of the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales of Madrid, and to Florence Tessier of the Botanical Library of the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle of Paris. I also thank Robert Burns for his meticulous linguistic revision of the text and Carlo Fagnani for his patient and excellent preparation of the maps. There are also a number of people who deserve my gratitude for the unswerving friendship they have always shown me. And of course none of this would have been possible without the constant support and encouragement of my parents. Pavia January 2023

Martino Lorenzo Fagnani

Chronological Table of the Main Political and Institutional Events Referenced in the Book

1753 The Accademia dei Georgofili is founded in Florence to promote the development of the agricultural sector in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. 1761 A chair of Agriculture is organized at the University of Padua, in the Republic of Venice. 1762 The Società di Agricoltura Pratica (Society of Practical Agriculture) is created in Udine, in the Republic of Venice. In later years, it serves as a model for other agricultural institutions founded in the Republic. 1765 August: The new Holy Roman Emperor is Joseph II of HabsburgLorraine. He is also declared co-regent of the Habsburg Monarchy by his mother Maria Theresa of Austria, who is the actual ruler. July: The new Duke of Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla is Ferdinand I of Bourbon.

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CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE MAIN POLITICAL AND …

1768 March: The Academy of Sciences and Fine Letters is created in Mantua. The University of Parma is reformed by Prime Minister Guillaume du Tillot; plans begin for modern teaching of botany. In the Republic of Venice, a network of institutions begins to form to strengthen the agricultural sector. 1770 The Academy of Sciences and Fine Letters of Mantua gains an agricultural branch. The Botanical Garden of the University of Parma is established. 1773 February: The new king of Sardinia is Victor Amadeus III of Savoy. The Botanical Garden of the University of Pavia, in the Duchy of Milan, is established. 1774 Work begins in the summer to create the Botanical Garden of the Gymnasium of Brera in Milan. October: Classes begin at the new veterinary school in Padua (the Collegio Zooiatrico) attracting students from the Republic of Venice and other Italian regions. 1776 December: The Patriotic Society is created in Milan with the goal of improving agriculture, animal husbandry, and manufacturing. 1780 February: The new Duke of Modena and Reggio is Ercole III d’Este. November: Death of Maria Theresa of Austria.

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE MAIN POLITICAL AND …

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1783 The Academy of Sciences of Turin is established on the foundations of a pre-existing institution. 1785 May: The Agricultural Society of Turin is founded. 1789 The French Revolution begins. 1790 Joseph II dies and is succeeded by his brother as Leopold II. 1791 A school of veterinaria minore (training in simple surgical operations and the treatment of the most common diseases in horses, cattle, and sheep) is opened at the old lazaret in Milan. A school of veterinary medicine is established at the University of Modena by order of the Duke Ercole III d’Este. 1792 Leopold II dies and is succeeded by his son as Francis II. September: France ceases to be a monarchy and becomes a republic. 1793 June: The Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (National Museum of Natural History) is officially established in Paris as an institution for preservation, research, and teaching. The Jardin des Plantes founded in the 1630s is part of the new institution and continues to have a pivotal role in the circulation of plant species and botanical knowledge in Europe and the colonies.

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CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE MAIN POLITICAL AND …

1795 October: The Institut National des Sciences et des Arts (National Institute of Sciences and Arts) is established in Paris with the aim of advancing scientific research and technical experimentation (together with the humanities); in the following years, it will serve as a model for establishing similar Institutes in other cities of Frenchified Europe. 1796–1797 Victories in northern Italy by French troops led by Napoleon Bonaparte; many of the Ancien Régime States are replaced by new “Sister Republics”. September 1796: The Patriotic Society of Milan is closed down. 1797 June: The Cisalpine Republic is established with Milan as capital. October: With the Treaty of Campo Formio between France and Austria, the territories of the centuries-old Republic of Venice are divided between the two powers. 1799 April: The Cisalpine Republic is dissolved following the defeat of the French army in Italy by Austrian and Russian troops. 1800–1801 Napoleon Bonaparte, now First Consul of the French Republic, defeats the troops of the Second Coalition and restores French dominance over much of northern Italy. The Cisalpine Republic is restored and its territory enlarged. In 1801, the Pastoral Society of La Mandria is founded in the town of Chivasso by members of the Piedmont landed nobility; it is mainly dedicated to merino sheep breeding.

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE MAIN POLITICAL AND …

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1802 January: After the Consulte de Lyon, the Cisalpine Republic becomes the Italian Republic with Napoleon as President. September: Piedmont is annexed to the French Republic. In the Cisalpine Republic, Law No. 75 provides for agrarian societies in all departments. October: Death of Ferdinand I Duke of Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla. November: Decree no. 117 institutes the teaching of agriculture in the departmental licei (upper secondary schools). 1803 The National University Curricular Plans of October 31 introduce the teaching of agricultural science at the Universities of Pavia and Bologna. In Bologna, the University acquires areas for the establishment of the new Agricultural and Botanical Gardens, with work continuing over the following years. 1804 May: Napoleon is proclaimed Emperor of the French; France goes from Republic to Empire. A veterinary school opens in Modena, in part continuing the old institution founded in 1791. 1805 March: The Italian Republic becomes the Kingdom of Italy. May: Napoleon is crowned King of Italy in the Milan Cathedral. June: The Ligurian Republic is annexed to the French Empire. December: the Peace of Pressburg is signed between Emperors Napoleon Bonaparte and Francis of Habsburg-Lorraine. The Veneto and Friuli regions are annexed to the Kingdom of Italy, as well as Istria and Dalmatia.

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CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE MAIN POLITICAL AND …

1806 The Agricultural Garden of the University of Pavia is established. May: Guastalla is annexed to the Department of the Crostolo, in the Kingdom of Italy. November: The Berlin Decree issued by Napoleon implements the Continental Blockade against Great Britain. 1807 The veterinary school of Modena is closed. 1808 The old Duchy of Parma and Piacenza is annexed to the French Empire. The new Veterinary School of the Kingdom of Italy is opened in Milan. 1809 The Annali dell’agricoltura starts in January, the most ambitious agricultural science and experimentation periodical of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy. 1810 December: Decree no. 301 unites all research centers in each city of the Kingdom of Italy in the new atenei, institutes in which agricultural science is lost among a plethora of disciplines. The project struggles to get started on a large scale and is partially interrupted by the fall of Napoleon in 1814. 1812 French invasion of Russia from June to December. The campaign has very negative political, military, and economic outcomes for the Napoleonic imperium.

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE MAIN POLITICAL AND …

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1813 October: Napoleon’s army is defeated at Leipzig, in Saxony, by the armies of the Sixth Coalition. 1814 April: Napoleon abdicates the thrones of France and Italy; Austrian troops occupy Milan. In autumn, the major powers of Europe gather at the Congress of Vienna with the aim of setting out how France will be treated after the Revolution, the reign of Napoleon, and the related wars; how to reconstruct national frontiers; and how to restore many of the former rulers. 1815 June: Napoleon is definitively defeated by the armies of the Seventh Coalition, after his return to power in France in March; he abdicates for a second time. The Final Act of the Congress of Vienna is signed, concluding many months of negotiations and summarizing the agreements among the signatories. In northern Italy, the territorial order prior to French rule is restored with some exceptions: for example, the territories of the former Republic of Genoa are incorporated into the Kingdom of Sardinia (House of Savoy), whereas the pre-1796–1797 Duchies of Milan and Mantua and the Italian mainland of the former Republic of Venice are united, along with few other territories, into the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia (House of Habsburg-Lorraine).

Contents

1

1

Introduction

2

Institutions and State Policies

17

3

Knowledge Network

75

4

Experimentation

115

5

Didactics

167

6

Conclusions

215

Bibliography

233

Index

269

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Abbreviations

Archives AHN AIL ANV, As D.a. C.a. L.a. ARJB ASMi Studi p.a. Studi p.m. ASMn ASPv U. BCMHN BNB BUPv

Archivo Histórico Nacional, Madrid Archivio dell’Istituto Lombardo Accademia di Scienze e Lettere, Milan Accademia Nazionale Virgiliana, Archivio storico, Mantua Dissertazioni accademiche Colonia poi Classe Agraria Lettere di accademici illustri Archivo del Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid, Madrid Archivio di Stato di Milano, Milan Studi parte antica Studi parte moderna Archivio di Stato di Mantova, Mantua Archivio di Stato di Pavia, Pavia Università Bibliothèque Centrale du Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense, Milan Biblioteca Universitaria di Pavia, Pavia

Texts AARI ASPMi

Annali dell’agricoltura del Regno d’Italia Atti della Società Patriotica di Milano diretta all’avanzamento dell’Agricoltura, delle Arti, e delle Manifatture xix

xx

ABBREVIATIONS

BLREP BLRI DBE DBI GFCS GI MRAMn MSAP MSATo OSSA

Bollettino delle leggi della Repubblica Italiana, 1802–1804 Bollettino delle leggi del Regno d’Italia, 1805–1814 Diccionario Biográfico Español, Madrid, Real Academia de la Historia, 2011–2013 Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, Rome, Istituto dell’Enciclopedia Italiana Treccani, 1960–2020 Giornale di fisica, chimica e storia naturale (from 1813 onwards Giornale di fisica, chimica, storia naturale, medicina, ed arti) Giornale d’Italia spettante alla scienza naturale e principalmente all’agricoltura, alle arti ed al commercio Memorie della Reale Accademia di Scienze Belle Lettere ed Arti di Mantova Mémoires d’agriculture, d’économie rurale et domestique publiés par la Société Royale d’Agriculture de Paris Memorie della Reale Società Agraria di Torino Opuscoli scelti sulle scienze e sulle arti

List of Figures

Fig. 2.1 Fig. 2.2

Fig. 2.3

Fig. 3.1

Fig. 3.2

Main centers discussed in Chapter 2 (Source Map by the author and Carlo Fagnani) Northern Italy in 1796 (the current Italian Republic is marked in light gray) (Source Map by the author and Carlo Fagnani, elaboration based on A. W. Ward, G. W. Prothero, S. Leathes, E. A. Benians (eds.), The Cambridge Modern History Atlas, London, Cambridge University Press, 1912) Northern Italy in 1811 (the current Italian Republic is marked in light gray) (Source Map by the author and Carlo Fagnani, elaboration based on A. W. Ward, G. W. Prothero, S. Leathes, E. A. Benians (eds.), The Cambridge Modern History Atlas, London, Cambridge University Press, 1912) Sugarcane by engraver Benedetto Bordiga (Source L. Castiglioni et al., Storia delle piante forastiere: le più importanti nell’uso medico, od economico, vol. I, Milan, Marelli, 1791, plate XVII [copy from Biblioteca Universitaria di Pavia—MiC, 20. D. 14/1]) Cotton shrub by engraver Benedetto Bordiga (Source L. Castiglioni et al., Storia delle piante forastiere: le più importanti nell’uso medico, od economico, vol. I, Milan, Marelli, 1791, plate XXI [copy from Biblioteca Universitaria di Pavia—MiC, 20. D. 14/1])

18

23

24

82

83

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LIST OF FIGURES

Fig. 4.1

Fig. 4.2

Fig. 4.3

Fig. 5.1

Fig. 5.2

Map of the land of the former convent of Santa Clara considered for the establishment of the new Pavia Agricultural Garden; undated sketch (Source Archivio di Stato di Milano, Studi parte moderna, 995 [authorization 1879 of 13.04.2022]) Map of the land of the former convent of Santa Mostiola considered for the establishment of the new Pavia Agricultural Garden; undated sketch (Source Archivio di Stato di Milano, Studi parte moderna, 995 [authorization 1879 of 13.04.2022]) Pavia Agricultural Garden, map drawn by Giuseppe Bayle Barelle (May 31, 1810) after 1808 drawing by engineer Antonio Moreschi (Source Archivio di Stato di Milano, Autografi, 111 [authorization 1879 of 13.04.2022]) Ears and seeds of various wheat species (Source G. Bayle Barelle, Monografia agronomia dei cereali: del formento, Milan, Silvestri, 1809, plates I and II [copy from Biblioteca Universitaria di Pavia—MiC]) Ears and seeds of various wheat species (Source G. Bayle Barelle, Monografia agronomia dei cereali: del formento, Milan, Silvestri, 1809, plates I and II [copy from Biblioteca Universitaria di Pavia—MiC])

132

133

134

184

185

List of Tables

Table 2.1

Table 2.2 Table 6.1

List of topics somehow related to the agricultural sphere for the Academy’s dissertation contests from 1768 to 1779, with the respective Classes and numbers of participants (if known). Note that “Physics” encompassed the natural sciences generally and medicine List of books procured by the Academy of Mantua for its Agricultural Colony, January 1787 The most important periodicals dedicated partially or wholly to agricultural science and experimentation, with place and years of publication

31 44

224

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CHAPTER 1

Introduction

This book explores new territory in the international historiographical debate on the evolution of the State-science relationship during the Age of Enlightenment and the Napoleonic Era. It analyzes the actors and dynamics driving the evolution of agricultural science in the decades straddling the turn of the nineteenth century in the geographical context of northern Italy. Here, institutions, experts, and some landowners showed great creativity in participating in the European knowledge network, contributing to the development of agricultural science. While historiographic literature contains good deal of materials on the development of this science, the international dimension of northern Italian agricultural science has received relatively little attention. This book offers a first attempt to fill this gap.

1.1

State of the Art

Italian agricultural science quickly evolved between the 1760s and the 1810s. It began as the application of natural sciences, technology, and socioeconomics to the development of the rural sphere. Institutions, governments, scientists, and intellectuals sought to enhance agriculture, animal husbandry, and associated production, but also the well-being of rural communities, addressing issues such as nutrition, health, education, © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. L. Fagnani, The Development of Agricultural Science in Northern Italy in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Century, Italian and Italian American Studies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-20657-3_1

1

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M. L. FAGNANI

morality, and work ethic. By the 1810s, agricultural science had acquired a more distinct and autonomous profile. First of all, without having abandoned concerns for social support mechanism, it had stronger technical and scientific features grounded in research and experimentation. Furthermore, at the dawn of the Restoration, it had strengthened its status as a discipline worthy of teaching, making its way into public education. These developments were particularly evident in northern Italy, and especially in the Po Valley.1 What happened in the decades straddling the two centuries to allow the agricultural science of northern Italy to achieve an epistemological evolution of such magnitude? The governments of the regional geopolitical entities assembled and put into operation an unprecedented machine, placing science and technology at the service of their national economies, focusing in particular on strengthening agriculture, animal husbandry, and manufacturing. Also playing key roles in this system were new scientific institutions, experts with a cosmopolitan background, and entrepreneurial landowners. The important reciprocal influence among northern Italian regional States was complemented by interchanges with other States on the peninsula and with the international community of experts. Urban centers in the northern Italian regions welcomed foreign scientists and technicians who could make a valid contribution to agricultural science. They also hosted institutions for the enhancement of experiments and projects, holding competitions to evaluate the most original research proposals, exchanging seeds and specimens, and making original contributions to the international body of scientific knowledge. The dynamics between the northern Italian centers changed together with the evolving political and institutional framework from the Old Regime through the Napoleonic imperium and onto the Restoration. While investment in agricultural research and experimentation was always present, the approach toward teaching changed significantly with the consolidation of the Napoleonic imperium at the beginning of the nineteenth century. This happened especially in the regions united under the geopolitical entity known as the Italian Republic (1802–1805) and later the Kingdom of Italy (1805–1814), with Milan as capital and national universities in Pavia, Bologna, and Padua.2 The development of agricultural science in the second half of the eighteenth and the early nineteenth centuries in northern Italy was not linear, was not disconnected from greater trends in Europe, and could not be likened to the filling of a void. While the Napoleonic experience and its

1

INTRODUCTION

3

reception by Italian institutions and experts, the promotion of agricultural experiments, and an easier circulation of knowledge and plant and animal species certainly played an important role, it was part of a longer process that began decades earlier.3 At the same time, this system was based on the progress made in the eighteenth century, which was reinterpreted in light of new needs. As Peter Jones highlights in his Agricultural Enlightenment, Europe was the context for an “evolution of the ‘encyclopaedic’ spirit of the Enlightenment across the watershed of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic imperium”, while “visions of total social transformation receded and were replaced with more pragmatic concerns”.4 In-depth studies over the years have highlighted this trend in fields of research that are even more narrowly specialized than Jones’s.5 For example, Joseph Horan’s studies focus on the cultivation and processing of cotton in southern Europe between the Old Regime and the Napoleonic Era.6 As for the link between natural sciences and nutrition in the Old Regime, the Revolution, and the Napoleonic Era, Emma Spary’s in-depth studies shed light above all on France and the institutions in Paris.7 Sarah Easterby-Smith in her stimulating Cultivating Commerce deals with plant merchants and nurserymen in Britain and France, investigating their important role in the circulation of plant species and botanical knowledge in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.8 Laurent Brassart analyzes experimentation in animal husbandry and agriculture, with particular emphasis on the role of the authorities in Paris in organizing the French network of botanical gardens, nurseries, and model farms and highlighting the development under Napoleonic rule of the scientific and technical knowledge accumulated in the Old Regime.9 Nadine Vivier’s studies on the framework relating to landownership and rural organization are very important too.10 Alice Ingold’s writings on the points of continuity, resistance, and rupture in the public management of natural resources and on the regulation of water in nineteenth-century France are equally important.11 The development of Italian agricultural science was not completed in or limited to those decades but was part of a much broader epistemological process.12 Naturalists and agriculturists maintained a particularly rich and articulated network of contacts throughout those years. In the Old Regime, for example, they both looked up to French agronomes and veterinarians and drew on Spanish botanical studies.13 On its part, northern Italian socioeconomic thought was deeply influenced by

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currents from abroad, such as physiocracy, cameralism, and mercantilism, as pointed out over the decades by a long-standing historiographic tradition, represented in Italy by some of the most important scholars, such as Carlo Capra, Pierangelo Schiera, Franco Valsecchi, Franco Venturi, and Corrado Vivanti.14 The aggregate of these socioeconomic currents influenced administrations and institutions, changed the vision of agriculture and related productive fields, and inspired new applications of science and technology. The English agricultural revolution also influenced the evolution of agricultural science in Italy. The English influence manifested itself above all through adapted translations of technical books, such as those by agriculturists Thomas Hale and Jethro Tull, but also via travels by Italian naturalists in England and English Grand Tours in Italy. And while not comparable to the interchange within continental Europe, there was also a significant exchange of species between Italian experts and English scientific institutions. Mauro Ambrosoli and Giuseppe Giarrizzo have studied the connections between England and Italy in the context of agricultural knowledge and economic thought, and in his La civilisation de l’Europe des Lumières, Pierre Chaunu acknowledged the influence of southern French but also Italian techniques on Jethro Tull’s agricultural proposals.15 Another scholar who has addressed agricultural progress in Great Britain and the relationship between the State, science, and agricultural development there is Briony McDonagh.16 Henry French and Mark Rothery are also important references for a more direct discussion of British rural society, its rich culture, and contradictions observed in agricultural progress.17 While published in 1979, Science and Colonial Expansion by Lucile Brockway, discussing the role of the network of British botanical gardens in the construction of the British Empire, is still a source of inspiration for studying the relationship between State, science, and economy.18 In the Old Regime, governments and scientific institutions such as academies, universities, societies, and the major European botanical gardens played a central role in the circulation of ideas, technical knowledge, and plant species. Some recent studies have delved into their role in strengthening the agricultural and manufacturing sector in the Western World. The following collections include important contributions: Worlds of Natural History, edited by Helen Anne Curry, Nicholas Jardine, James Andrew Secord, and Emma Spary; The Foundations of Political Economy

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and Social Reform, edited by Ryuzo Kuroki and Yusuke Ando; New Perspectives on the History of Life Sciences and Agriculture, edited by Denise Phillips and Sharon Kingsland; The Rise of Economic Societies in the Eighteenth Century, edited by Koen Stapelbroek and Jani Marjanen; The State and Rural Societies, edited by Nadine Vivier; Colonial Botany, edited by Londa Schiebinger and Claudia Swan; and Cultures of Natural History, edited by Nicholas Jardine, James Andrew Secord, and Emma Spary.19 Some of the most important studies on the relationship between State and science in the Western World have been authored by Andrew Ede, Lesley Cormack, James McClellan III, Harold Dorn, and John Gascoigne.20 Paul Warde has performed an in-depth study of a particular area in this relationship, analyzing the role that sustainability played in the strategies of European countries during the Early Modern Period.21 The more recent studies by Lavinia Maddaluno, focusing mainly on Italy, represent an important contribution to the historiographic framework.22 In the Napoleonic Era, northern Italy was one of the European areas most influenced by new policies in the field of agricultural science. On the importance of French institutions and policies in the European scientific network, historiography has produced important recent contributions, such as those by Laurent Brassart and Joseph Horan mentioned above. However, the influence on the development of agricultural science was not unidirectional, i.e., to Italy from France, the country of agronomes and post-1789 technocracy. Northern Italy also made an original and multifaceted contribution to both France and the rest of Europe.23 Recent Italian historiography cannot make similar boasts in spite of the fact that the Napoleonic imperium in Italy made significant contributions to developing agricultural institutions. While there is no shortage of important studies of agricultural science in the Italian Napoleonic Era, examining its roots in the Old Regime and its legacy for the nineteenth century—I mention studies by Mauro Ambrosoli and Rossano Pazzagli24 —there is some lack of truly recent multifaceted and concerted work examining the role of northern Italian agricultural science in European scientific debate. The bibliography includes some interesting collections of studies, such as: Agricoltura come manifattura, edited by Giuliana Biagioli and Rossano Pazzagli; Istituzioni e cultura in età napoleonica, edited by Elena Brambilla, Carlo Capra, and Aurora Scotti; and Associazionismo economico e diffusione dell’economia politica nell’Italia dell’Ottocento, edited by

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Massimo Augello and Marco Guidi.25 These important studies can serve as a starting point to analyze northern Italy’s contribution to European agricultural progress, considering the dynamics of the knowledge network to which the northern Italian institutions and experts belonged. In analyzing the great change in northern Italian agricultural science in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, this book joins an ongoing international debate on the many facets in the historical relationship between the State, science, and the rural sphere. It focuses on the role of Italy in the European context and the Italian contribution to shaping the concept of modern agricultural science, elements that have hitherto remained in the background in the international historiographical debate.

1.2

Structure of the Book

In analyzing northern Italian agricultural science in the decades in question and the relations with other European countries, this book focuses on primary sources—most of them unpublished—from Italian, French, and Spanish historical archives. The sources include government documents, reports from scientific institutions, correspondence between naturalists, agriculturists, intellectuals, and landowners, and teaching materials. The documentation is both printed (e.g., scientific and technical monographs and journals of the period) and handwritten. The book is organized into this introduction (this chapter), four main chapters, and conclusions (Chapter 6). Chapter 2 “Institutions and State Policies” analyzes the role of academies, economic and agricultural societies, and universities and scientific gardens in the progress of agricultural science in the second half of the eighteenth and the early nineteenth centuries. At the same time, it considers the relationship of scientific and cultural institutions to governments, illustrating both points of contact and differences. The chapter begins with a wide-ranging perspective on the scientific and institutional framework of northern Italy and its relations with other countries, especially the Habsburg Monarchy and France, but to a certain extent also Spain and Great Britain. In particular, it compares the changes between the fragmented geopolitical context in the late Old Regime and the apparently more homogeneous situation in the Napoleonic Era. How much did institutions dedicated to agricultural science—and veterinary medicine to some extent—benefit from these changes and how much were they negatively affected?

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To answer these questions, this chapter focuses on the circulation of economic and scientific thought and technical knowledge through certain circuits, such as dissertation competitions, periodicals, and monographs dedicated to agricultural studies. The result is an improvement thanks to the initiatives under Napoleonic rule. Of course, there were innovative and fertile knowledge networks already in the Old Regime, contributing to progress in agricultural science and its definition as an autonomous discipline. For example, the dissertation competitions held by the Academy of Sciences and Fine Letters of Mantua from the mid-1760s to the mid1790s attracted scientists, technicians, and intellectuals not only from all of Habsburg Lombardy, but also from other Italian States and even from France. They all submitted articles describing their experiments and research in agriculture and manufacturing, but also plans for machines that could improve work in the countryside and derivative industries, such as weaving. Another excellent example representing a different dynamic was the periodical Giornale d’Italia which collected agricultural research, projects, and experiment reports in the Republic of Venice from the 1760s to the 1790s, facilitating communication among the network of agricultural academies founded in that area starting in the late 1760s. At the same time, it opened up discussions with experts and institutions from other Italian and non-Italian areas. However, it was under Napoleonic rule that wider circuits were created to encompass a more varied geographical, economic, and agricultural sphere. For example, there were periodicals such as Annali dell’agricoltura, published from 1809 to 1814, which considered the progress and problems of agriculture, animal husbandry, and derived products in most of northern and central Italy, largely overcoming the geopolitical fragmentation that inevitably had constituted a limit in the eighteenth century. Annali and other similar periodicals, such as Biblioteca di campagna and Giornale d’agricoltura, allowed experts to communicate with each other, but at the same time promoted concrete progress by engaging landowners and farmers. There were also complicated situations in the transition from the Old Regime to the Napoleonic imperium, where the outcome was not necessarily positive. The analysis of the relationship between the Academy of Mantua and the Habsburg authorities and later with the Napoleonic authorities is quite revealing in this regard, recording a clear decline at

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the beginning of the nineteenth century in all the scientific disciplines studied in that institution, including agricultural science. The Mantua case mirrors numerous other examples in Frenchified Europe of the revolutionary and Napoleonic authorities closing scientific and cultural institutes from the Old Regime and overlaid them with new ones. To a certain extent, however, there was a desire to maintain the technical and scientific knowledge accumulated in the previous decades, and thus a good level of continuity in the evolution of agronomic knowledge from the second half of the eighteenth century to the early nineteenth century. Chapter 3 “Knowledge Network” focuses on direct contacts between Italian naturalists and agriculturists and their European colleagues. Italians established contacts with foreign colleagues who belonged to major scientific centers, such as the Paris and Madrid Botanical Gardens, which were actual gates to extra-European natural and agricultural resources thanks to their connections to vast colonial empires and to the scientific explorations they organized in those decades. Some experts particularly sought after by Italian naturalists and agriculturists were Professors André Thouin and Antonio José Cavanilles, pivotal personalities at the Botanical Gardens of Paris and Madrid, respectively. Thouin and Cavanilles were active proponents of a botany that could effectively contribute to strengthening agriculture and the economy generally in close collaboration with other natural sciences. Furthermore, they had quite extensive knowledge of the kingdom Plantae and could provide both seeds and practical information on American plants. This aspect went hand in hand with a heated debate that occupied both the second half of the eighteenth century and the Napoleonic Era in equal measure: whether it was better for governments to invest in improving existing crops or in attempts to acclimatize non-native plants in European territories. While a mixture of the two inevitably coalesced on the horizon, there was a strong push to make the economy of the individual States and later of the Napoleonic imperium as independent as possible of imports, with urgency peaking after Napoleon imposed the Continental Blockade against the British in late 1806. The progress of agricultural science owed a lot to the circulation of knowledge and materials, but also to direct experimentation, especially considering that it had such a close link with local resources. Chapter 4 “Experimentation” focuses on the organization of spaces dedicated to agricultural experimentation in northern Italy, such as botanical gardens, agricultural gardens, experimental fields, and model estates/farms.

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Generally, agricultural institutions followed a path of experimentation that proceeded from the particular to the general: first they studied smallscale cultivation in a scientific garden, especially if it was a species that needed to acclimatize to a new environment, and later extended the cultivation over a broader area, seeking the collaboration of landowners who could provide both land and manpower. Examples include the experiments on peanut cultivation and oil extraction conducted by the Agricultural Society of Turin and the Chair of Agricultural Science of Pavia in areas of Piedmont and Lombardy. In other cases, model estates/farms proper were set up either on the initiative of wealthy and enlightened landowners or on the initiative of well-organized scientific institutions. In northern Italy, for example, the model estate of Count Asquini near Udine, in Friuli, concentrated on viticulture, winemaking, and the production of bricks, lime, and ceramics. Another case was the estate of Marchioness Cristiani Castiglioni near Mantua, in Lombardy, focusing on cereals, viticulture, mulberry growing, and textile manufacturing. In Mantua, the agricultural branch of the Academy of Sciences and Fine Letters represents a case of an institution that managed estates located near the town, hosting various experiments in agriculture, forestry, and animal husbandry. In a certain sense, the Agricultural Garden of the University of Pavia, founded under Napoleonic rule, was also organized as a sort of a model farm, under the direction of the professors and their assistants. The chapter concentrates on specific areas of experimentation, in particular cereal growing, cultivation of oil plants, and sugar plants. As far as cereal cultivation is concerned, an excellent example is the Pavia Agricultural Garden under Napoleonic rule, in which the cultivation and acclimatization experiments were flanked by others in phytopathology. However, the Garden also conducted studies of the strengths and weaknesses of barn designs. Examples for oil production are the relaunch of olive growing around Lake Como led by the Patriotic Society of the Duchy of Milan and the spread of peanuts in large areas organized by the Agricultural Society of Turin and the Chair of Agricultural Science of Pavia, the latter mostly at the beginning of the nineteenth century. As for sugar, the most significant example analyzed herein is that of Professor Giovanni Mazzucato, who tried to introduce the production of syrup and sugar into the Friuli region obtained from the berries of the date-plum, which was already widespread in northern Italy. Mazzucato’s experiments had limited success, but the interesting aspect of his work was the careful

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study of the local knowledge of date-plums and the project of establishing date-plum seedbeds and nurseries to supply potential growers. Chapter 5 “Didactics” analyzes a final but equally important element in the agricultural science system coming of age in those decades. There were some attempts to initiate teaching of this discipline in Italy in the second half of the eighteenth century, but only the University of Padua was actually able to organize innovative lessons, starting in the 1760s under the competent guidance of Professor Pietro Arduino, who directed the first Italian agricultural garden. A significant spread of agricultural gardens, however, would not be seen until the Italian Republic and the Kingdom of Italy under Napoleonic rule, when chairs of agricultural science and respective teaching and experimental gardens were introduced in the Universities of Pavia and Bologna as well as in the network of new departmental licei (which varied in status over time, roughly ranging from small colleges to university-prep schools). Chapter 5 also analyzes technical and higher education in veterinary medicine for livestock as an area complementary to agricultural science. It discusses the particularly interesting cases of the veterinary schools of Milan and Padua, organized in the late eighteenth century under the Habsburgs and the Republic of Venice, respectively. Both took form in the most innovative context, with professors educated at the best veterinary schools in France. However, the Napoleonic authorities and, during the Restoration, the Habsburg authorities led the two institutes to different destinies: the former to burgeoning success, the latter to progressive decline, even though both contributed to the development of human capital for the rural sphere. The chapter closes with a brief examination of the lack of basic notions of agricultural science in elementary education both in the Old Regime and in the Napoleonic Era. The practice, both in Italy and in the rest of Europe, was to entrust this type of education to country priests, who acted as intermediaries between the authorities and experts on the one hand and the rural community on the other. It was only during the nineteenth century that the Italian States began to plan for more agricultural education in primary schools, efforts that were mainly successful after the unification of most of Italy in 1861.

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Notes 1. About northern Italian agriculture and related production in the early modern period and the nineteenth century, please refer to: L. Mocarelli, G. Ongaro, Work in Early Modern Italy, 1500–1800, Cham, Palgrave Macmillan, 2019, pp. 50–59; P. Malanima, Pre-modern European Economy: One Thousand Years (10th–19th Centuries), Leiden and Boston, Brill, 2009, pp. 134–141; G. Federico, P. Malanima, Progress, Decline, Growth: Product and Productivity in Italian Agriculture, 1000–2000, “Economic History Review”, LVII (2004), no. 3, pp. 437–464 (in which northern Italian agricultural production is addressed in a wider context, both geographically and chronologically). See also some Italian “classics” on agricultural and rural history such as: E. Sereni, History of the Italian Agricultural Landscape, Princeton and Chichester, Princeton University Press, 1997; M. Romani, L’agricoltura in Lombardia dal periodo delle riforme al 1859: struttura, organizzazione sociale e tecnica, Milan, Vita e Pensiero, 1957. 2. On science and education in Napoleonic Italy and the legacy left to the following decades, see: E. Pagano, G. Vigo, Maestri e professori: profili della professione docente tra Antico Regime e Restaurazione, Milan, UNICOPLI, 2012; D. Brianta, I luoghi del sapere agronomico: Accademie, società di agricoltura e di arti meccaniche, orti agrari, atenei (1802–1814), in Istituzioni e cultura in età napoleonica, ed. E. Brambilla, C. Capra, A. Scotti, Milan, FrancoAngeli, 2008, pp. 62–156; L. Pepe, Universities, Academies, and Sciences in Italy in the Modern Age, in Universities and Science in the Early Modern Period, ed. M. Feingold, V. Navarro-Brotons, Dordrecht, Springer, 2006, pp. 141–151. For a better understanding of the cultural, intellectual, and political background of the northern Italian elites in the nineteenth century, the recent analysis by Ariane Dröscher on the role of the Padua scientific circles after the fall of Napoleon is very interesting: A. Dröscher, Plants and Politics in Padua During the Age of Revolution, 1820–1848, Cham, Palgrave Macmillan, 2021. 3. For instance, see: L. Brassart, L’introduction des buffles italiens en France (1797–1840): un opéra-buffle, in Le Royaume de Naples à l’heure française: revisiter l’histoire du decennio francese 1806–1815, ed. M. Traversier, I. Moullier, P.-M. Delpu, Villeneuve d’Ascq, Presses universitaires du Septentrion, 2018, pp. 223–244; L. Brassart, Improving Useful Species: A Public Policy of the Directoire Regime and the Napoleonic Empire (1795– 1815) in Europe, “Historia Agraria: Revista de agricultura e historia rural”, LXXV (2018), pp. 93–113. 4. P.M. Jones, Agricultural Enlightenment: Knowledge, Technology and Nature, 1750–1840, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2016, p. 225.

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5. P.M. Jones, Making Chemistry the “Science” of Agriculture, c. 1760–1840, “History of Science”, LIV (2016), no. 2, pp. 169–194; P.M. Jones, Agriculture, in The Oxford Handbook of the Ancien Régime, ed. W. Doyle, Oxford and New York, Oxford University Press, 2012, pp. 236–251; P.M. Jones, The Peasantry in the French Revolution, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1988. 6. J. Horan, King Cotton on the Middle Sea: Acclimatization Projects and the French Links to the Early Modern Mediterranean, “French History”, XXIX (2015), no. 1, pp. 93–108; J. Horan, Napoleonic Cotton Cultivation: A Case Study in Scientific Expertise and Agricultural Innovation in France and Italy, 1806–1814, in New Perspectives on the History of Life Sciences and Agriculture, ed. D. Phillips, S. Kingsland, Cham, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015, pp. 73–91. 7. E.C. Spary, Feeding France: New Sciences of Food, 1760–1815, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2014; E.C. Spary, Eating the Enlightenment: French Food and the Sciences, 1670–1760, Chicago and London, The University of Chicago Press, 2012; E.C. Spary, Utopia’s Garden: French Natural History from Old Regime to Revolution, Chicago and London, The University of Chicago Press, 2000. 8. S. Easterby-Smith, Cultivating Commerce: Cultures of Botany in Britain and France, 1760–1815, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2018. 9. L. Brassart, Les enfants d’Arthur Young ? Voyageurs agronomes en France au temps du Consulat et de l’Empire, “Annales historiques de la Révolution française”, CCCLXXXV (2016), no. 3, pp. 109–131; L. Brassart, La ferme des animaux: l’invention d’une politique de l’animal utile sous le Consulat, “Annales historiques de la Révolution française”, CCCLXXVII (2014), no. 3, pp. 175–196; L. Brassart, Une politique agricole pour l’Europe ?, in L’Empire napoléonien: une expérience européenne ?, ed. F. Antoine, J.-P. Jessenne, A. Jourdan, H. Leuwers, Paris, Armand Colin, 2014, pp. 191– 210. 10. N. Vivier, L’âge d’or des grandes enquêtes agricoles: le XIXe siècle, “Annales du Midi”, CXXV (2013), no. 284, pp. 495–510; N. Vivier, Propriété collective et identité communale. Les biens communaux en France, 1750–1914, Paris, Publications de la Sorbonne, 1998. 11. A. Ingold, Expertise naturaliste, droit et histoire: les savoirs du partage des eaux dans la France postrévolutionnaire, “Revue d’histoire du XIXe siècle”, XLVIII (2014), no. 1, pp. 29–45; A. Ingold, Gouverner les eaux courantes en France au XIXe siècle Administration, droits et savoirs, “Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales”, LXVI (2011), no. 1, pp. 69–104. 12. M. Vaquero Piñeiro, “Empirici” e “istruiti”. Fattori e periti agrari in Italia tra XIX e XX secolo, in Formare alle professioni. I saperi della cascina, ed. M. Ferrari, G. Fumi, M. Morandi, Milan, FrancoAngeli, 2016, pp. 84–104; C. Fumian, I congressi degli scienziati e la cultura agronomica,

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in Agricoltura come manifattura. Istruzione agraria, professionalizzazione e sviluppo agricolo nell’Ottocento, vol. I, ed. G. Biagioli, R. Pazzagli, Florence, Olschki, 2004, pp. 203–251; M.L. Betri, Gli agronomi dell’Ottocento: dall’arte alla professione, in Storia delle professioni in Italia tra Ottocento e Novecento, ed. A. Varni, Bologna, il Mulino, 2002, pp. 173– 184; J.A. Davis, Economy, Society, and the State, in Italy and the Nineteenth Century, ed. J.A. Davis, Oxford and New York, Oxford University Press, 2000, pp. 235–263. 13. The following studies can give an introductory picture of the circulation of this knowledge between Italy, France, and Spain against the European background, while further analysis will be provided in the chapters of the book. M.L. Fagnani, From “Pure Botany” to “Economic Botany”—Changing Ideas by Exchanging Plants: Spain and Italy in the Late Eighteenth and the Early Nineteenth Century, “History of European Ideas”, XLVIII (2022), no. 4, pp. 402–420; M.L. Fagnani, From Botany to Agriculture: The Scientific Network Linking Great Britain, Spain and Italy in the Late Eighteenth Century, “Agricultural History Review”, LXIX (2021), no. 2, pp. 213–235; L. Hill Curth, The Care of Brute Beasts: A Social and Cultural Study of Veterinary Medicine in Early Modern England, Leiden and Boston, Brill, 2010; R. Hubscher, L’invention d’une profession: les vétérinaires au XIXe siècle, “Revue d’histoire moderne et contemporaine”, XLIII (1996), no. 4, pp. 686–708; A. Veggetti, B. Cozzi, La Scuola di medicina veterinaria dell’Università di Padova, Trieste, LINT, 1996; G. Armocida, B. Cozzi, La medicina degli animali a Milano: i duecento anni di vita della Scuola Veterinaria (1791–1991), Milan, SIPIEL, 1992; L. Argemí i d’Abadal, E. Lluch (eds.), Agronomía y fisiocracia en España (1750–1820), Valencia, Institución Alfonso El Magnánimo, 1985. 14. C. Capra, Governi, funzionari, finanze nell’Europa d’antico regime, Milan, FrancoAngeli, 2021, pp. 56–261; C. Capra, Gli italiani prima dell’Italia: un lungo Settecento, dalle fine della Controriforma a Napoleone, Rome, Carocci, 2014, pp. 177–195; F. Valsecchi, Il secolo di Maria Teresa, Rome, Bonacci, 1991; F. Venturi, Settecento riformatore, vol. V, books I and II, Turin, Einaudi, 1987 and 1990; F. Venturi, Italy and the Enlightenment: Studies in a Cosmopolitan Century, London, Longman, 1972; P. Schiera, Dall’arte di governo alle scienze di Stato: il cameralismo e l’assolutismo tedesco, Milan, Giuffrè, 1968; C. Vivanti, Le campagne del Mantovano nell’età delle riforme, Milan, Feltrinelli, 1959; F. Venturi (ed.), Illuministi italiani, vol. III, Milan and Naples, Ricciardi, 1958. 15. M. Ambrosoli, The Wild and the Sown: Botany and Agriculture in Western Europe, 1350–1850, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1997; G. Giarrizzo, Paolo Balsamo economista, “Rivista Storica Italiana”, LXXVIII

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16. 17.

18. 19.

20.

(1966), no. 1, pp. 5–60; G. Giarrizzo, David Hume politico e storico, Turin, Einaudi, 1962; P. Chaunu, La civilisation de l’Europe des Lumières, Paris, Arthaud, 1971, pp. 330–332. See also the contributions by many scholars on the development of agricultural systems and techniques in England during the early modern period and the nineteenth century collected in M. Ambrosoli (ed.), Le campagne inglesi tra ’600 e ’800: dal proprietario coltivatore al fittavolo capitalista, Turin, Rosenberg & Sellier, 1976. B. McDonagh, Elite Women and the Agricultural Landscape, 1700–1830, London, Routledge, 2017. H. French, M. Rothery, Male Anxiety Among Younger Sons of the English Landed Gentry, 1700–1900, “Historical Journal”, LXII (2019), no. 4, pp. 967–995; M. Rothery, Communities of Kin and English Landed Gentry Families of the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries, “Family & Community History”, XXI (2018), no. 2, pp. 112–128; H. French, An Irrevocable Shift: Detailing the Dynamics of Rural Poverty in Southern England, 1762–1834: A Case Study, “Economic History Review”, LXVIII (2015), no. 3, pp. 769–805. L.H. Brockway, Science and Colonial Expansion: The Role of the British Royal Botanic Gardens, New York and London, Academic Press, 1979. H.A. Curry, N. Jardine, J.A. Secord, E.C. Spary (eds.), Worlds of Natural History, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2018; R. Kuroki, Y. Ando (eds.), The Foundations of Political Economy and Social Reform: Economy and Society in Eighteenth-Century France, Abingdon and New York, Routledge, 2018; D. Phillips, S. Kingsland (eds.), New Perspectives on the History of Life Sciences and Agriculture, Cham, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015; K. Stapelbroek, J. Marjanen (eds.), The Rise of Economic Societies in the Eighteenth Century: Patriotic Reform in Europe and North America, Basingstoke and New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2012; N. Vivier (ed.), The State and Rural Societies: Policy and Education in Europe, 1750–2000, Turnhout, Brepols, 2008; L. Schiebinger, C. Swan (eds.), Colonial Botany: Science, Commerce, and Politics in the Early Modern World, Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005; N. Jardine, J.A. Secord, E.C. Spary (eds.), Cultures of Natural History, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1996. See also “History and Technology”, XXX (2014), no. 3, special issue Practicing Oeconomy During the late Eighteenth Century, ed. L. Roberts. A. Ede, L.B. Cormack, A History of Science in Society: From Philosophy to Utility, Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2017, 3rd edition; J.E. McClellan III, H. Dorn, Science and Technology in World History: An Introduction, Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015, 3rd edition; J. Gascoigne, Science in the Service of Empire: Joseph Banks, the

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21. 22.

23.

24.

25.

INTRODUCTION

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British State and the Uses of Science in the Age of Revolution, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1998. P. Warde, The Invention of Sustainability: Nature and Destiny, c. 1500– 1870, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2018. L. Maddaluno, Materialising Political Economy: Olive Oil, Patronage and Science in Eighteenth-Century Rome, “Diciottesimo secolo”, V (2020), pp. 97–115; L. Maddaluno, De Facto Policies and Intellectual Agendas of an Eighteenth-Century Milanese Agricultural Academy: Physiocratic Resonances in the Società Patriotica, in The Economic Turn: Recasting Political Economy in Enlightenment Europe, ed. S.A. Reinert, S. Kaplan, London, Anthem Press, 2019, pp. 395–438. For instance, please refer to M.L. Fagnani, Studying “Useful Plants” from Maria Theresa to Napoleon: Continuity and Invisibility in Agricultural Science, Northern Italy, the Late Eighteenth to Early Nineteenth Century, “History of Science”, LIX (2021), no. 4, pp. 373–406. R. Pazzagli, Il sapere dell’agricoltura: istruzione, cultura, economia nell’Italia dell’Ottocento, Milan, FrancoAngeli, 2008; M. Ambrosoli, Alberate imperiali per le strade d’Italia: la politica dei vegetali di Napoleone, “Quaderni storici”, XXXIII (1998), no. 3, pp. 707–738; M. Ambrosoli, La questione agraria nell’Europa dell’Ottocento, in La storia: i grandi problemi dal medioevo all’età contemporanea, vol. VI, book I, ed. N. Tranfaglia, M. Firpo, Milan, Garzanti, 1993, pp. 95–131. For a full comprehension of Napoleonic investments in science and technology applied to Italian production see also L. Pepe, Istituti nazionali, accademie e società scientifiche nell’Europa di Napoleone, Florence, Olschki, 2005. G. Biagioli, R. Pazzagli (eds.), Agricoltura come manifattura. Istruzione agraria, professionalizzazione e sviluppo agricolo nell’Ottocento, 2 volumes, Florence, Olschki, 2004; E. Brambilla, C. Capra, A. Scotti (eds.), Istituzioni e cultura in età napoleonica, Milan, FrancoAngeli, 2008; M.M. Augello, M.E.L. Guidi (eds.), Associazionismo economico e diffusione dell’economia politica nell’Italia dell’Ottocento: Dalle società economico-agrarie alle associazioni di economisti, vol. I, Milan, FrancoAngeli, 2000. See also: M. Beretta, A. Tosi (eds.), Linnaeus in Italy: The Spread of a Revolution in Science, Sagamore Beach, Science History Publications, 2007; G. Barsanti, V. Becagli, R. Pasta (eds.), La politica della scienza: Toscana e Stati italiani nel tardo Settecento, Florence, Olschki, 1996.

CHAPTER 2

Institutions and State Policies

2.1

Scientific and Institutional Framework

In the eighteenth century, European society expanded cultivated land, introducing new crops and new cultivation techniques, and strengthening livestock farming. The process began in England and then spread to the continent. Against the backdrop of general economic improvement and a rapid increase in population, the development of the European rural sphere was characterized by what Peter Jones defined as “Agricultural Enlightenment”, involving the production and dissemination of agronomic knowledge and the increasingly important role of technology and governmental initiatives.1 In the specific case of Italy, the situation in the economic, agricultural, and scientific fields varied from State to State, and this had repercussions on the spread of specialized institutions. As regards their role in the development of agricultural science, in the second half of the eighteenth century this varied profoundly depending on the geopolitical entity considered, i.e., public authorities, landowners, entrepreneurs, experts, and learned individuals interacted differently in different States. Sometimes the initiative of private citizens played a fundamental role, motivated by economic interests and only later supported by the government. In other cases, the top-down model prevailed, with loyal and ingenious savants following the guidelines from the government, which was aware © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. L. Fagnani, The Development of Agricultural Science in Northern Italy in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Century, Italian and Italian American Studies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-20657-3_2

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of and acting to remedy agricultural backwardness. In still other situations, the government consulted experts for help in identifying the causes of the backwardness and draw up an intervention plan. Obviously, these were not rigid and recognized schemes and there was a certain fluidity between them. To better understand the situation, let us look at some examples relating to northern Italy (Fig. 2.1). In Piedmont, the House of Savoy took little interest in agrarian reforms and the region showed a certain delay in developing agricultural science. In the first half of the eighteenth century, government interventions in the agricultural sector had been scarce and ineffective, due to the priority of war expenditures. In the second half of the century, a policy of agricultural development was launched, apparently to some effect, with traveling experts such as Arthur Young recording some improvement in regional agriculture.2 The key institution supporting the rural sphere was the Agricultural Society (Società Agraria) of Turin. It was created in 1785, later than

Fig. 2.1 Main centers discussed in Chapter 2 (Source Map by the author and Carlo Fagnani)

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most similar institutions in France, Spain, and most of the other northern Italian States, as we will discuss in the following pages.3 It was founded by private initiative, with the king merely giving his approval. So the Society arose as a gathering of landowners and experts, all with a series of motivations ranging from personal interest to public affairs, accepted but not imposed by the sovereign. While in earlier times Piedmont families were directly engaged in managing their lands, in the eighteenth century many former gentilhommes campagnards moved to Turin, a city gaining in political and cultural importance. Management of the “country gentlemen’s” lands was left in the hands of disinterested administrators. But the Piedmont nobility was aware that the situation in their lands was not the best. In general, we can say that there was only lukewarm interest in agriculture, but it was nevertheless sufficient to establish the Society.4 The Agricultural Society played an alternative role to the Academy of Sciences (Accademia delle Science) of Turin, created in 1783 from a pre-existing institution. The studies of the Academy were aligned with the interests of the Royal Arsenal (Arsenale), thanks to the presidency of the chemist General Giuseppe Angelo Saluzzo di Monesiglio. It was therefore an institutional environment controlled by military interests, hosting few debates relating to agriculture and manufacturing. The Agricultural Society was born instead from the will of landowners as well as scholars who worked in branches such as botany or pharmaceutical chemistry. They were less involved in the war effort and wanted an alternative institution.5 Among the first members of the Society were personalities from the Academy, such as Giovanni Pietro Maria Dana and Costanzo Benedetto Bonvicino, who combined botany and chemistry. Young and modern scholars were also present, such as the chemist Giovanni Antonio Giobert from Asti and the physicist Anton Maria Vassalli Eandi from Turin. They used agricultural science as an original point of both convergence and development of their disciplinary areas of origin.6 Furthermore, given that Italian agricultural science was still defining its own field of investigation, it is reasonable that young scientists, operating in a series of disciplines “still to be discovered”, would look to an experimental research center to carve out a niche for themselves. However, the bond between the Academy and the Arsenal weakened over the years and points of overlap between the Academy and the Society began to form. Some of the preeminent members of the Society formed a scientific triangle, entering both the Academy and the University of Turin.

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For instance, Vassalli Eandi was a member of the Society since April 1788, of the Academy since November 1791, and university professor of physics since August 1792.7 On the contrary, Habsburg Lombardy and the Bourbon Duchy of Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla were two excellent examples of input to agricultural science spearheaded by the government, therefore with different dynamics from Piedmont. We will discuss the complex case of Lombardy in Sects. 2.2 and 2.3; here we analyze data for the Duchy of Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla. An exemplary case of enlisting botanical competencies in public administration was Giambattista Guatteri’s work in Parma. Under the highereducation reform promoted by Prime Minister Guillaume du Tillot in 1768 under Duke Ferdinand I, the new chair of botany was attributed to the clergyman Guatteri. Coming from a background in the humanities and law, he was sent to the University of Padua to train in botany and natural history under the guidance of Giovanni Marsili. Returning to Parma in 1769, he was involved in the foundation of the new botanical garden, an educational, cataloguing, and research center using modern greenhouse apparatus not only for the more traditional medicalpharmaceutical purposes but also for agriculture “and many other arts”. Significant space was dedicated to food plants, from Poaceae to fruit trees, and dye plants, such as woad, true indigo, and rose madder.8 The authorities also consulted Guatteri on agricultural issues on several occasions: such as mulberry growing for silk production and protecting crops against insect pests. He performed a review of Parma agriculture, noting profound backwardness marked by a lack of both up-to-date agricultural knowledge and a policy of experimentation.9 On the contrary, the Republic of Venice was a good example of the importance of technical and scientific expertise in governmental decisionmaking. In the late 1750s, the Republic experienced an epidemic affecting mulberry trees in concomitance with an epizootic among livestock. The Senate of Venice sought both to remedy the economic damage and to improve the general situation of agricultural backwardness. The first move was to organize a chair of agriculture at the University of Padua in 1761. It was held from the mid-1760s to 1805 by Pietro Arduino, who also founded the associated agricultural garden.10 In 1768 the government faced a cattle shortage. To get a clear idea of its extent, it asked Arduino to investigate the rural mainland of the Republic and report on what he found. It was clear that the government

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was aware that the cattle issue was only the tip of more general backwardness. Not surprisingly, Arduino detected a series of problems affecting the entire rural sphere. As a solution, he proposed the creation of agricultural academies and societies in the main cities and towns, under the aegis of the government and open to all those who had strong knowledge in the field. He also suggested rewards for the best performing farmers and better dissemination of agricultural innovations via the structures of the Church, from seminaries to country priests, who were effective authorities in rural society.11 The Senate entrusted the tasks for the restoration of the agricultural sector to a designated board. It exhorted the representatives of the government in cities and towns to create agricultural institutions. The model was that of the Society of Practical Agriculture (Società d’Agricoltura Pratica) created in Udine in 1762 by enlightened aristocrats and wealthy bourgeois.12 The geologist Giovanni Arduino, Pietro’s brother, was appointed as Superintendent of Agriculture with the task of evaluating the proposals of future academies.13 The Republic did not neglect the kingdom Animalia either. Livestock was stricken by epizootics in 1711 and in the 1750s, part of a long series of devastating waves that swept across Central Europe throughout the first half of the century, reaching as far as the Netherlands and England. The Italian branches were caused by the passage of infected Styrian and Hungarian bovines through Friuli and Veneto.14 Again, Padua was chosen to start developing the solution to these problems. Senate decrees in 1773 and 1774 founded and regulated a veterinary school (Collegio Zooiatrico). Classes began on October 1, 1774, and students aged sixteen to twenty-four were admitted. The first professor was Giuseppe Orus from Parma, former pupil of the great French veterinarian Claude Bourgelat. Furthermore, from the first academic year not only students from the Republic were enrolled, but also three from the nearby Duchy of Modena and Reggio and four from the more distant Kingdom of Naples, sent by the respective authorities.15 Times soon changed throughout Italy. The period from 1796 to 1800 was marked by tumultuous events: the Napoleonic conquests, the clashes with the first two anti-French coalitions, and the experiences of the sister republics. However, in the first decade of the new century, the geopolitical fragmentation that had characterized the peninsula in the Old Regime was progressively replaced by a greater compactness. This, coupled with the

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relative peace that reigned during the period, favored cultural and scientific initiatives. Regarding agricultural science, new societies were created, a strong boost was given to the production and circulation of journals and books, and new teachings were introduced in some institutions.16 Due to the brevity of the Napoleonic Era, many of the changes initiated were not completed. Despite this, in many cases they formed the basis for subsequent developments. In agricultural science as in other fields, during the Restoration many Italian States recovered and adapted what had been created under Napoleonic rule: research institutes, university professorships, and new professional curricula.17 There was no lack of similar examples in other European countries, as in Spain, where the Museum of Natural Sciences (Museo de Ciencias Naturales ) of Madrid— an institution for conservation, research, and teaching inspired by the National Museum of Natural History of Paris (Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle)—was planned under Joseph Bonaparte’s rule but realized later under Ferdinand VII of Bourbon.18 The Italian scientific community under French rule from 1796 to 1814 did not experience significant numerical growth, despite the institutional and regulatory framework favoring both research and teaching. The results began to be seen in the 1830s, when the nineteenth-century States could reap what had been sown before and the scientists who had studied in the new institutions in their youth—preparatory schools, universities, academies, and technical institutes—reached the peak of their careers.19 On the geopolitical level, a part of Napoleonic Italy was formed by those areas directly annexed to France as departments starting in 1802, with laws and institutional models imported from Paris (“departments” designate the administrative and territorial subdivisions introduced during the French revolution and reorganized in subsequent decades, also changing in number. They were usually named after a local river, less often after some other geographical feature or important place). A second major entity was the Kingdom of Naples, controlled by the French since 1805. It was a satellite State of France, at the head of which Napoleon initially placed his brother Joseph and, from July 1808, his brother-inlaw Joachim Murat. There was then the case of the Lucca, Massa, Carrara, and Piombino territories, organized by Napoleon into a single Principality from 1805 to 1814.20 There was also a broad area in northern and central Napoleonic Italy known as the Cisalpine Republic from 1797 to 1802—with an interruption of about a year and a half in 1799–1801, due to the re-conquest by

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Austrian and Russian troops. It was then the Italian Republic from 1802 to 1805 and finally the Kingdom of Italy from 1805 to 1814. The capital was always Milan, but the area was gradually enlarged until 1810, when it reached its maximum expansion of 89,600 km2 , with 6.7 million inhabitants: a third of the population on this side of the Alps. The king of Italy was Napoleon himself, who entrusted the government to his adopted son, Eugène of Beauharnais, as viceroy21 (Figs. 2.2 and 2.3). The Italian Republic and later the Kingdom of Italy gave a strong impulse to agricultural science. For instance, a network of agricultural societies was established in the Italian Republic by Law no. 75 of September 4, 1802. The societies developed new strategies to strengthen agriculture, livestock breeding, and manufacturing, promote dissemination of innovations, and maintain contacts with other European institutions. In particular, Title V prepared a network of agricultural societies

Fig. 2.2 Northern Italy in 1796 (the current Italian Republic is marked in light gray) (Source Map by the author and Carlo Fagnani, elaboration based on A. W. Ward, G. W. Prothero, S. Leathes, E. A. Benians (eds.), The Cambridge Modern History Atlas, London, Cambridge University Press, 1912)

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Fig. 2.3 Northern Italy in 1811 (the current Italian Republic is marked in light gray) (Source Map by the author and Carlo Fagnani, elaboration based on A. W. Ward, G. W. Prothero, S. Leathes, E. A. Benians (eds.), The Cambridge Modern History Atlas, London, Cambridge University Press, 1912)

that should have included all the Italian departments; such institutions would be provided with rooms for discussions and land for experiments by the government (if available). The societies were required to maintain contact with each other and with foreign centers. They were also encouraged to share their results through publications and encourage farmers and landowners through a rewards system.22 Where societies or academies dedicated to agriculture already existed, they were subject to government assessment before absorption into the new system. These dynamics and provisions were extended to the territories progressively annexed to the subsequent Kingdom of Italy.23 With Decree no. 301 of December 25, 1810, agricultural science risked falling victim to the centralized system that increasingly characterized Napoleonic rule through the years. On that date, the transformation of academies and societies into institutes called atenei began. The atenei were designed as multidisciplinary research centers headed by the Institute

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of Sciences, Literature and Arts (Istituto di Scienze, Lettere e Arti), initially based in Bologna and then in Milan. All the research centers of each city had to be brought together in the new atenei. Agricultural science was at a disadvantage, going from being at the core of specialized centers to becoming lost among the many disciplines at the atenei. Fortunately, in this regard, the project, with some exceptions, struggled to get started on a large scale and was interrupted by the fall of Napoleon.24 Not all Italian territories directly controlled by Paris as French departments enjoyed the same flourishing of agricultural science as seen in the regions regulated by Milan, even though in Paris the government had fully supported the development of agricultural research and experimentation in French lands since the 1790s. For instance, on August 8, 1793, the Convention nationale—the executive and legislative assembly in force until October 1795—abolished the academies created under the Old Regime, such as the Académie des Sciences of Paris, and also the important network of French agricultural societies founded starting in the 1750s and 1760s in which landowners and entrepreneurs collaborated with experts. The elimination of these institutions might seem counterproductive, but over the course of time, the value of work done in the past was carried over into the new era in a well-orchestrated strategy. New agricultural societies began to arise in each province starting from 1794, and in spring 1798 a circular of the Ministry of the Interior urged the administrations of the departments still without a society to remedy such lack. As a result of this policy, by the end of the decade, in France there were already 41 societies and by 1805 each department had one.25 On its part, the Paris Academy had a successor in the National Institute of Sciences and Arts (Institut National des Sciences et des Arts ), established at the end of 1795 by the Directory—which acted as Executive Committee of France from November 1795 to November 1799—and subject to numerous organizational reforms in the following years. The Institute had a section of rural economy and veterinary medicine in the scientific class (a “class” was a branch of the Academy devoted to research and debating in a specific area of knowledge. At the time there were four classes in the Academy of Mantua: mathematics, natural sciences, letters, and philosophy).26 In those difficult revolutionary years, it was necessary to purge all the centers of the old system, considered as elitist bodies, incompatible with

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the spirit of the new Republic. It was a transitional period of destruction and rebuilding that did not turn its back on progress made under the Old Regime.27 We must read the closure of the old academies and societies in 1793 as the elimination of a symbolic threat to the republican system. Similarly, when the French troops entered Milan in 1796, the Patriotic Society, founded twenty years earlier by Maria Theresa of Habsburg, was soon closed because Milan was to be the capital of a new State. Nonetheless, the agricultural studies of the Patriotic Society were still highly regarded by the experts of the Napoleonic Era.28 In the case of the French departments in northern Italy, the old Agricultural Society of Turin was one of the centers benefiting from the new government. It received excellent funding from 1796 until 1812, when the finances of the Empire were channeled off into the Russian campaign and the prefect of the Department of the Po—created in 1802 with Turin as capital, after different provisional governments between 1796 and 1802—was unable to contribute to the Society’s expenses as it had in previous years. Meanwhile, at the beginning of 1801, the Academy of Sciences was reformed on the model of the National Institute of Paris. The new regulation opened the Academy for the first time to the humanities while consolidating the interest in agriculture and manufacturing already manifested during the Old Regime (obviously, not in exclusive form as in the Agricultural Society).29 In the rest of Piedmont, there were some new societies, but only the Pastoral Society of La Mandria, in the small town of Chivasso , founded in 1801 by members of the Piedmont landed nobility, was successful. However, the Pastoral Society was not a pure research and experimentation institution like its counterparts, but a jointly owned business with economic aims superintending a model estate dedicated mainly to merino sheep breeding (with capacity of 6,000 head), wool manufacturing, and meat and dairy production, with somewhere between 1,000 and 3,000 employees.30 Times were difficult for research and experimentation also in other areas of northern Italy directly annexed to France, such as Liguria and the former Duchy of Parma and Piacenza. In these regions there were no particular initiatives that favored the birth of institutions dedicated to agricultural science. In Genoa, a National Institute was created in 1798, during the experience of the Ligurian Republic. In its science class, one of the three sections was dedicated to agriculture, trade, and manufacturing. In 1800,

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the Institute of Genoa was reorganized on the model of the Institute of Paris and was given a more defined role as advisory body. Mathematics and natural sciences were combined into a single class and consulted on rural issues, meteorological surveys, and an investigation on the resources of Liguria, but did not have an important role in the development of agricultural science.31 The Duchy of Parma and Piacenza was passed under French control in 1801 and was annexed to the Empire in 1808 as Department of the Taro (with the exception of Guastalla, annexed in 1806 to the Department of the Crostolo, in the Kingdom of Italy). In the early years of the decade, the area was administered by the physiocrat Moreau de Saint-Méry from Martinique, who founded an economic and agricultural society in Parma. In 1803, it was equipped with a journal to spread physiocratic principles in the countryside and encourage small landowners to become modern agricultural entrepreneurs, but these initiatives encountered the distrust of rural society. The agriculture of the Taro did not derive great benefits even with the annexation to the Empire, when feudalism was abolished and large estates were divided into smaller properties in the vain hope of promoting more advanced management of lands.32 But there was another important difference between the Italian territories administered by Milan and those administered by Paris. In the Italian Republic and the Kingdom of Italy, there were many successful examples of agricultural education. Between 1802 and 1803 agricultural science was added to preparatory school (liceo) and university curricula, both equipped with agricultural gardens where students studied plants, animals, and agricultural machinery. At the same time, the professors could use these spaces for their research, often assisted by students and graduates.33 Such a modern system of agricultural research and education was lacking in France and its departments in Italy, and also in Spain, which was another area touched by French reforms albeit in much more travailed form than in Italy. In France and Spain similar courses were less evenly distributed.34 Even in the Italian Republic and the Kingdom of Italy, there were setbacks because of the lack of a linear path from a complete absence of agronomic studies to a well-defined and autonomous discipline. Nonetheless, a solid basis was created for the development of the more mature nineteenth-century agronomy.35

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2.2

Dissertations, Journals, and Monographs

The application of various currents of economic thought to the improvement of agriculture played a pivotal role in the definition of the “new science” and its institutions. In northern Italy as in other areas of the peninsula—especially the Grand Duchy of Tuscany—new concepts of economy, society, and public affairs imported from France and Central Europe were adopted and reworked by economists and agriculturists. For example, physiocracy attracted the attention of many Italian individuals and institutions working toward agricultural improvement. However, Quesnay and Mirabeau’s thought was not simply adopted wholesale: at times it was re-elaborated to suit specific needs dictated by the context, other times it was debated and partly rejected. Austrian cameralism was another current in the second half of the eighteenth century influencing the political and economic thinking of intellectuals and experts involved in the rural sphere and the application of science and technology to the economy.36 Dissertation competitions played a very important role in the circulation of ideas and innovations in agricultural science. Every year, academies and societies published lists of topics for their annual competition. The dissertations were submitted anonymously and judged by a committee. The winner was identified by some element in the dissertation, for example an initial motto in Latin, or via a sealed envelope sent by the author. The prize was a medal or a sum of money, and generally the dissertation was published as a book or in an upcoming volume of papers of the host academy or society.37 An excellent example in the field of agricultural science is the Academy of Sciences and Fine Letters of Mantua founded by Maria Theresa and Joseph II on March 4, 1768, after reorganizing and improving some institutions already existing in that city. The Mantuan aristocracy and Habsburg authorities collaborated on the project. The Academy placed a particular emphasis on science, technology, and economic thought, instituting this pragmatic approach through the creation of specialized satellite institutes called Colonies, which were practical branches of the Academy in the fields of agriculture, medicine and surgery, and arts and crafts. One was the Agricultural Colony founded in 1770. The Academy was part of a broader project aimed at making Mantua a citadel of knowledge and progress, in which agricultural science had its legitimate place. Other elements of this project were the Imperial and Royal Library (now

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Biblioteca Teresiana) and the Royal Gymnasium (a university preparatory school in Habsburg Lombardy was known as a ginnasio). In 1780, the latter was endowed with a botanical garden also used by the Agricultural Colony for its own experiments.38 The Academy of Mantua and its Agricultural Colony were part of Austrian policies inspired by cameralism, which was concerned with agricultural improvement and urged the creation of dedicated societies and academies in all the Habsburg domains. We may identify three main lines of Cameralist agricultural thought: farming of all available lands; development of higher-yield crops; and reorganization to increase labor productivity. The centralistic State would be the guarantor of economic development at all levels: jurist Joseph von Sonnenfels, counselor to Maria Theresa and professor of cameralistics (the science of public finance and administration) at the University of Vienna, took a firm stance in this regard. It sought to weaken the traditional regionalist and class-based structure dividing authority between the State and peripheral bodies. This led to conflict between Vienna and a traditionalist, fragmentary society averse to innovation and dominated by a landed nobility fond of its privileges. A major cultural and political reorganization of the Habsburg territories was necessary. However, it encountered an entrenched network of noble landowners, ecclesiastics, scholars, and public officials who had little entrepreneurial inclination and often scarce propensity for change and modernization.39 The government thus found little collaboration, with some exceptions, such as the Agricultural Colony of Mantua and the previously mentioned Patriotic Society of Milan. Before the official opening of the Agricultural Colony in 1770, many studies and debates in the newborn Academy referred to the importance of science, technology, and economic thought for the rural sphere. Even before the creation of the Academy in 1768, Chancellor Kaunitz, from Vienna, underlined the importance of the rural sphere in the entire project, also referring to the prominence of hydrostatics and hydraulics to manage land reclamation and Po River flood management.40 Public competitions and internal meetings highlighted a constant interest in agricultural studies since the official creation of the Academy. Even before 1770 competition topics tended to align with the goal of reform for the Mantua area. These dissertations are paramount to understanding both the economic and the scientific thought discussed in that institution and the level of involvement in agricultural matters of experts

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and erudites from all of Habsburg Lombardy and nearby regions41 (Table 2.1). Between 1768 and 1771, the Academy showed great interest in issues related in various ways to the rural sphere through dissertations in Mathematics, “Physics” (which included all sciences, especially natural sciences and medicine), and Philosophy. The Academy board urged the participants to provide original ideas on strengthening the Mantuan rural sphere even before the creation of the Agricultural Colony, touching on rural health, water control, grain trade, etc.42 The competitions had many participants, demonstrating the great interest shared by the erudite and experts in the Mantua area and from neighboring regions in rural and agricultural issues. Quantitatively, the competitions of those years were quite a success.43 What about their quality? Of the dissertations proposed between 1768 and 1771 and somehow related to the rural sphere. There were winners and runners-up, but the dissertations were subject to exacting reviews by the Academy, and in some cases it was necessary to repeat the call for dissertations due to a lack of satisfactory submissions.44 A pair of winning dissertations by the same author stood out, one for the 1769 competition in the Mathematics Class and the other for the 1770 competition in “Physics”. The author was mathematician and engineer, Anton Maria Lorgna, professor at the Military School of Verona and member of the Academy of Agriculture of the same city. He had worked on containment projects of the Adige River. In 1781, he founded the Società dei Quaranta, one of the most prestigious and long-lived Italian scientific institutions.45 These two winning dissertations were promptly published in Mantua, and, as winner, Lorgna was appointed correspondent member of the Academy.46 The usefulness of Lorgna’s two contributions was linked to the improvement of the rural system. The 1769 dissertation touched on the topic of hydraulic pressure and water motion, involving Varignon’s theorem and referring to its effect on the banks of waterways. In the dissertation of 1770, Lorgna gave his own opinion as hydraulic engineer in recommending partial burial and reinforcement of the embankments and canals in the Mantua area: in doing so, he addressed the unhealthiness of marshy environments at the center of the call for dissertations, but also gave special attention to topics such as irrigation, protection of fields, and correct functioning of water mills.47

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Table 2.1 List of topics somehow related to the agricultural sphere for the Academy’s dissertation contests from 1768 to 1779, with the respective Classes and numbers of participants (if known). Note that “Physics” encompassed the natural sciences generally and medicine 1768

1769

1770

1771

1772

1773 1774 1775

1776

Methods for preventing and repairing erosion caused by rivers. (Math. 3) Simplest method for ensuring an effective grain provisioning system and the freedom to trade and export cereals. (Phil. 8) Remedies to unhealthy air in the Mantua area: waste disposal in the city and surrounding countryside; management of swamplands, standing water, lake water; water well management, etc. (Phys. 5) Varignon’s theorem and dynamic water pressure. (Math. at least 1) How to balance population and trade between a city and its surrounding territory for mutual sustenance and need. (Phil. at least 1) Best prophylaxis against scurvy. (Phys.) Are there canals where the current is faster at the surface than at depth? What slope and depth of water do they need? (Math. 2) Same topic as 1768. (Phil. 3) Same topic as 1768. (Phys. 5) Repair or replacement projects of the Mincio River hydraulic works (sostegno) near the hamlet of Governolo to promote rural health, inland navigation, and military defense (Math. at least 2) Same topic as 1769. (Phil.) Most common diseases in Mantua and its countryside, their causes and remedies. (Phys. at least 1) Same topic as 1770. (Math. at least 4) How should the lower classes be educated for the best public benefit (also regarding elements of agriculture)? (Phil. at least 1) Same topic as 1771. (Math.) Same topic as 1771. (Phys. at least 1) Same topic as 1772. (Phil. 11) Causes, prevention, and treatment of rice blast. (Phys.) Po River floods are increasingly frequent with increasingly high water levels, the river bed is rising and levees must be built higher and higher. Investigate the causes and find a way to maintain the river bed at the same level, thus removing the need to build higher levees. (Math. 1) Which canals in the Mantua area could be put back into service or newly dug to expand commerce and facilitate importation and exportation of food and goods? (Phil.) Find the simplest and most economical method for keeping navigation canals, ports, and lagoons free of sand and other deposits that raise the level of their beds. (Math. 2) Same topic as 1774. (Phys. 1)

(continued)

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Table 2.1 (continued) 1777 1778 1779

Same topic as 1775. (Math. 5) Same topic as 1775. (Phil.) Design a simple and more functional machine than those currently available to raise water from ponds for use in irrigation. (Math. 1) Can Mantuan wines be improved and made to resist long sea transport? (Phys. 1)

Sources: Memorie della Reale Accademia di Scienze Belle Lettere e Arti, vol. I, Mantua, Pazzoni, 1795, pp. cvii–cxx; Accademia Nazionale Virgiliana, Archivio storico, 59/1, 59/2, 59/3, 59/4, 59/5, 59/6, 59/7, 59/8, and 59/9; L. Grassi, G. Rodella (eds.), Catalogo delle dissertazioni manoscritte. Accademia reale di scienze e belle lettere di Mantova (sec. XVIII), Mantua, Accademia Nazionale Virgiliana di Scienze Lettere e Arti, 1993

In 1771, one of the founders of the Academy, Count Giambattista Gherardo d’Arco—born in Trentino but living in Mantua since he was a boy—, won the competition in the Philosophy category with a dissertation on the balance between urban economy and rural economy. He was neither a scientist nor an expert, but a good scholar of the newest economic doctrines of the time, such as physiocracy and Antonio Genovesi’s thought.48 As a prominent member of both the Academy and the Agricultural Colony, the Count discussed with his peers important issues such as the regulation of the grain provisioning system (annona) and trade.49 Count d’Arco’s Dell’armonia politico-economica fra la città ed il suo territorio (On the Political-Economic Harmony between the City and its Territory)—his winning 1771 dissertation—was printed many times and kept in the libraries of European scientific and cultural institutions, such as the Royal Society of London, the Institute of Sciences of Bologna, and the Academy of Sciences of Bordeaux.50 The Count was active in building and maintaining the Academy’s economic and sociopolitical thought, in which exact sciences could be developed—and above all natural sciences—aimed at strengthening the field of agriculture. With a similar intent, dissertations by other members were also written and discussed, not necessarily as part of a competition. For example, in May 1769 clergyman Luigi Galafassi shared his thoughts on “the exportation of grains”, subsequently reworked by another member, lawyer Luigi Casali. It was not submitted to a competition, but linked to the Philosophy Class’s call of that year, discussing “the simplest way to balance grain provisioning with the freedom of trade”.51 He did not analyze this economic and sociopolitical topic with the same

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depth as the Count d’Arco. Not surprisingly, both Galafassi and Casali were part of the board of the Fine Letters Class, without any link to the Philosophy Class or the Agricultural Colony.52 However, their dissertation is another proof of the strong interest of the Academy in economic development, agricultural production, and welfare. Once the Agricultural Colony was founded, its research interests frequently influenced the calls for dissertations of the two most technical and scientific Classes: Mathematics and Natural Sciences. The goal of the Colony was to reach beyond the Mantuan Academy and plumb the entire Italian and international community of experts, assaying the level of scientific research in this broader context and opening the doors to new studies. For example, the 1778 call for Mathematics dissertations requested a machine that was “not too complicated for raising water from ponds to a modest height for the irrigation of land” and more effective than existing ones. The Academy received only one proposal, found it lacking, and repeated the request in 1780. This time there was a winner, Count Agostino Litta from Milan, scholar of hydraulic engineering and member of the Patriotic Society of Milan and the Institute of Sciences of Bologna. The board of the Mathematics Class considered his dissertation to be of concrete technological value, whereas its competitor was considered to be too theoretical, without any confirmation by practical experiments. Litta presented his own easily transportable hydraulic pump called idrobalo in text and drawings and offered to provide the Academy a full-size machine to involve the institution directly in experiments. Despite some similarities of his design to other existing hydraulic pumps, such as that of the French engineer Bernard Forest de Bélidor, Litta’s dissertation was published in Mantua in 1782. The design was later perfected by physicist Carlo Castelli, another member of the Patriotic Society of Milan.53 As for the Natural Sciences dissertations, here are two examples that clearly show the involvement of high-level experts in agricultural debates at the Academy of Mantua. In 1779, the topic of the call was “Opportune methods for improving Mantuan wines and making them suitable for long sea transport”. The winner was Eraclio Landi, agricultural inspector of the Duchy of Milan and member of the Patriotic Society, who was conducting experiments on the acclimatization of olive growing and new varieties of wheat and barley in different parts of Lombardy. His dissertation was praised by the board of the Academy for the soundness of its physics and chemistry.54 It

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was published in Mantua in 1781 and later included in the bibliography of the important book Dell’arte di fare il vino (On the Art of Winemaking), by Florentine agriculturist Adamo Fabbroni.55 In another competition, the Agricultural Colony had a strong influence on the choice of the topic for Natural Science dissertations. In 1786 the competitors were asked to propose the best technique for preparing water for the maceration of flax and hemp. In the press release announcing the competition, it was specified that the topic had been suggested to the Academy by the Agricultural Colony, which offered to add twice the prize money out of its own coffers to the winning dissertation.56 As in the case of Landi’s dissertation on winemaking and wine conservation, the context here was the application of physical and chemical knowledge to the processing of raw materials of vegetable origin to improve the product obtained. The Academy’s expectations were not disappointed and a satisfactory conclusion was reached, despite the subtle disappointment expressed by the secretary Matteo Borsa for receiving only two texts despite the importance of the topic.57 The award was given to the dissertation—accompanied by samples of flax and hemp fibers—by Pierre-Claude-Catherine Willermoz from Lyon, future professor of anatomy at the college of that city and physician in the French army, in contact with societies and academies from all over France. In 1796, he would become chief physician at the hospital Hôtel-Dieu of Lyon. His dissertation on flax and hemp was published in Mantua in 1788, and Willermoz himself was officially admitted as a foreign member of the Academy.58 Matteo Borsa, secretary of the Academy, applauded the decision of the Natural Sciences board and the dissertation itself but mentioned the issue of language in his review. Constrained by the rules of the Academy, Willermoz had chosen to write in Latin, not knowing Italian. However, his Latin was not good, and Borsa proposed to have the French original translated into Italian for publication.59 Borsa’s concern shows how the Academy valued those essays which, backed by solid theory, could guarantee practical and economic usefulness through experiments and samples. This was the case for both Willermoz’s text and Litta’s hydraulic pump design. Great value was given to Italian and Latin, the two official languages in Academy competitions. Willermoz’s text had to be correct, clear, precise, and able to be disseminated as broadly as possible. Of similar mind to Borsa, the previous secretary of the Academy, Giovan Girolamo Carli,

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commented on Litta’s 1780 project saying that “the spelling is incorrect but the prose is good” and recommended some lexical corrections.60 Having resolved the linguistic issues, Willermoz’s study was published in Italian. It provided a valuable description and comments on maceration experiments on fibers, as well as entomological observations of insects that interfered with the maceration process: Willermoz had captured some insects to determine their genus and species.61 To conclude, we see a clear interest of the Academy in agricultural studies right from its establishment, manifesting in two directions. On the one hand, there was an economic and sociopolitical current exemplified by the Count d’Arco, accompanied by minor voices such as Galafassi and Casali. This branch had physiocratic influences, although it did not adopt the thought of Quesnay and Mirabeau in pure form. It leaned toward a more practical vision of physiocracy, suggesting investments in crop enhancement, but also development of manufacturing and trade. The second direction in which the Academy of Mantua’s interest in agricultural studies developed was research in exact sciences, natural sciences, and technology. We have focused on the international competition circuit, on discussions among members, and on the openness of the Academy to contribution from both Lombard and foreign experts. The dissertation competitions were interrupted with the conquest of Habsburg Lombardy by the French troops in 1796–1797. The Academy of Mantua was often in conflict with the Napoleonic authorities in subsequent years, a fact that prolonged the interruption of the competitions and posed a major obstacle to the circulation of socioeconomic thought promoted by that institution.62 Experimentation suffered as well. Under the Habsburgs it had taken place in facilities pertaining to the Academy and Agricultural Colony but was hampered under Napoleonic rule. Circulating mainly in northern and central Italy, the first specialized periodicals played an important role in helping agricultural science becoming an increasingly autonomous discipline. Publishing developed in all fields in Italy, from humanities to science and technology, including both adapted translations of foreign texts and original works in Italian.63 Directly or indirectly, Italian agricultural periodicals referred most of all to French and English models; some of them dealt only with agriculture and animal husbandry, others focused on applied sciences more generally. Good models were the French Journal d’agriculture à l’usage des habitans de la campagne (Journal of Agriculture for Use by Rural People, 1791– 1792) and Journal de physique, de chimie, d’histoire naturelle et des arts

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(Journals of Physics, Chemistry, Natural History, and Arts, 1794–1823), and also the Annals of Agriculture and Other Useful Arts (1784–1815) directed by the important English agriculturist Arthur Young.64 An important publication in Old-Regime northern Italy was the Giornale d’Italia spettante alla scienza naturale e principalmente all’agricoltura, alle arti ed al commercio (Italian Journal of Natural Science and mainly Agriculture, Arts, and Commerce) published in the Republic of Venice from 1764 to 1797. It promoted communication between government, rural society, and agricultural academies. Of course, it could not be read by peasants, because almost all of them were illiterate. It used technical language while maintaining a discursive style and was accessible to experts, landowners, priests, and literate farmers.65 The Giornale was created and then directed from 1764 to 1774 by Francesco Griselini, an erudite journalist from Venice interested in agricultural science, and after him by other important intellectuals until the fall of the Republic. Griselini wrote Nuova maniera di seminare e coltivare il formento (New Way of Sowing and Growing Wheat), published in 1763, which described the sowing machine of the English agriculturist Jethro Tull. Griselini’s work was highly appreciated by Italian agriculturists and republished with notes by the Academy of Georgofili of Florence. Later, he wrote other agricultural texts: monographs, adapted translations, dictionaries, and many articles.66 Despite the reference to Italy in its title, the Giornale was intended mainly to support reforms in the Republic of Venice and its agricultural studies and institutions. Although different in themes and author profiles, its articles were well orchestrated, following a precise strategy that left nothing to chance. Its core was articles with opinions of the most important persons and institutions involved in agricultural development. Since 1768, the Giornale dealt with the Republic’s reforms in agricultural science. Significantly, an extract of the aforementioned Pietro Arduino’s investigation and his suggestions for improvements in the rural sphere were published in three parts, during the Senate’s first reforms in that year.67 In the summer of 1769, the Giornale published a talk held by Giovanni Arduino, Superintendent of Agriculture, in a meeting at the Agricultural Academy of Vicenza on the possibility of applying crop rotation on a large scale.68 The Giornale also reported news on the experiments conducted in the Agricultural Garden of the University of Padua, directed by Pietro Arduino, on plants for food production and textile

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manufacturing, adding comparisons with experiments and studies carried out abroad.69 Griselini himself wrote important articles for the Giornale. For example, in an editorial he underlined the importance to a country of understanding what natural and agricultural resources it had and to develop a suitable discipline to exploit their potentials. He recommended a general survey of a country’s territory as a basic project: it was July 1766, two years before Pietro Arduino’s investigation in the Republic of Venice.70 In October 1772, Griselini published a three-part treatise in the Giornale arguing that herdsmen should be familiar with the natural environment, the life cycle of cattle, and the basics of veterinary medicine. He also hoped for better prophylaxis to prevent epizootic outbreaks.71 In April 1772, Griselini had written an obituary for Nicolò Tron, Venetian statesman, landowner, and entrepreneur, whose investments in agriculture and manufacturing Griselini highly valued. Published just over a year after Tron’s death, the article may be read as an appeal to continue the reformist wave of the 1760s. Perhaps Griselini was beginning to feel the disillusionment that would move him to abandon the Republic of Venice for Habsburg Lombardy a few years later. In Milan, he was appointed secretary of the Patriotic Society but was ostracized by the city elite and soon resigned.72 At first glance, some articles appeared to be of scarce usefulness to agricultural and related activities. Examples include observations by the naturalist Alberto Fortis on the geological conformation of the Vicenza hills, others by the botanist Antonio Turra on the medical properties of a plant “called Echinophora”, and some ideas by the aforementioned mathematician and engineer Lorgna on how to contain damage caused by the floods of the Adige River. These articles were nonetheless consistent with the Giornale’s goals and indeed linked to agricultural studies. For instance, Lorgna’s article explained not only how to defend towns and villages from floods, but also the countryside, hence potentially protecting crops. Articles like the ones by Fortis and Turra can be seen as a way to ennoble studies of agriculture and related activities, placed by the Giornale alongside disciplines such as geology and botany. However, the same scientists moved freely to practical issues. For example, Turra had no problem dealing with peat and its practical uses in another article.73 Griselini was convinced of the need for more direct and effective communication among authorities, agriculturists, landowners, country priests, farmers, and peasants. Rural society as a whole had to be informed

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of innovations in an understandable language and persuaded to adopt them, breaking away from backward and fruitless techniques. The Giornale soon became the main journal of the Republic of Venice on agricultural matters, supported by leading experts, such as the Arduino brothers, and important statesmen, such as Doge Marco Foscarini, who gave Griselini the inspiration for his periodical.74 There were good scientific periodicals also in other parts of northern Italy, even though they were not specialized in agricultural science and did not exhibit the same originality as the Giornale. The monthly Scelta di opuscoli interessanti (Choice of Interesting Writings) was published in Milan from 1775 to 1777, transformed in 1778 into the annual Opuscoli scelti sulle scienze e sulle arti (Selected Writings on Sciences and Arts). The editors were two important figures in the Habsburg scientific and cultural reforms in Lombardy: Carlo Amoretti from Liguria, naturalist, agriculturist, and secretary of the Patriotic Society of Milan since 1783, and Francesco Soave from Switzerland, translator, philosopher, and professor at the Brera Gymnasium in Milan.75 There were also some scientific periodicals created, directed, and edited by Luigi Valentino Brugnatelli, professor of chemistry at the University of Pavia. The earliest started in the late 1780s and proliferated especially in the Napoleonic Era.76 Amoretti’s, Soave’s, and Brugnatelli’s periodicals dealt with science and technology, sometimes reporting news and recommending books useful to the application of science to agriculture and other productive fields. For example, in 1790–1791, three issues of Brugnatelli’s Annali di chimica (Annals of Chemistry) were almost entirely dedicated to the Saggio di litologia vesuviana (Essay on Vesuvian Lithology) by the Catania volcanologist Giuseppe Gioeni d’Angiò, published in Naples in 1790. Even if no agricultural topics were discussed, it was specified that the description and cataloguing of volcanic rocks and soils, if properly developed, was “very useful for agriculture”.77 Another type of editorial production was the collections of the most acclaimed dissertations—not necessarily ones winning a contest, but also dissertations written for internal debate or submitted by foreign members—of scientific academies and agricultural societies, sometimes intermixed with their meeting proceedings. They were associated with the activities of the institutions and conditioned by available funds. They were sometimes published in fits and starts, as were the collections of the Society of Practical Agriculture of Udine and of the Academy of Mantua. In the decades we discuss, the former published one volume

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of essays in 1772, and the latter one volume in 1795. In other cases, this kind of collection was published with greater frequency, as was the case for the Patriotic Society of Milan and the Agricultural Society of Turin: the former publishing three volumes between 1783 and 1793, including many meeting proceedings, an impressive number given that it closed in 1796; the latter publishing the first nine volumes between 1788 and 1812.78 Starting from the last years of the century, a new impetus to agricultural periodicals came from technocratic France. After the ephemeral Journal d’agriculture at the beginning of the 1790s, the agriculturist Henri-Alexandre Tessier created the Annales de l’agriculture française (Annals of French Agriculture) in 1797, published until 1873. Another interesting periodical in France was the Annales des arts et manufactures (Annals of Arts and Manufacturing), published from 1806 to 1815, where interesting studies on agriculture and food production were published along with articles related to general technology.79 In Spain, the French model of specialized periodicals was followed by the Semanario de agricultura y artes (Weekly of Agriculture and Arts) printed from 1797 to 1808, an interesting project involving experts mainly from the Madrid Botanical Garden and the Madrid Veterinary School, with the aim of disseminating up-to-date agricultural knowledge among Spanish rural society with the help of country priests. Initially successful, the Semanario soon lost appeal for its readers, often discussing topics and news of little interest to them. Country priests took a detached attitude, the expected material from Spanish economic and agricultural societies did not materialize, and farmers found the articles too specialized.80 The reception of the French model in the Italian Republic (1802– 1805) and the Kingdom of Italy (1805–1814) was more effective. There were three periodicals that had the most important role in updating Italian agricultural knowledge: the Biblioteca di campagna (Country Digest) in 1804–1807, the Giornale d’agricoltura (Journal of Agriculture) in 1807–1808, and the Annali dell’agricoltura (Annals of Agriculture) in 1809–1814. The specific case of the Annali is most interesting. They reported on agrarian matters covering all departments of the Kingdom of Italy. Printed in Milan, they had articles, extracts from memoirs, reviews of new books, meteorological observations, and survey results. They were directed by

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Filippo Re, professor of agricultural science at the University of Bologna, and represented the policies of the Kingdom in agricultural matters.81 The Annali gave a complete overview of studies and experiments in agriculture, forestry, husbandry, food production, and textile manufacturing in Italy. Re, the authors, and the many subscribers were aware that the Kingdom favored greater geopolitical unity in northern and central Italy, but they also knew that it was part of a larger context: Napoleonic Europe. Hence, the progress and well-being that the Kingdom managed to achieve within its borders contributed to a wider system. For instance, this mindset emerged in the articles written on substitutes for cane sugar, olive oil, coffee, cocoa, tea, and other products, with Re—as editorin-chief—prioritizing the most innovative ones including comparison between local and foreign experiences.82 Among the many subscribers to the Annali, there were important northern Italian experts who also wrote interesting articles for the journal, such as university professors of agricultural science Giuseppe Bayle Barelle, Giovanni Biroli, and Luigi Arduino. There were agriculturists and naturalists from other areas as well, such as the départements of Tuscany and the Kingdom of Naples. There was also a network of political authorities, landowners, booksellers, and agricultural institutions that spanned national borders, allowing a wide circulation of the Annali and diversifying the number of agents that could contribute to the journal.83 Italian experts knew how important the mutual exchange of information was, an awareness that progressively grew in the second half of the eighteenth and the first years of the nineteenth centuries with dissertation competitions and the circulation of periodicals. These two channels allowed the scientific institutions to communicate, apply foreign experiments to local agriculture, and develop new studies based on what foreign institutions had achieved. But in the same decades, there was a third important channel for the circulation of knowledge: books, of course. Italian and foreign monographs, dictionaries, manuals, and textbooks constituted another important editorial category in addition to prizewinning dissertations, collections, and periodicals. French culture played an important role here too: the study and enhancement of agriculture received the formal consecration of the Encyclopédie, discussed in major entries such as Agriculture, Jardinage (Gardening ), and Grains, albeit still with a certain epistemological dependence on botany and natural sciences in general, given that agricultural science had yet to be recognized as a discipline in its own right.

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There were so many texts on agricultural topics circulating in Europe that Filippo Re himself counseled caution on the part of readers already in the 1790s, urging them to distinguish between good and bad texts on agricultural topics. In his tireless work of categorizing the new discipline, Re subjected the international editorial production in the sector to a rigorous selective distillation in 1802 with the Saggio di bibliografia georgica (Essay on Georgic Bibliography) and in 1808–1809 with the Dizionario ragionato di libri d’agricoltura, veterinaria, e di altri rami d’economia campestre (Critical Dictionary of Books of Agriculture, Veterinary Medicine, and Other Branches of Rural Economy).84 However, already in the eighteenth century some scientific institutions perfected strategies to select and acquire the best works on agricultural topics. The Academy of Mantua activated a broad-reaching system for the acquisition of updated monographs, periodicals, proceedings, collections of essays, etc., in order to allow its members to keep abreast of scientific progress in agriculture. In March 1769, Carlo Ottavio Count of Colloredo, prefect of the Academy, submitted a wish list of proceedings and journals to the Plenipotentiary Minister for the Habsburgs in Milan and Vice Governor of Mantua so that the government could purchase them.85 The list reflected a certain interest in institutions dedicated to the application of science to the national economy: there were the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, the proceedings of the Economic Society of Bern, of the Institute of Sciences of Bologna, and of the academies of sciences in Paris, Berlin, St. Petersburg, and Göttingen.86 All these institutions had goals similar to those of the Academy of Mantua, with a strong interest in the application of science and technology to the strengthening of the economy. Although not actual proceedings of an academy or a society, Colloredo’s list also included the Acta Eruditorum, a scientific journal founded in Leipzig in 1682 by the professor of morals and politics Otto Mencke and the Elector of Saxony. Collaborators of the caliber of Leibniz participated in this initiative and its pages featured reports on the most innovative studies in every scientific field, as well as philosophical essays and reviews of new books.87 Among the journals, Colloredo listed the Giornale enciclopedico di Liegi (Encyclopedic Journal of Liège) and the Estratto della Letteratura Europea (Extract of European Literature). The latter, founded in Bern in 1758, was printed in Milan since 1766, and the collaborators of Il Caffè, formerly the most important magazine of Italian Enlightenment,

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joined its ranks.88 The Estratto reported and commented on both scientific and literary texts addressing reform of thought and society, bringing together research and ideals from all over Europe. For example, on the topic of strengthening agriculture, in 1761 it published a translated and annotated excerpt from the first 1759 issue of the Danmarks og Norges Oeconomiske Magazin (Economic Magazine of Denmark and Norway, 1757–1764) placing great emphasis on agricultural projects and livestock farming strategies in the harsh Nordic climates.89 The Venetian Giornale d’Italia was another item on Colloredo’s list. It represented the Italian periodical par excellence on applied sciences up to the 1790s, especially for agriculture and manufacturing. From the late 1780s until 1794, the acquisition of the periodical was managed by the Agricultural Colony, not by the main board of the Academy. We can certify its purchase from 1789, thanks to many receipts of payment by the Colony to the Venetian publisher Perlini and the Mantuan booksellers that imported the Giornale from the Republic of Venice.90 It is difficult to determine whether the Giornale was bought in the Duchy of Mantua before 1789 due to a lack of documentation. However, Giovanni Arduino, Superintendent of Agriculture for the Republic of Venice and corresponding member of the Academy of Mantua, delivered Academy essays to the Venetian printer Milocco on a number of occasions in the second half of the 1770s so they could be reported in the Giornale. We may assume that at least these issues of the Giornale were sent to the Academy.91 In another list drawn up between 1772 and 1774 by the Academy for the Lombard government, we find equally useful titles for the Agricultural Colony’s studies.92 This list started with the Descriptions des arts et métiers (Descriptions of Arts and Crafts), approved by the Academy of Sciences of Paris and in direct competition with Diderot’s and d’Alembert’s Encyclopédie. The Descriptions was a periodical publication describing in words and engravings a wide range of manufacturing activities. It was directed by technician, naturalist, and agriculturist Duhamel du Monceau from 1758 to 1782. He wrote several entries, for example on sugar refining and textile manufacturing. Other contributors were the astronomer Lalande, the botanist Fougeroux de Bondaroy, and the engineer and naturalist Fourcroy de Ramecourt.93 The Giornale d’Italia and the proceedings from Berlin, St. Petersburg, and Bern were on the 1770s list too. New requests included proceedings of the Academy of Fisiocritici of Siena and of an unspecified “Academy

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of Holland”, perhaps the Holland Society of Sciences, based in Haarlem and specialized in agricultural matters, meteorology, and generally natural sciences applicable to the strengthening of the economy.94 In January 1787 the Academy procured a long series of titles for the Agricultural Colony, most of them in French. The following list includes authors, who were not indicated in the original document (Table 2.2). Some important books of agricultural studies stand out on the list. Le gentilhomme cultivateur constituted one of the main points of reference for the theorization and experimentation of new agricultural techniques. It was the French translation and adaptation of A Compleat Body of Husbandry by Thomas Hale, published in London in the 1750s. Curiously, the Agricultural Colony did not request the Italian version of Le gentilhomme cultivateur, translated and supplemented by Griselini and published in 23 volumes in Venice between 1769 and 1783.95 A French classic was Duhamel’s Traité de la conservation des grains et en particulier du froment (Treatise on Cereal Conservation). This book was already over thirty years old, but Duhamel remained one of the most important authors of the century in the field. This particular treatise was based on a series of critical explorations carried out in the French countryside, evaluating the qualities that any good granary should have, such as good ventilation technology.96 The 1787 list also had some texts relating to mulberry growing and silk production, to which the Agricultural Colony paid particular attention. The two books printed in Milan had good technical value, while the book Il baco da seta (The Silkworm), written in verse by Zaccaria Betti—landowner from Verona interested in agriculture—did not, despite its naturalistic footnotes. However, the one requested by the Colony was the second edition, where Betti added a historical dissertation on silk and four letters on mulberries and silkworms. The Academy and its Colony had made the precise choice to go beyond elegant mannerisms and focus on practical matters. The two most recent books of the list were those by Domenico Vincenzo Chendi and Philibert Chabert, two very different texts by two very different authors. Chendi was the priest of Tresigallo, a village in the Ferrara area; he was one of those clergymen who, due to their close contact with rural society, were given to teaching and experimenting with new agricultural techniques. Using plain language, his text aimed to disseminate good practices among rural society, including good methods of working and

Le patriote artésien Le cuisinier royal Traité de la conservation des grains et en particulier du froment L’agronome: Dictionnaire portatif du cultivateur (2 volumes) Le gentilhomme cultivateur (8 volumes) École d’agriculture L’art de s’enrichir promptement Année champétre (3 volumes) Essai sur la police générale des grains La coltivazione italiana (2 volumes) Trattato sopra la coltivazione delle viti Ricordo d’agricoltura Della coltivazione de’ gelsi e della maniera di far nascere e nutrire i bachi da seta (4 volumes) Della coltivazione de’ gelsi

Anonymous André Viard Duhamel du Monceau

Anonymous

Jean-Baptiste Dupuy-Demportes Anonymous Matthieu Despommiers Anonymous Claude-Jacques Herbert Ignazio Ronconi Nicolas Bidet Camillo Tarello Pierre Augustin Boissier de Sauvages

Anonymous

Title

Milan 1764

Paris-Bordeaux 1761–1764 Paris 1759 Paris 1762 Florence (?) 1769 Berlin 1757 Venice 1771 Venice 1757 Venice 1567 Milan 1765

Paris 1760

Paris 1761 Paris 1698 Paris 1754

Edition

List of books procured by the Academy of Mantua for its Agricultural Colony, January 1787

Author

Table 2.2

1£

24 £ 3£ 2£ 12 £ 4£ 6£ 2£ 1.10 £ 16 £

10 £

6£ 4£ 6£

Price

44 M. L. FAGNANI

Traité des maladies vermineuses dans les animaux Il baco da seta L’agricoltore ferrarese De’ mezzi per impiegare i mendichi in vantaggio dell’agricoltura Supplement au Dictionaire économique

Philibert Chabert

Commercy 1741 Total expense:

Verona 1765 Ferrara 1775

Paris 1782

Edition

90 £ 199.10 £

5£ 4£ 1£

2£

Price

Source ANV, As, Colonia poi Classe agraria, 31, 2 (Nota dei libri provveduti per la R. Colonia agraria nel gennaio 1787, colla distinta de’ prezzi fissati)

Noel Chomel and Pierre Roger

Zaccaria Betti Domenico Vincenzo Chendi Luigi Andreucci

Title

Author

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fertilizing the fields.97 Chabert, on the other hand, was the director of the European-renowned Veterinary School of Alfort, near Paris. His 1782 Traité des maladies vermineuses (Treatise on Parasitic Diseases) catalogued and described parasites that affected all types of livestock.98 Its presence in the list was an expression of the long-standing interest of Lombard institutions in veterinary medicine.99 We must also consider how direct exchanges between experts influenced the circulation of scientific texts. For instance, as secretary of the Patriotic Society of Milan, Carlo Amoretti exchanged many writings with experts in Mantua. In May 1781 he sent them the program of the Society, reaffirming the privileged channel of communication between the two main scientific research centers in Habsburg Lombardy.100 In early 1782, the Academy of Mantua sent him and Soave some copies of recent awardwinning, published dissertations to be reported in the periodical Opuscoli. Between 1782 and 1783, among other dissertations produced by the Academy, the aforementioned essay on viticulture by Eraclio Landi and the design of Count Litta’s idrobalo were mentioned in the Opuscoli.101 Amoretti sent an issue to the Academy in the spring of 1788 together with a booklet on beekeeping. That year’s issue reported Dialoghi agrari tenuti in Cavriana l’anno 1786 (Agricultural Dialogues Held in Cavriana in 1786), a book on the possible resumption of olive growing in the northern part of the Duchy of Mantua, written by Angelo Gualandris, agricultural inspector, professor of botany at the Gymnasium of Mantua, and member of the Agricultural Colony.102 In autumn 1782, Amoretti provided the Academy with the updated program of the Patriotic Society and two studies by its members on textile fibers, namely ramie and silk, later discussed in the second volume of the Society’s proceedings and essays (1789).103 In July 1784, Amoretti gave two copies of the first volume of proceedings and essays to naturalist and paleontologist Giovanni Serafino Volta, member of the Academy who was visiting Milan. In October Amoretti sent a copy of the same volume directly to Mantua for inspector Gualandris.104 In August 1786, Amoretti sent copies of an Istruzione intorno alla falce da mietere (Instructions for the Scythe) to the Academy. This humbly titled booklet was actually the result of a complex series of projects and experiments sponsored by the Patriotic Society. The booklet addressed a model of scythe that allowed the ears of wheat to be cut as quickly and precisely as possible, facilitating the operation for the farmers and safeguarding the integrity of the ear itself. Its improvement involved

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blacksmiths from Milan and the nearby Brianza area, guidance from inspector Gualandris, and study of models from Poland and Vienna (the model from Vienna was sent by chief surgeon Giovanni Alessandro Brambilla).105 It was an important study. In 1813 it was still the basis for further projects conducted by the economic societies of the Kingdom of Naples on commission from the Ministry of the Interior.106 Giovanni Arduino from the Republic of Venice also placed high value on the circulation of updated agricultural texts. In the spring of 1788, when he was appointed corresponding member of the Agricultural Colony of Mantua—he was also corresponding member of the Academy since 1775—, he promised to send agricultural studies by the Economic Society of Split (Croatia) and the Academy of Conegliano (in the Veneto region), as well as issues of the Giornale d’Italia.107 Thanks to Spanish Jesuit Juan Andrés’s presence in Mantua, there was no lack of text exchanges with Iberian experts. For instance, botanist Domenico Nocca—in the 1790s professor at the Gymnasium, but also member of the Academy and the Agricultural Colony—gave particular value to the Icones et descriptiones plantarum quae aut sponte in Hispania crescunt, aut in hortis hospitantur (Figures and Descriptions of Plants Growing in Spain either Spontaneously or in Gardens) by Antonio José Cavanilles, future director of the Madrid Botanical Garden, and published in six volumes from 1791 to 1801. The first volume presented a naturalistic analysis of the countryside around the village of Méntrida, near Toledo. Nocca brought it with him during his botanical explorations in northern Italian countryside during the summer of 1793.108 Northern Italian production and acquisition of agricultural books and periodicals looked to Europe both during the Old Regime and in the Napoleonic Era. Experts, particularly in Habsburg Lombardy and the Republic of Venice, carefully studied and discussed those texts, applied their results to new experiments, and compared them, sometimes refuting them other times adding to them. It was a work in progress. Through the decades and also thanks to the circulation of an increasingly refined body of scientific literature, Italian agricultural science defined its own field of research, establishing competencies and limits, advancing one step at a time toward the status of autonomous discipline. There was still a long way to go. For highly fragmented Italy, the years under Napoleonic rule were crucial, bringing good geopolitical unity, more institutions dedicated to agricultural science, an increasingly high number of good agricultural

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books and periodicals, and the inclusion of agricultural studies in licei and universities.

2.3 The Academy of Mantua: Innovation, Difficulty, and Resilience Lombard agricultural institutions provide interesting examples of the State-science relationship even when we consider the organizational difficulties and misunderstandings they had with both the Habsburg and Napoleonic central authorities. By studying the strategies adopted by agricultural institutions to overcome these difficulties, with varying measures of success, we understand their novelty. A first set of difficulties arose in the late 1770s and the early 1780s both in the Patriotic Society of Milan and the Agricultural Colony of Mantua. While not a direct cause of this crisis, Joseph II’s policy in the Lombard Duchies aimed at enhancing the University of Pavia as the main scientific and cultural center and did not help the Milanese and Mantuan institutions. Furthermore, his absolutist policy had little tolerance for provincial autonomy, independent economic initiatives, or the overly active involvement of intellectuals in public affairs, exacerbating dynamics already present under Maria Theresa’s rule.109 In the Patriotic Society, there was a rupture between its members and the first secretary, the aforementioned Francesco Griselini, who had immigrated from the Republic of Venice. The Patriotic Society was created in late 1776 and started its activities in 1778: the fact that already in its very first years it had such internal difficulties was a serious issue. Griselini was ostracized by the local members: even though he had great knowledge of the agricultural studies of the time, they accused him of incompetence. Carlo Amoretti became the new secretary in 1781, after the Habsburg authorities granted Griselini’s retirement, officially due to old age and poor health.110 Luckily, Carlo Amoretti proved to be a good asset for the Society and for agricultural studies in Lombardy generally, as we have already discussed. Nonetheless, he had always shown a certain dependence on the Mantuan institutions, to which he referred almost obsessively, probably in a submissive interpretation of the dispatch of December 2, 1776, which decreed the rules of the Society and urged it to keep close connections with the already-existing Agricultural Colony.111

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The crisis of the Agricultural Colony in Mantua was of a different nature. In late October 1780, the Count of Colloredo, prefect of the Academy and Superintendent of Studies in Mantua, sent a detailed report to the central authorities in Milan about the state of local culture and science. According to Colloredo, the general situation was good. Among other things, the Royal Gymnasium had recently inaugurated its scientific garden and marked the arrival of the professor of botany, Sebastian Helbling, who had studied in Vienna. Nonetheless, Colloredo perceived some kind of inactivity in the Agricultural Colony.112 Colloredo returned to this issue two years later with a report to Archduke Ferdinand, Governor of Habsburg Lombardy, in which the general situation of culture and science in Mantua was once again described as rather good, with the exception of the Agricultural Colony, again idle. According to Colloredo, the main problem was the lack of economic incentives—bonuses and tax exemptions—for landowners who accepted the risk of experimenting with new crops requested by the authorities through the Agricultural Colony (for example, a few years earlier Chancellor Kaunitz from Vienna had urged both the formation of “strong-wood” forests to supply timber and the extension of hemp cultivation). The situation of another economic Colony of the Academy, Arts and Crafts was better: it seemed to enjoy great success in every field among Mantuan artisans, who participated in meetings and competitions. Sure, the prizes could have been bigger, but Colloredo did not see any substantial problem.113 Colloredo also saw a general problem in the organization of all the Colonies, which were created after the establishment of the Academy proper. In addition to Agriculture and Arts and Crafts, there was also Medicine and Surgery. According to the Count, it was necessary to update the regulations of the entire institution and help the Colonies achieve their full potential.114 Colloredo was clearly aware of the prestige acquired by the Academy and the Colonies over the years. At the same time, he knew that more could have been done, giving new energy to the Mantuan institutions, and he expressed his concerns to the central authorities in Milan, as we have seen. One of the first steps to be taken in the new direction was to formally update the organization of the Academy, which was no longer adequate for the complexity that had developed over the years. But the new statute arrived only in academic year 1794–1795, under Francis II of Habsburg-Lorraine.115 In the meantime the Academy had to resolve the

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aforementioned difficulties with the means at its disposal. In the field of agricultural science, one strategy it followed was to involve the professors of botany of the Royal Gymnasium and its scientific garden, created in 1780, in new studies and experiments. Another strategy was an intelligent policy of inclusion of enlightened landowners.116 The Academy showed great resourcefulness and creativity. The 1780s were shaping up to be a decade of crisis for agricultural science in Mantua, but instead they quickly transformed into a sort of a golden age. For instance, as has already been highlighted, competent botanists such as Helbling and Gualandris played active roles in the experiments of the Agricultural Colony. Contacts with other leading European institutions in botany and agricultural science—such as the scientific gardens of Paris and Madrid—increased precisely in those years. Many landowners in the Mantua area used their properties to experiment with different crops, mulberry growing, and silk production under the guidance of the Colony.117 As regards the 1794–1795 statute, it gave a new name to the institution: Academy of Sciences, Fine Letters and Arts, thus underlining the importance of the practical trades. Moreover, it explicitly put agricultural studies under the label of Science alongside exact sciences, natural sciences, medicine, and surgery. Nonetheless, a sort of discrimination between some disciplines and the others remained: the old Colonies—then the Agricultural Colony too—were elevated to Classes, while the former four Classes—Philosophy, Mathematics, Physics, and Fine Letters—were now “Faculties”.118 But many other discriminations remained. The Academy was divided into a main body of actual members and a secondary group of associates to the Classes (the former Colonies, Agriculture included). If an associate had wanted to acquire the status of member of a Faculty of the main body, they would be required to present a scientific or literary dissertation, which would then be judged by the main body along with the candidate’s curriculum. The procedure was the same for any outsider wishing to join the Academy. However, candidates of established repute could be accepted into the main body without any particular examinations. Moreover, the professors of the University of Pavia and the Gymnasium of Mantua (and also the astronomers of Brera, in Milan) were members by right. In the specific case of the Agricultural Class, the statute also confirmed the unwritten existing division into three sections: seeds and sowing, plants and planting, and fodder and livestock.119

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At this point, did the agricultural studies in Mantua receive any benefit from the new organization? Or did nothing actually change as regards the strategies adopted in the 1780s to cope with the crisis seen by Colloredo? Let us look back at Domenico Nocca for an answer. After studying natural sciences in Pavia and Vienna, he arrived in Mantua in 1792 to teach at the Gymnasium and direct its scientific garden. As a professor he was appointed member of the Academy, and as a botanist he was selected as one of the supervisors of the Agricultural Class. He oversaw experiments on cedar cultivation and his advice on sericulture was requested by the authorities.120 In his five-year stay in Mantua, he had rich exchanges of writings, seeds, and specimens with Cavanilles from Madrid. This bond continued after Nocca’s appointment as professor of botany at the University of Pavia in 1797 and Cavanilles’s as director of the Madrid Botanical Garden in 1801 (Cavanilles died in 1804).121 Under Napoleonic rule, Nocca maintained an active role as botanist applied to food production and manufacturing. For example, he was aware of the increasing value of sugar as a commodity and became more and more attentive to the difficult economic situation of Napoleonic Europe with the Continental Blockade decreed against the British in late 1806. This was his motivation for collecting information on possible cane sugar substitutes from around the world, from Italian experiments to traditional practices in Latin America and Asia, and publishing his research in the early 1810s.122 The reorganization of the Academy of Mantua was not essential to Nocca’s growth as an “economic botanist”. His career as a scientist at the service of the State was not influenced by whether he belonged to a Colony, Class, or Faculty, but by the authorities’ recognition of his scientific merits. As for the reform, it had merits of its own: first of all the allocation of an annual sum of 7,600 florins to the Academy from the coffers of the Mantua administration (Real Ducal Magistrato Camerale). Moreover, Francis II confirmed some physical properties (a mill, an oil press, some lands in the countryside, plus some houses in Mantua) belonging to the Colony/Class of Arts and Crafts of the Academy since 1771 and once owned by the Wool Guild. These properties yielded further income per year. After Joseph II’s lack of interest in the Academy in the 1780s and the short reign of Leopold II from 1790 to 1792, that money was a welcome contribution to the coffers of the reformed institution.123

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Another merit of the reform was the attempt to give new impetus to the discussions on agriculture and manufacturing and to encourage the involvement of the Academy in the circulation of scientific and technical knowledge. In 1795, the first—and for many decades the only—volume of the most relevant documents was published, including some winning dissertations and few other essays of the Academy since its creation in the 1760s. Surprisingly, among the selected pieces not many were directly interested in agricultural science or the perfection of manufacturing, even though the volume closed with an illustrated description of a “new machine for spinning and twisting silk” by the Class of Arts and Crafts, which had recently won a prize.124 The 1795 dissertation competition followed the new disciplinary division of the Academy; hence specific topics were indicated also for the now-ennobled Classes: Agriculture, and Arts and Crafts included. The former had two topics: the enhancement of viticulture techniques and the improvement of fertilization of Mantuan soils. The topic for the Class of Arts and Crafts was also interesting since it regarded options for expanding the use of ramie fibers in textile manufacturing. Ramie fibers were widely used in East Asia for centuries.125 The 1796 topics of the Agricultural Class were the improvement of fruit-growing techniques and the conversion of irrigated lands into grasslands or rice paddies in the Mantua area. The choice of these topics had been particularly debated by the board of the Academy, with some members preferring a call addressing cereal growing.126 The resonance of the 1795 and 1796 competitions is not clear in the case of the Agricultural Class, given that the only dissertation with a connection with the aforementioned topics was a non-competing thesis on viticulture by a Giulio Cesare Bertolini, already associated with the Class, read during a meeting in March 1795.127 In the same years, the Academy received many applications from Italian and foreign experts who wanted to become members. As stated by the regulations, the application required the submission of a scientific essay. Many of them were on the economic use of natural and agricultural resources. For instance, in 1796 the Academy received two papers, a collection of thoughts on olive growing and oil production by Cosimo Moschettini from Apulia, physician, agriculturist and member of the Academy of Naples, and a handwritten essay titled De origine lithanthracum (On the Origin of Litantrax) by August Johann Batsch, botanist, professor of medicine and president of the Academy of Jena.128

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Moschettini’s submission touched on issues of agricultural interest; Lombard experts had been interested in olive growing for many years, as proved by the aforementioned studies and experiments led by agricultural inspectors Eraclio Landi and Angelo Gualandris. Moschettini had just published Della coltivazione degli ulivi e della manifattura dell’olio (On Olive Growing and Oil Production) in Naples, and promptly sent it to Domenico Nocca to add to the library of the Academy and the Agricultural Class.129 Batsch’s piece investigated the composition and economic potential of litantrax; therefore, it was a study of hard coal not strictly related to agricultural science. Nonetheless, within the still unstable boundaries of this discipline, the use of deposits of natural fuels—as well as other natural resources—was often addressed, as demonstrated by studies on peat in some agricultural institutions of the Republic of Venice.130 The situation of the Academy—renamed “Accademia Virgiliana” (Virgilian Academy) when General de Miollis entered Mantua after the 1797 siege—worsened under Napoleonic rule. The new regulations of the Academy seemed to erase the difference between Faculties and Classes, all renamed “Comitati” (Committees), although the name was seldom used in the following years. For the first time since the Academy’s creation, agricultural science was officially on the same level as the other disciplines.131 Even though this change aroused hope for major projects, the Academy soon entered a period of serious material difficulties due to weak support from Milan, capital of the new republic. Agricultural studies suffered particularly in this period. A first type of problem was the progressive reduction of the experimental lands available to the Agricultural Class. In November 1803, some of these lands were transformed into a military camp by the authorities. In May 1806, the General Intendency for the assets of the Crown (Intendenza Generale dei Beni della Corona) requisitioned other lands of the Agricultural Class to annex them to the royal gardens of the contiguous Palazzo Te. In October 1808, the Academy asked the State property administration to grant the Agricultural Class another plot of land near the Porto fortress, to counterbalance the previous loss and be able to resume experiments, but the request was probably rejected. In December 1809, Girolamo Murari dalla Corte—prefect of the Academy from 1801 to 1832—asked to the authorities in Milan to provide new lands, but without any results. Worse yet, in May 1811, the Agricultural Class was also stripped of its last lands in the Mantua countryside, around the Villa La Favorita.132

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Of similar negative impact was the institutional gray area in which the Academy remained after passage of Law no. 75 of September 4, 1802, which urged the introduction of an agricultural society in each department of the Italian Republic, as we have discussed. Already in April 1802, the president of the Commission on Studies had refused Murari a sizeable grant, considering the Academy and the Gymnasium a common departmental school. A little over a year later, the Academy was given the opportunity to be recognized as Agricultural Society of the Department of the Mincio. However, this would have meant classification and protection according to the 1802 scheme only for the Agricultural Class. On that occasion, Murari complained to the Vice President of the Republic that the Academy was worthy of better treatment. Murari’s goal, reaffirmed again in 1808 and 1809 in the absence of State subsidies, was to have the Mantua institution recognized as a national academy. It was true that Article 11 of the 1802 framework law provided for only two Italian academies with this privilege, in Milan and Bologna. However, these were dedicated only to fine arts, while the Academy of Mantua had always boasted a much broader range of expertise, as a complete scientificliterary institution funded by the State. According to Murari, it fell into the cases set out in Article 66, which prescribed that “the establishments of public education and the academies of sciences or arts existing in the Republic retain ownership of the capital constituting their specific endowments”. In any case, with a certain note of desperation, at the end of the decade Murari even went so far as to declare himself willing to accept the proposal rejected in 1803, that is, to frame and save at least part of the Academy as a departmental Agricultural Society.133 Despite the lack of a support policy for the entire Academy, it is worth noting the importance of agricultural studies in negotiations between Murari and Napoleonic government. Over the decades, agricultural science had gone from being the field of research of a humble satellite Colony to a quite powerful Class/Committee with the potential to save the entire Academy. The activities of the Academy did not completely cease under Napoleonic rule and agricultural studies and experiments continued, albeit in a subdued manner and rarely brought to fruition.134 The Agricultural Class conducted experiments on radishes as an oil source, on rice growing, viticulture, cotton, and woad; in 1810–1811 it was involved in experimentation on cane sugar substitutes commissioned by the Milan government to all the agricultural societies in the Kingdom

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of Italy.135 In addition, the Class continued its role as a consultant for the State economy. For example, in the summer of 1805 it helped an agent commissioned by the French government to collect information on northern Italian agriculture.136 In 1811, the prefect of the Department of the Mincio—the highest-level administrative authority in the Department, not the homonymous official leading the Academy—asked the Agricultural Class for an opinion on forestry issues, especially related to the pioppo cipressino (the Lombardy poplar).137 In compliance with the framework law of September 4, 1802, a good communication channel was also established with the new agricultural societies, especially those in the neighboring departments. Particular attention was paid to competitions, although they were more frequent in Modena, Reggio, and Brescia than in the less active Mantua, which probably had to cope with the lack of funds mentioned above.138 An attempt was also made to stay abreast of the literature on agricultural science. For example, in late 1809, the prefecture of the Mincio provided the Academy with a treatise by Giuseppe Bayle Barelle—professor of agricultural science at the University of Pavia—on phytopathology and parasitology.139 Furthermore, when the periodical Biblioteca di campagna was reprinted in Naples starting in 1807 and Filippo Re started his Annali dell’agricoltura in 1809, the Agricultural Committee (Agricultural Class) of Mantua was asked—along with the other agricultural societies of the Kingdom, of course—to collect information from experts, landowners, farmers, and anyone else who had competency in matters of agriculture, animal husbandry, and similar topics.140 Meanwhile, the collaboration between the Academy and the former Royal Gymnasium—now Liceo—continued. In the late 1790s, after Nocca’s tenure, the direction of the garden and the teachings of botany and natural history went to a new professor, Francesco Nocetti, who had studied medicine and philosophy at the University of Pavia. With the establishment of the chair of agriculture and later its aggregation with botany—both in the first decade of the nineteenth century—Nocetti was also in charge of teaching this subject.141 In 1810–1811, the Ministry of the Interior commissioned restoration work on the Botanical Garden of the Liceo, including the construction of a modern greenhouse and a new division of its spaces.142 The State intervention in the garden was evidence of lively interest in scientific teaching and research in the Department of the Mincio, in part contrasting with

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the lack of support by the same authorities for the Academy. However, Nocetti did not employ the garden and the attached laboratories for particular experiments of agricultural interest. Instead, he ran into problems with the law due to incorrect administration and the unjustified cutting of some trees.143 Nocetti did not even distinguish himself as an associate of the Agricultural Class, in spite of the fact that he was section head of plants and planting like Domenico Nocca before him. Nocetti supervised cottongrowing experiments in 1811, he was asked to collect materials for the periodical Biblioteca di campagna, and he subscribed to the Annali dell’agricoltura, but originality was not a distinctive feature of his activity as member of the Class. At most, he proposed dissemination of greater knowledge of edible plant and mushroom species among rural society through special courses and the involvement of parish priests as intermediaries.144 In conclusion, our analysis of the strategies adopted through the decades by the Academy of Mantua to safeguard its agricultural science branch evidences how, even though not fully defined, this discipline was recognized as having an important value in the economic system in northern Italian States. The governments of the Old Regime and the Napoleonic Era were aware of this, even though they made highly questionable choices in the unstable political framework of Italy at the turn of the nineteenth century. Through the analysis of the policies aimed at improving scientific institutions and their relation to the national economy, we now have a clear idea of the structure—or substructure—on which agricultural science developed in northern Italian States in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Another important component of this process was the circulation of ideas through public channels, such as dissertation competitions, but also journals, texts, books, and other publications. But there was a further channel for knowledge circulation, one of paramount importance: the private exchange of ideas, scientific information, seeds, dried samples, etc. between naturalists of different branches. We will examine how this network developed, its role in the evolution of agricultural science, and the main interlocutors of the northern Italian community of experts in the following chapter.

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Notes 1. P.M. Jones, Agricultural Enlightenment: Knowledge, Technology and Nature, 1750–1840, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2016; P.M. Jones, Agriculture, in The Oxford Handbook of the Ancien Régime, ed. W. Doyle, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2012, pp. 236–251; P. Malanima, Pre-Modern European Economy: One Thousand Years (10th– 19th Centuries), Leiden and Boston, Brill, 2009, pp. 95–157; M. Ambrosoli, The Wild and the Sown: Botany and Agriculture in Western Europe, 1350–1850, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1997. See also: J. Simpson, European Farmers and the British “Agricultural Revolution”, in Exceptionalism and Industrialisation: Britain and Its European Rivals, 1688–1815, ed. L. Prados de la Escosura, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2004, pp. 69–85; M. Małowist, Commercial Capitalism and Agriculture, in Western Europe, Eastern Europe and World Development 13th-18th Centuries: Collection of Essays of Marian Małowist, ed. J. Batou, H. Szlajfer, Leiden and Boston, Brill, 2010, pp. 15–71. 2. A. Becchia, Evaluation du commerce entre le Piémont et la France au XVIIIe siècle, in Il Piemonte e la frontiera: percorsi di storia economica dal Settecento al Novecento, ed. R. Allìo, Turin, Centro Studi Piemontesi, 2008, pp. 191–216. For a more general framework of Piedmont under Savoy rule see: A. Becchia, P. Bianchi, Économie, démographie et culture en Piémont-Sardaigne au XVIII e siècle, in Les États de Savoie, du duché à l’unité d’Italie (1416–1861), ed. G. Ferretti, Paris, Classiques Garnier, 2019, pp. 319–384; P. Bianchi, A. Merlotti, Storia degli Stati sabaudi (1416–1848), Brescia, Morcelliana, 2017, pp. 162–172. 3. R. Allìo, La Società agraria di Torino (1785–1843), in L’agricoltura nel Piemonte dell’800, ed. P. Caroli, P. Corti, C. Pischedda, Turin, Centro Studi Piemontesi, 1991, pp. 73–82; F. Venturi, L’Accademia delle Scienze e l’Accademia di Agricoltura, in I primi due secoli dell’Accademia delle Scienze di Torino, vol. I, Turin, Accademia delle Scienze, 1988, pp. 111– 116. 4. G. Torcellan, Giuseppe Nuvolone, agronomo piemontese, in G. Torcellan, Settecento veneto e altri scritti storici, Turin, Giappicchelli, 1969, pp. 361– 389. See also A.L. Cardoza, Aristocrats in Bourgeois Italy: The Piedmontese Nobility, 1861–1930, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1997, specifically the part dedicated to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and the Napoleonic Era (pp. 13–33). 5. M. Ciardi, La fine dei privilegi: Scienze fisiche, tecnologia e istituzioni scientifiche sabaude nel Risorgimento, Florence, Olschki, 1999, pp. 29– 34; V. Ferrone, The Accademia Reale delle Scienze: Cultural Sociability and Men of Letters in Turin of the Enlightenment Under Vittorio Amedeo

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6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

III , “The Journal of Modern History”, LXX (1998), no. 3, pp. 519– 560; V. Marchis, Ingegneri e soldati: L’Arsenale di Torino come baricentro di uno Stato tecnocratico, in Storia di Torino, vol. V, ed. G. Ricuperati, Turin, Einaudi, 2002, pp. 735–754. A.M. Vassalli Eandi, Spiegazione delle esperienze recate contro l’influsso dell’elettricità nella vegetazione da’ sig. Inghenoutz e Schvvankhardt, MSATo, vol. I, Turin, Briolo, 1788, pp. 116–149; G.A. Giobert, Ricerche chimiche ed agronomiche intorno agl’ingrassi ed a’ terreni, MSATo, vol. V, Turin, Briolo, 1790, full volume; vol. VI, Turin, Briolo, 1790, pp. 1–216. M. Ciardi, Medicina, tecnologia civile e militare, filosofia naturale: L’insegnamento della fisica nel Regno di Sardegna, “Studi settecenteschi”, XVIII (1998), pp. 217–247, in particular pp. 235–242. M.A. Favali, F. Fossati, Giambattista Guatteri, fondatore dell’attuale Orto Botanico di Parma, Sant’Ilario d’Enza, Guatteri, 1993, pp. 20–21, 52– 54; A. Pizzaleo, Guatteri Giovanni Battista, in DBI, vol. LX, 2003. See also the catalog Nomenclatura Plantarum Horti Regii Botanici Parmensis updated to 1791, of which I have read a copy with handwritten annotations kept in ARJB, DIV. I, 5, 3, 8. For example, the three dye plants mentioned in this article are on pages 18 and 28. G. Fumi, Botanica e agricoltura. Dal Collegio Alberoni all’agronomia a Piacenza tra Sette e Ottocento, in Hortus siccus. Una storia del Settecento: la botanica al Collegio Alberoni, ed. A. Marocco, Piacenza, TAP arti grafiche, 2018, pp. 29–37, in particular p. 29; G. Olmi, Lo studio della natura a Parma nel tramonto dell’ antico regime, in Un Borbone tra Parma e l’ Europa: don Ferdinando e il suo tempo, 1751–1802, ed. A. Mora, Reggio Emilia, Diabasis, 2005, pp. 166–203. P.G. Zanetti, L’orto agrario di Padova e l’agricoltura nuova, “Rivista di storia dell’agricoltura”, XXXVI (1996), no. 1, pp. 5–67, in particular pp. 11–17; P. Del Negro, La politica di Venezia e le accademie di agricoltura, in La politica della scienza: Toscana e stati italiani nel tardo Settecento, ed. G. Barsanti, V. Becagli, R. Pasta, Florence, Olschki, 1996, pp. 451–489, in particular pp. 453–454; G. Fumi, Pietro Arduino (nota introduttiva), in Scritti teorici e tecnici di agricoltura, vol. II, ed. S. Zaninelli, Milan, Il Polifilo, 1989, pp. 109–118. M. Simonetto, I lumi nelle campagne. Accademie e agricoltura nella Repubblica di Venezia 1768–1797 , Treviso, Fondazione Benetton Studi Ricerche—Canova, 2001, pp. 70–89. A. Tonutto, L’Accademia di Udine dalla caduta della Repubblica di Venezia all’unione del Friuli al Regno d’Italia (1797–1866), Udine, Accademia Udinese di Scienze Lettere e Arti, 1997.

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13. E. Novello, Terra di bonifica: L’azione dello Stato e dei privati nel Veneto dalla Serenissima al Fascismo, Padua, CLEUP, 2009, pp. 37–39; Simonetto, I lumi nelle campagne, pp. 91–95; E. Vaccari, L’attività agronomica di Pietro e Giovanni Arduino, in Scienze e tecniche agrarie nel Veneto dell’Ottocento, ed. Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti, Venice, Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti, 1992, pp. 129–167. 14. M. Ferrières, Histoire des peurs alimentaires: Du Moyen Age à l’aube du XXe siècle, Paris, Éditions du Seuil, 2002, pp. 233–261; A. Guenzi, Gli esiti dell’epizoozia della metà del secolo XVIII nella pianura bolognese, “Annali della sanità pubblica”, (1997), no. 2, pp. 76–98; M. Vaquero Piñeiro, Patrimoni agricoli e redditi familiari nello Stato della Chiesa nel XVI secolo, in La famiglia nell’economia europea (secc. XIII–XVIII), ed. S. Cavaciocchi, Florence, Firenze University Press, 2009, pp. 141–152, in particular pp. 151–152. 15. A. Veggetti, B. Cozzi, La Scuola di medicina veterinaria dell’Università di Padova, Trieste, LINT, 1996, pp. 31–35, 44–45. See also A. Veggetti, Orus Giuseppe, in DBI, vol. LXXIX, 2003. 16. P. Serna, The Sister Republics, or the Ephemeral Invention of a French Republican Commonwealth, in The Routledge Companion to the French Revolution in World History, ed. A. Forrest, M. Middell, Abingdon and New York, Routledge, 2016, pp. 39–60; J. Oddens, M. Rutjes, E. Jacobs (eds.), The Political Culture of the Sister Republics, 1794–1806: France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Italy, Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Press, 2015; M. Broers, The Napoleonic Empire in Italy, 1796–1814: Cultural Imperialism in a European Context?, Basingstoke and New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. 17. A good example is the Department of the Mella and the scientific institutions in the city of Brescia: E. Pagano, Il Liceo napoleonico di Brescia, “HECL—History of Education & Children’s Literature”, IX (2014), no. 1, pp. 451–466; S. Onger (ed.), L’Ateneo di Brescia, 1802–2002, Brescia, Geroldi, 2004. 18. J.R. Bertomeu Sánchez, Ciencia y política durante el reinado de José I (1808–1813): el proyecto de Real Museo de Historia Natural, “Hispania: Revista Española de Historia”, LXIX (2009), no. 233, pp. 769–792. 19. R.M. Gascoigne, The Historical Demography of the Scientific Community, 1450–1900, “Social Studies of Science”, XXII (1992), no. 3, pp. 545– 573, in particular pp. 557–559. 20. F. Antoine, J.-P. Jessenne, A. Jourdan, H. Leuwers (eds.), L’Empire napoléonien: une expérience européenne ?, Paris, Armand Colin, 2014; A. Grab, Napoleon and the Transformation of Europe, Basingstoke and New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2003; S. Woolf, Napoleon’s Integration of Europe, London and New York, Routledge, 1991.

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21. M. Dincecco, G. Federico, Napoleon in Italy: A Legacy of Institutional Reform?, in The Crucible of Revolutionary and Napoleonic Warfare and European Transitions to Modern Economic Growth, ed. P.K. O’Brien, Leiden, Brill, 2022, pp. 141–168; Grab, Napoleon and the Transformation of Europe, pp. 159–160; C. Zaghi, L’Italia di Napoleone dalla Cisalpina al Regno, Turin, UTET, 1986, pp. 293–443. 22. BLREP, (1802), pp. 295–308. 23. ASMi, Studi p.m., 37, b: a wealth of documentation on scientific institutions in all Italian departments, sometimes even with lists of their members, buildings, lands, and state of research. 24. BLRI, (1810), book III, pp. 1309–1313. See also D. Brianta, I luoghi del sapere agronomico: Accademie, società di agricoltura e di arti meccaniche, orti agrari, atenei (1802–1814), in Istituzioni e cultura in età napoleonica, ed. E. Brambilla, C. Capra, A. Scotti , Milan, FrancoAngeli, 2008, pp. 62–156, especially pp. 137–139. 25. M.C. Jacob, The First Knowledge Economy: Human Capital and the European Economy, 1750–1850, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2014, pp. 141–150; R. Pazzagli, Il sapere dell’agricoltura: Istruzione, cultura, economia nell’Italia dell’Ottocento, Milan, FrancoAngeli, 2008, p. 31; G. Denis, L’agronomie au sens large: Une histoire de son champ, de ses définitions et des mots pour l’identifier, in Histoire et agronomie. Entre ruptures et durée, ed. P. Robin, J.-P. Aeschlimann, C. Feller, Marseille, Institut de recherche pour le développement, 2007, pp. 61– 90; D. Margairaz, François de Neufchâteau. Biographie intellectuelle, Paris, Publications de la Sorbonne, 2005, pp. 433–471; M. Crosland, Science under Control. The French Academy of Sciences, 1795–1914, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1992, pp. 18–25. For an interesting comparison between two advanced agricultural systems see also P. O’Brien, D. Heath, English and French Landowners 1688–1789, in Landowners, Capitalists, and Entrepreneurs: Essays for Sir John Habakkuk, ed. F.M.L. Thompson, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1994, pp. 23–62. 26. Institut de France: Lois et règlements, in L’Institut de France: Lois, statuts et règlements concernant les anciennes académies et l’Institut de 1635 à 1889, ed. L. Aucoc, Paris, Imprimerie Nationale, 1889, pp. 4, 6– 7, 14. About the state of science and technology in France and the dedicated institutions at the turn of the nineteenth century, some of the most complete analyses are found in classic works by Charles Coulston Gillispie: C.C. Gillispie, Science and Polity in France: the End of the Old Regime, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1980; C.C. Gillispie, Science and technology, in The New Cambridge Modern History, vol. IX, ed. C.W. Crawley, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1965, pp. 118–145.

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27. E. Brambilla, I licei e l’ Université impériale: un confronto tra Italia e Francia, in Istituzioni e cultura in età napoleonica, pp. 431–453, in particular pp. 433–438. 28. In this regard see: M.L. Fagnani, Studying “useful plants” from Maria Theresa to Napoleon: Continuity and invisibility in agricultural science, northern Italy, the late eighteenth to early nineteenth century, “History of Science”, LIX (2021), no. 4, pp. 373–406, in particular pp. 386–387; C. Rotondi, “Rendere facili le verità utili”. Dalla Società Patriottica all’Istituto lombardo (1776–1859), in Associazionismo economico e diffusione dell’economia politica nell’Italia dell’Ottocento: Dalle società economicoagrarie alle associazioni di economisti, vol. I, ed. M.M. Augello, M.E.L. Guidi, Milan, FrancoAngeli, 2000, pp. 39–62, precisely pp. 42–44. See also E. Brambilla, Le accademie nella Repubblica Cisalpina e nel Regno italico, con particolare riguardo all’Istituto nazionale, in Napoleone e l’Italia, vol. I, ed. Accademia Nazionale dei Licei, Rome, Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, 1973, pp. 473–491. 29. P.L. Ghisleni, L’orto della Crocetta dell’Accademia di agricoltura di Torino, “Rivista di storia dell’agricoltura”, XXXVI (1996), no. 1, pp. 109–121, in particular pp. 111–112. See also: L. Pepe, Istituti nazionali, accademie e società scientifiche nell’Europa di Napoleone, Florence, Olschki, 2005, pp. 257–264; Ciardi, La fine dei privilegi, pp. 32–34. 30. For the foundation of the Pastoral Society and the history of the institution of La Mandria (the latter founded by the Savoy in the 1760s to breed horses and officially abolished at the end of the eighteenth century) see: D. Giva, M. Spadoni, L’Accademia di Agricoltura di Torino e l’Associazione Agraria Subalpina, in Associazionismo economico, pp. 63– 84; A. Carera, La modernizzazione ambigua. Azioni e reazioni nel periodo francese (1796–1814), in L’Ottocento economico italiano, ed. S. Zaninelli, Bologna, Monduzzi, 1993, pp. 1–126 (see p. 48 for the role of the Pastoral Society); R. Romeo, Cavour e il suo tempo, I, Rome and Bari, Laterza, 1971, 2nd edition, pp. 47–53. 31. C. Farinella, I “luoghi” della fisica a Genova fra Settecento e Ottocento, “Studi settecenteschi”, XVIII (1998), pp. 249–278, especially pp. 273– 275; A. Grati, Le società economiche in Liguria tra Sette e Ottocento: continuità e trasformazioni, in Associazionismo economico, pp. 85–106, in particular p. 89. 32. Fumi, Botanica e agricoltura, p. 30; A. De Luca, Linee di sviluppo delle manifatture nel Parmense durante l’età napoleonica (1802–1814), doctoral dissertation, University of Parma, XXIV cycle (2009–2011), supervisor Professor Domenico Vera, tutor Professor Vittorio Criscuolo; C. Biondi, La Francia a Parma nel secondo Settecento, Bologna, CLUEB,

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33.

34.

35.

36.

2008; M. Broers, Le lycée de Parme sous le Premier Empire: une manifestation d’impérialisme culturel ?, in Napoléon et les lycées: Enseignement et société en Europe au début de XIXe siècle, ed. J.-O- Boudon, Paris, Nouveau Monde—Fondation Napoléon, 2004, pp. 147–164. M.L. Fagnani, L’agraria “italiana” prima e dopo Napoleone: percorsi formativi di una scienza, “Società e Storia” (2020), no. 169, pp. 457– 491. For the French system please refer to: Th. Charmasson, L’enseignement agricole en France de la Révolution à 1918, in Agricoltura come manifattura. Istruzione agraria, professionalizzazione e sviluppo agricolo nell’Ottocento, vol. I, ed. G. Biagioli, R. Pazzagli, Florence, Olschki, 2004, pp. 97–126, in particular pp. 99–103; Th. Charmasson, Introduction, in Th. Charmasson, A.-M. Le Lorrain, Y. Ripa, L’enseignement agricole et vétérinaire de la Révolution à la Libération, Paris, INRP— Publications de la Sorbonne, 1992, pp. vii–cxlv, especially pp. vii–xviii. See also E. Brambilla, Il sistema scolastico, in Napoleone e la Repubblica Italiana (1802–1805), ed. C. Capra, F. Della Peruta, F. Mazzocca, Milan, Skira, 2002, pp. 71–81. For a general overview of the system of education in Spain see J.-L. Guereña, Politiques éducatives en Espagne sous la monarchie de Joseph I er , in Napoléon et les lycées, pp. 195–222. Pazzagli, Il sapere dell’agricoltura, pp. 38–44, 206–306. See also M.L. Fagnani, Agricultural science in Napoleonic universities: Didactics and research in Pavia, Bologna and Padua, “Nuncius: Journal of the Material and Visual History of Science”, XXXIV (2019), no. 3, pp. 575–601, especially pp. 575–583. For a peculiar and updated study of the cultural legacy left by an important scientific institution—the Padua Botanical Garden—to the nineteenth-century Italy see A. Dröscher, Plants and Politics in Padua During the Age of Revolution, 1820–1848, Cham, Palgrave Macmillan, 2021. M.L. Fagnani, Italian “Economic Botanists” and State-Science Cooperation (Late Eighteenth-Early Nineteenth Century), “Storia economica”, XXIII (2020), no. 2, pp. 357–382; L. Maddaluno, De Facto Policies and Intellectual Agendas of an Eighteenth-Century Milanese Agricultural Academy: Physiocratic Resonances in the Società Patriotica, in The Economic Turn: Recasting Political Economy in Enlightenment Europe, ed. S.A. Reinert, S. Kaplan, London, Anthem Press, 2019, pp. 395–438; A. Bonoldi, Associazionismo e razionalizzazione nell’agricoltura sudtirolese (secoli XVIII–XIX), “Annali dell’Istituto storico italo-germanico in Trento”, IXX (1993), pp. 97–147. About the nuanced reception of political and economic currents from abroad in northern and central Italy see S.A. Reinert, The Academy of Fisticuffs: Political Economy and Commercial Society in Enlightenment Italy, Cambridge (MA), Harvard University Press, 2018, and its rich bibliography.

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37. For the first option see L. Grassi, G. Rodella (eds.), Catalogo delle dissertazioni manoscritte. Accademia reale di scienze e belle lettere di Mantova (sec. XVIII), Mantua, Accademia Nazionale Virgiliana di Scienze Lettere e Arti, 1993, pp. 7–9. For the second option see BNB, AF XI 38, 10 verso, copy of a letter sent by Carlo Amoretti, secretary of the Patriotic Society of Milan, to Carlo Castelli about awards for some thermometer projects, October 9, 1786. 38. ASMi, Studi p.a., 4, two copies of a project for the new Academy, probably mid-1765. For the renovation of Mantua as a citadel of science and culture see: P. Tosetti Grandi, A. Mortari (eds.), Dall’Accademia degli Invaghiti, nel 450° anniversario dell’istituzione, all’Accademia Nazionale Virgiliana di Scienze Lettere e Arti di Mantova, Mantua, Accademia Nazionale Virgiliana di Scienze Lettere e Arti, 2016; E. Brambilla, Libertà filosofica e giuseppinismo. Il tramonto delle corporazioni e l’ascesa degli studi scientifici in Lombardia, 1780–1796, in La politica della scienza, pp. 393–433, in particular pp. 405–409; C. Capra, Il Settecento, in D. Sella, C. Capra, Il Ducato di Milano dal 1535 al 1796, Turin, UTET, 1984, pp. 153–617, especially pp. 465–469; M. Baldi, Filosofia e cultura a Mantova nella seconda metà del Settecento: i manoscritti filosofici dell’Accademia Virgiliana, Florence, La Nuova Italia, 1979. For the role of the ginnasi in Habsburg-Lombardy education system see D. Giglio, I ginnasi provinciali nell’età delle riforme, in Economia, istituzioni, cultura in Lombardia nell’età di Maria Teresa, ed. A. De Maddalena, E. Rotelli, G. Barbarisi, vol. III, Bologna, il Mulino, 1982, pp. 1011–1024. 39. Bonoldi, Associazionismo e razionalizzazione, pp. 97–101. For a broad analysis of cameralism and reforms in eighteenth-century countries, refer also to the recent and very interesting essays in E. Nokkala, N.B. Miller, A.J. La Vopa (eds.), Cameralism and Enlightenment: Happiness, Governance and Reform in Transnational Perspective, New York and Abingdon, Routledge, 2019. 40. ASMi, Studi p.a., 4, report by Chancellor Kaunitz on the scientific and cultural situation of Mantua and the plans for the new Academy (Italian version), Vienna, June 25, 1767. 41. E. Camerlenghi, Aspetti dell’agricoltura mantovana alla fine del Settecento nelle dissertazioni degli accademici teresiani (1767–1796), in Dalle dissertazioni agricole raccolte nell’Archivio dell’Accademia Nazionale Virgiliana, ed. E. Camerlenghi, Mantua, Accademia Nazionale Virgiliana di Scienze Lettere e Arti, 2020, pp. 7–26. 42. MRAMn, vol. I, Mantua, Pazzoni, 1795, pp. cvii, cix, cxii–cxiii. 43. ANV, As: D.a. Critica, 59/1, 59/2; D.a. Matematica, 61/4, 61/5, 61/6, 61/13; D.a. Idraulica, 45/24, 45/26; D.a. Igiene e chirurgia, 54/41, 54/42, 54/43, 54/44, 54/45, 54/46, 54/47, 54/48, 54/49,

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44.

45.

46. 47.

48. 49. 50.

51. 52.

53.

54. 55.

56.

57.

54/54. We do not have either the number or the judgments for the dissertations sent in 1769 and 1771. MRAMn, pp. cxxi–cxxii. ANV, As, D.a. Critica, 59/1, 59/2; D.a. Legislazione, 58/7, 58/8, 58/9, 58/10, 58/11, 58/12, 58/13, 58/14, 58/15, 58/16, 58/19. E. Curi, Lorgna Antonio Maria, in DBI, vol. LXVI, 2006; C. Farinella, L’accademia repubblicana: La Società dei Quaranta e Anton Mario Lorgna, Milan, FrancoAngeli, 1993. ASMn, Archivio Gonzaga, 3368, fasc. 7, list of Academy members, section “accademici esteri – Verona”. ANV, As, D.a. Matematica, 61/7. A.M. Lorgna, Dissertazione sopra il quesito Essendo le pressioni dell’acqua stagnante in ragione delle altezze, cercasi se lo sieno egualmente passando l’acqua dalla quiete al moto, Mantua, Pazzoni, 1769; A.M. Lorgna, Dissertazione sopra il quesito Rinvenire il fondamento per cui siasi in addietro creduta insalubre l’aria di Mantova, Mantua, Pazzoni, 1770. C. Vivanti, Le campagne del Mantovano nell’età delle riforme, Milan, Feltrinelli, 1959, pp. 240–248. ANV, As: D.a. Legislazione, 58/20; D.a. Filosofia, 42/5. Introduction by the publisher, in G.G. d’Arco, Dell’armonia politicoeconomica fra la città ed il suo territorio, Cremona, Manini, 1782, 3rd edition, pp. 1–5 (without page numbers), p. 2, footnote b. More in general see L. Clerici (ed.), Italian Victualling Systems in the Early Modern Age, 16th to 18th Century, Cham, Palgrave Macmillan, 2021. ANV, As, D.a. Agronomia, 56/22. ASMn, Archivio Gonzaga, 3368, fasc. 7, list of Academy members, sections “direttori e censori” and “accademici attuali nazionali”; ANV, As, Cataloghi degli accademici, 5, 2–10, lists of members from 1787 to 1814. ANV, As: D.a. Critica, 59/8, 10 verso; D.a. Idraulica, 45/16; D.a. Critica, 59/10, 2 verso and 3 verso; L.a., 10, letter by Antonio Litta, Milan, August 1, 1781; ASPMi, vol. II, Milan, monastero di Sant’Ambrogio Maggiore, 1789, pp. vi–ix; OSSA, V (1782), pp. 3–10. ANV, As, D.a. Agronomia, 56/2; D.a. Critica, 59/9, from 4 verso to 5 recto. E. Landi, Dissertazione sopra il quesito Se vi siano mezzi opportuni di migliorare i vini mantovani e anche ridurli atti alla lunga navigazione per mare, Mantua, Pazzoni, 1781; A. Fabbroni, Dell’arte di fare il vino, Florence, Grazioli, 1790, 2nd edition, p. vii. ASMi, Studi p.a., 5, u, Elenco degli argomenti proposti dalla reale Accademia di Mantova pel concorso a’ premj nell’anno 1786 e delle sessioni da tenersi nel medesimo anno, pp. 1–2 (without page numbers). ANV, As, D.a. Critica, 59/16, 6 recto.

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58. ASMn, Archivio Gonzaga, 3368, fasc. 7, list of Academy members, section “accademici esteri – Lione”; Willermoz Pierre-Claude-Catherine, in Archives historiques et statistiques du département du Rhone, vol. 7, Lyon and Paris, Barret-Huzard, 1827, pp. 272–274. 59. ANV, As, D.a. Critica, 59/16, from 10 verso to 11 recto. 60. ANV, As, D.a. Critica, 59/10, 2 verso. 61. P.-C.-C. Willermoz, Dissertazione sopra il quesito Essendo dimostrato dall’esperienza essere necessaria all’acqua una data preparazione ed uno stato onde possa ben operare la macerazione delle piante da tiglio, si cerca quale possa essere il modo… per la macerazione del lino e della canape, Mantua, Pazzoni, 1788, pp. 99–100; ANV, As, D.a. Agronomia, 55/6, 53 recto and verso. 62. For an introductory overview see: A.M. Lorenzini, R. Navarrini (eds.), L’Archivio storico dell’Accademia Nazionale Virgiliana di Mantova: Inventario, Mantua, Accademia Nazionale Virgiliana di Scienze Lettere e Arti, 2013, pp. 19–21. 63. Among the most updated studies please refer to: L. Braida, L’autore assente: l’anonimato nell’editoria italiana del Settecento, Rome and Bari, Laterza, 2019; L. Mascilli Migliorini, G. Tortorelli (eds), L’editoria italiana nel decennio francese: conservazione e rinnovamento, Milan, FrancoAngeli, 2016. See also: A. Saltini, Storia delle scienze agrarie, vol. II, Florence, Nuova Terra Antica, 2011, 2nd edition, pp. 369–388, 423– 450; M. Infelise, L’editoria veneziana nel ’700, Milan, FrancoAngeli, 1989; P. Del Piano, I periodici scientifici nel Nord Italia alla fine del Settecento: studi e ipotesi di ricerca, “Studi storici”, XXX (1989), no. 2, pp. 457–482. 64. Jones, Agricultural Enlightenment, pp. 165–167; M. Montorzi, I Vacca Berlinghieri in Pisa: scienza, politica e cultura tra rivoluzione e restaurazione, “Rassegna storica toscana”, LII (2006), no. 1, pp. 17–136, in particular pp. 25–26; M.-Th. Isaac, C. Sorgeloos, L’école centrale du département de Jemappes, 1797–1802: enseignement, livres et lumières à Mons, Brussels, Bibliothèque royale du Belgique, 2004, p. 153. 65. About both illiteracy and the circulation of knowledge in the rural sphere see: F. Cazzola, Saperi e professioni nelle trasformazioni del mondo rurale italiano in età moderna, and R. Pazzagli, Terra e animali: saperi contestuali e saperi esperti alle origini delle professioni agrarie e veterinarie nell’Italia dell’Ottocento, in Formare alle professioni. I saperi della cascina, ed. M. Ferrari, G. Fumi, M. Morandi, Milan, FrancoAngeli, 2016, respectively pp. 28–46 and pp. 47–64. 66. P. Preto, Griselini Francesco, in DBI, vol. LIX, 2002; Venturi, La Repubblica di Venezia (1761–1797), op. cit., pp. 94–95, 127 e 340–347; P. Del Negro, Una nota su Giovanni Scottoni e il “Giornale d’Italia”, “Archivio Veneto”, CXXIV (1985), pp. 115–129.

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67. P. Arduino, Saggio d’una memoria intorno ai modi di perfezionare l’agricoltura negli Stati della Serenissima Repubblica di Venezia, GI, November 5, 1768, no. 19, pp. 145–152; November 12, 1768, no. 20, pp. 153–160; November 19, 1768, no. 21, pp. 161–163. 68. G. Arduino, Discorso pronunciato nella generale radunanza della pubblica Accademia di agricoltura di Vicenza delli 10 luglio 1769, GI, September 16, 1769, no. 12, pp. 89–96; September 23, 1769, no. 13, pp. 97–102. 69. P. Arduino, Memorie d’osservazioni e di sperienze sopra la coltura e gli usi di varie piante, che servono o servir possono utilmente alla tintura, all’economia, all’agricoltura, GI, June 14, 1766, no. 50, pp. 393–397. See also Degli Atti della pubblica Accademia di agricoltura istituita in Padova, GI, April 14, 1770, no. 42, pp. 329–332. 70. F. Griselini, Pensieri… intorno ai modi pratici di render ricca e possente una nazione, GI, July 12, 1766, no. 2, pp. 9–12. In this regard see also F. Venturi, Settecento riformatore, vol. V, book II, Turin, Einaudi, 1990, pp. 68–69. 71. F. Griselini, Del mestiere del boaro e delle cognizioni che si richiedono in chi lo esercita, GI, October 3, 1772, no. 15, pp. 118–120; October 10, 1772, no. 16, pp.121–127; October 17, 1772, no. 17, pp. 129–133. 72. G. Torcellan, Francesco Griselini (nota introduttiva), in Illuministi italiani, vol. VII, ed. G. Giarrizzo, G. Torcellan, F. Venturi, Milan and Naples, Ricciardi, 1965, pp. 113–118. 73. A. Fortis, Descrizione fisica de’ colli di Montegalda, luogo del territorio vicentino, GI, September 15, 1764, no. 11, pp. 83–86; A.M. Lorgna, Discorso intorno al riparo delle inondazioni dell’Adige, GI, June 18, 1768, no. 51, pp. 404–407; June 25, 1768. no. 52, pp. 409– 411; A. Turra, Descrizione ed illustrazione d’un genere di pianta detta Echinophora, GI, December 29, 1764, no. 26, pp. 206–207; A. Turra, Memoria sopra la torba del vicentino distretto, “Nuovo Giornale d’Italia”, September 13, 1794, no. 21, pp. 167–168; September 20, 1794, no. 22, pp. 169–172. See also L. Ciancio, Turra Antonio, in DBI, vol. 97, 2020. 74. Torcellan, Francesco Griselini, pp. 96, 103. 75. L. Clerici, Libri per tutti. L’Italia della divulgazione dall’Unità al nuovo secolo, Rome and Bari, Laterza, 2018, p. 15; G. Carletti, Francesco Soave: un illuminista rivoluzionario, Scandicci, Centro Editoriale Toscano, 2015; D. Corzuol, Scuole normali e studio della retorica nella Lombardia austriaca del Settecento. Francesco Soave figura di mediatore tra area italiana e area tedesca, Pisa, Giardini, 2007; F. Arato, Carlo Amoretti e il giornalismo scientifico nella Milano di fine Settecento, “Annali della Fondazione Luigi Einaudi”, XXI (1987), pp. 175–216. 76. R. Seligardi, Lavoisier in Italia. La comunità scientifica italiana e la rivoluzione chimica, Florence, Olschki, 2002, pp. 71–84; M. Beretta,

2

77.

78.

79.

80.

81. 82.

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Luigi Valentino Brugnatelli e la chimica in Italia alla fine del Settecento, “Storia in Lombardia” (1988), no. 2, pp. 3–31. G. Gioeni, Saggio di litologia del Vesuvio: “Annali di Chimica” (1790), no. 1, pp. 243–267; (1791), no. 2, pp. 80–160; (1791), no. 3, pp. 160– 264. The quote is from no. 3, p. 241. Memorie ed osservazioni pubblicate dalla Società d’Agricoltura Pratica d’Udine e raccolte nell’anno MDCCLXXI , vol. I, Fratelli Gallici, 1772; MRAMn 1795; ASPMi, 3 volumes, Milan, monastero di Sant’Ambrogio Maggiore, 1783–1793; MSATo, 9 volumes, Turin, Briolo and Stamperia Dipartimentale, 1788–1812. About the Annales de l’agriculture see: M. Fissell, R. Cooter, Exploring Natural Knowledge: Science and the Popular, in The Cambridge History of Science, vol. IV, ed. R. Porter, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2003, pp. 129–158, in particular p. 143; F. Reynaud, L’élevage bovin de l’agronome au paysan (1700–1850), Rennes, Presses universitaires de Rennes, 2010, p. 91. On the editorial life of the Annales des arts see: R. Hayes, Biographical Dictionary of Irishmen in France (part 16), in Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review, XXXIV (1945), no. 136, pp. 522– 532, in particular p. 525, the entry dedicated to the founder Robert O’Reilly; J. Shovlin, The Political Economy of Virtue: Luxury, Patriotism, and the Origins of the French Revolution, Ithaca and London, Cornell University Press, 2006, p. 216. E. Serrano, Making oeconomic people: The Spanish Magazine of Agriculture and Arts for Parish Rectors (1797–1808), “History and Technology”, XXX (2014), no. 3, pp. 149–176; E. Larriba, G. Dufour (eds.), El Semanario de agricultura y artes dirigido a los párrocos (1797–1808), Valladolid, Ámbito, 1997, pp. 9–61; L. López-Ocón Cabrera, Breve historia de la ciencia española, Madrid, Alianza, 2003, pp. 183–184; A. González Bueno, Gómez Ortega, Cavanilles, Zea, tres botánicos de la Ilustración: la ciencia al servicio del poder, Madrid, Nivola, 2002, p. 35. G. Bonini, R. Pazzagli, Re Filippo, in DBI, vol. LXXXVI, 2016; Carera, La modernizzazione ambigua, p. 49. For instance, on a tea substitute see G.B. Dall’Olio, Sopra una pianta da sostituire al tè chinese. Memoria letta nell’adunanza del 27 novembre 1806 della Società agraria del Panaro, AARI, (1809), book IV, pp. 267– 277. On a substitute for olive oil see G. Bayle Barelle, Sulla coltivazione dell’Arachis hypogaea indiana ed africana, AARI, (1809), book 2, pp. 40–47. On an alternative source of sugar see G. Mazzucato, Sullo zucchero ed altri prodotti economici dei Diospyros lotus e virginiana, AARI, (1810), book V, pp. 39–75. On substitutes for coffee see G. Fumagalli, Dei semi di girasole e dell’orzo di Siberia, come dei migliori e più salubri succedanei del caffè, AARI, (1811), book XI, pp. 154–158; G.C. Cernazai, Delle castagne impiegate qual succedaneo al caffè, AARI,

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83. 84.

85.

86. 87.

88.

89. 90.

91. 92. 93.

(1812), book XIII, pp. 239–244. On a substitute for cocoa see G. Biroli, Del nocciuolo da terra (Arachis hypogaea L.) come succedaneo al cacao per la cioccolata, AARI, (1812), book XV, pp. 155–162. See the lists of subscribers to the journal in: AARI, (1809), book I, pp. 286–295; (1810), book VI, p. 287; (1811), book IX, pp. 95–96. ANV, As, D.a. Agronomia, 56/15. See also: F. Re, Saggio di bibliografia georgica ossia Indice ragionato delle principali opere di agricoltura sì antiche che moderne, Venice, Pezzana, 1802; F. Re, Dizionario ragionato di libri d’agricoltura, veterinaria e di altri rami d’economia campestre ad uso degli amatori delle cose agrarie e della gioventù, 4 volumes, Venice, Vitarelli, 1808–1809. ASMi, Studi p.a., 11, 3, letter by Colloredo with a list of books and periodicals requested from the authorities for the Academy of Mantua, Mantua, March 30, 1769. Ibid. A. H. Laeven, The Acta Eruditorum Under the Editorship of Otto Mencke (1644–1707): the History of an International Learned Journal Between 1682 and 1707 , Amsterdam, APA-Holland University Press, 1990. See also R. Cirino, Dal movimento alla forza. Leibniz, l’infinitesimo tra forza e metafisica, Soveria Mannelli, Rubbettino, 2006, pp. 219–222. S. Ferrari, La conversione “filosofica” di Fortunato Bartolomeo De Felice, in Illuminismo e protestantesimo, ed. G. Cantarutti, S. Ferrari, Milan and Rovereto, FrancoAngeli, 2010, pp. 87–106; E. Bonora, Parini e altro Settecento: fra Classicismo e Illuminismo, Milan, Feltrinelli, 1982, p. 196. Estratto della letteratura europea, (1761), book I, pp. 72–92. ANV, As, C.a., 32, 2, Perlini’s payment request to the Academy, Venice, December 26, 1789; 33, 1, receipt of payment by the director of the Agricultural Colony to the bookseller Colombara, Mantua, January 18, 1790; 33, 1, receipt of payment to the bookseller Bianchi, Mantua, April 11, 1792; 34, 1, another receipt of payment to Bianchi, Mantua, February 24, 1794. See also ANV, As, D.a. Agronomia, 55/9, 4 verso: this dissertation on the cultivation of cotton makes a reference to an issue of the Giornale d’Italia for the year 1794–1795; this issue was probably owned by Pasquale Coddè, author of the dissertation, but we can also assume that it was among the issues bought by the Agricultural Colony. ANV, As, L.a., 8, Giovanni Arduino to secretary Giovan Girolamo Carli, Venice, July 5, 1775, July 28, 1777, and April 4, 1778. ASMi, Studi p.a., 4 and 11, annex A “concernente all’acquisto di libri utili e necessari”, around 1772–1774. M. Pinault-Sørensen, La Description des Arts et Métiers et le rôle de Duhamel du Monceau, in Duhamel du Monceau, 1700–2000: un Européen du siècle des Lumières, ed. A. Corvol, Orléans and Malesherbes, Académie d’Orléans, 2001, pp. 133–155. See also M. Daumas, R. Tresse,

2

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95.

96.

97.

98.

99.

100.

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La Description des Arts et Métiers de l’Académie des Sciences et le sort de ses planches gravées en taille douce, “Revue d’Histoire des Sciences”, VII (1954), no. 2, pp. 163–171. K. van Berkel, Empire Without Science? The Dutch Scholarly World and Colonial Science Around 1800, in Empire and Science in the Making: Dutch Colonial Scholarship in Comparative Global Perspective, 1760–1830, ed. P. Boomgaard, New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2013, pp. 89–108, in particular pp. 96–101. About the Italian translation by Griselini see M. Lastri (ed.), Biblioteca georgica ossia Catalogo ragionato degli scrittori di agricoltura, veterinaria, agrimensura, meteorologia, economia pubblica, caccia, pesca ecc. spettanti all’Italia, Florence, Moücke, 1787, p. 68: this translation was planned to be published in 26 volumes, even though in 1787 there were still only 23. K. Matteson, Forests in Revolutionary France: Conservation, Community, and Conflict, 1669–1848, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2015, pp. 65–72; L. Argemí i d’Abadal, Agronomía y revolución agraria en España (1750–1820), in Agronomía y fisiocracia en España (1750– 1820), ed. E. Lluch, L. Argemí i d’Abadal, Valencia, Institució Alfons el Magnànim, 1985, pp. 1–43, in particular pp. 9–13. C. Poni, Gli aratri e l’economia agraria nel Bolognese, Bologna, Zanichelli, 1963, pp. 43, 64–67. See also F. Malagò (ed.), Don Domenico Vincenzo Chendi: un parroco di Tresigallo interprete e protagonista del suo tempo, Tresigallo, Comune di Tresigallo, 1995. Among the most up-todate studies on the link between European clergymen and education, their role in rural society, and their support to the populace from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries, please refer to: W.M. Jacob, The Clerical Profession in the Long Eighteenth Century, 1680–1840, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2007; P. Vismara, Il “buon prete” nell’Italia del Sei-Settecento. Bilanci e prospettive, “Rivista di storia della Chiesa in Italia”, LX (2006), no. 1, pp. 49–67; S. Hindle, On the Parish? The Micro-Politics of Poor Relief in Rural England c.1550–1750, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 2004. R. Roncalli Amici, Historical Perspectives on the Importance and Impact of Oestrids, in The Oestrid Flies: Biology, Host-Parasite Relationships, Impact and Management, ed. D.D. Colwell, M.J.R. Hall, P.J. Scholl, Oxford and Cambridge (MA), CABI Publishing, 2006, pp. 8–19, specifically p. 14. G. Armocida, B. Cozzi, La medicina degli animali a Milano: i duecento anni di vita della Scuola Veterinaria (1791–1991), Milan, SIPIEL, 1992, pp. 26–40. ANV, As, L.a., 8, letter by Carlo Amoretti, Milan, May 30, 1781.

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101. ANV, As, L.a., 8, letter by Carlo Amoretti, Milan, January 5, 1782; A. Litta, Descrizione dell’idrobalo, in OSSA, V (1782), pp. 6–10; OSSA, VI (1783), appendix 4 “Libri nuovi”, pp. 30–31. 102. ANV, As, C.a., 32, 1, letter by Carlo Amoretti, Milan, April 20, 1788; OSSA, XI (1788), appendix 3 “Libri nuovi”, p. 18. 103. ANV, As, L.a., 8, letter by Carlo Amoretti, Milan, October 22, 1782; ASPMi, vol. II, respectively pp. xciv, 205–209 and pp. 271–283. 104. ANV, As, L.a., 8, letters by Carlo Amoretti, Milan, July 21, 1784, and November 5, 1784. See also F. Baraldi, Giovanni Serafino Volta, chimico, mineralogista e paleontologo mantovano (Mantova, 1754–1842), in Atti e memorie dell’Accademia Nazionale Virgiliana di Scienze Lettere e Arti, vol. LXXXI, Mantua, Accademia Nazionale Virgiliana di Scienze Lettere e Arti, 2013, pp. 17–46. 105. ANV, As, L.a., 8, letter by Carlo Amoretti to deputy secretary Pasquale Coddè, Milan, August 15, 1786; Istruzione intorno alla falce da mietere, in ASPMi, vol. II, pp. 266–270 (see also pp. lvi–lvii, lxxxiv, cxlviii for a few more details). 106. Istruzione sulla falce da mietere il grano, without further information, but introduced by a public letter by the Minister of the Interior to the economic societies of the Kingdom of Naples, May 23, 1813 (pp. 3–4). 107. ANV, As: C.a., 32, 1, 232, Catalogo de’ socj della R. Colonia agraria di Mantova posti in ordine nell’aprile 1788, section “soci corrispondenti esteri”; L.a., 8, letter by Arduino, Venice, July 5, 1775; C.a., 32, 1, letter by Giovanni Arduino, Venice, May 6, 1788; C.a., 32, 2, letter by Arduino, Venice, March 6, 1789; C.a., 32, 2, letter by Arduino, Venice, June 13, 1789. 108. M.L. Fagnani, From “Pure Botany” to “Economic Botany”—Changing Ideas by Exchanging Plants: Spain and Italy in the Late Eighteenth and the Early Nineteenth Century, “History of European Ideas”, XLVIII (2022), no. 4, pp. 402–420, in particular pp. 404–408. 109. It is telling that, in the first volume of memoires published by the Academy of Mantua, the section dedicated to the most important regulations for that institution from 1767 to 1795 lacked examples for most of the 1770s and 1780s: MRAMn, pp. xv–xlv. About Joseph II’s cultural policies see: A. Visconti, Nuovi strumenti per lo studio e l’insegnamento della botanica nella Lombardia dell’assolutismo asburgico: gli orti di Pavia e di Milano, “Storia in Lombardia” (2013), no. 2–3, pp. 28–44; M.T. Monti, Promozione del sapere e riforma delle istituzioni scientifiche nella Lombardia austriaca, in La politica della scienza, pp. 367–392. 110. BNB, AF XI 33, 63 verso, meeting of February 3, 1781. See also Preto, Griselini Francesco. 111. Cesareo reale dispaccio con cui si crea la Società Patriotica di Milano, Milan, Marelli, 1778, p. 22.

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112. ASMi, Studi p.a., 249, report by Count of Colloredo, Mantua, October 26, 1780; ASMn, Liceo Ginnasio Virgilio – parte I , 79, personnel from 1774 to 1895. 113. ASMi, Studi p.a., 250, report by Count of Colloredo, Mantua, October 30, 1782. 114. Ibid. 115. Codice della Reale Accademia di Scienze Belle Lettere ed Arti di Mantova, Mantua, Braglia, 1794. See also copies of the dispatches of March 11, 1794 and February 5, 1795, in MRAMn, pp. xlii–xlv. 116. ANV, As, Piani, statuti, leggi, 1, 21, Piano di direzione, disciplina ed economia del R. Ginnasio di Mantova (printed) and an incomplete project for the annexing of the Royal Gymnasium to the Academy. 117. For the importance of the Mantua Botanical Garden in experimentation see D. Nocca, Horti Botanici Mantuani Historia, Descriptio, Typus, “Annalen der Botanick”, (1793), book VI, pp. 1–30. For a few examples of studies conducted by the Agricultural Colony in the 1780s see ANV, As: C.a., 30, 13, meeting of the Agricultural Colony, July 15, 1781, with an excerpt from a letter by Plenipotentiary Minister Count of Firmian to Count of Colloredo, Milan, October 31, 1780; C.a., 32, 2, reports of many experiments on sericulture and textile fibers, 1789. For some examples of the contacts with Paris and Madrid see: BCMHN, MS 1971, 988, letter by Angelo Gualandris maybe to agriculturist André Thouin, Mantua, March 17, 1784; ARJB, DIV. I, 20, 2, 27, letter by Angelo Gualandris to botanist Casimiro Gómez Ortega, Mantua, February 3, 1785. 118. Codice della reale Accademia, p. vii. 119. Ibid., pp. vii–viii, xiii–xv, xx–xix, lxx–lxxi. 120. ANV, As, C.a., 34, 4, Domenico Nocca to the Municipalità di Mantova, Mantua, June 11, 1797; C.a., 33, 1, deputy secretary Pasquale Coddè to the Amministrazione dello Stato di Mantova, Mantua, September, 17, 1797. 121. Fagnani, From “Pure Botany” to “Economic Botany”, pp. 407–408. 122. D. Nocca, Storia ragionata delle piante nostrali ed esotiche dalle quali si può estrarre dello zucchero, GFCS, V (1812), no. 1, pp. 41–52; V (1812), no. 2, pp. 81–98. 123. MRAMn, pp. Xxxii–xxxiii, xliv; P. Coddè, Memorie della Società d’Arti e Mestieri, una delle classi dell’Accademia di Scienze, Belle Lettere ed Arti di Mantova, Mantua, Agazzi, 1809, pp. 9–10. See also the documentation in ANV, As, Colonia poi Classe delle arti e mestieri, 40. 124. MRAMn, pp. 467–468. 125. See the printed announcements for the 1795 and 1796 competitions. Copies are kept in ASMi, Studi p.a., 5, gg; 5, hh. On ramie fibers see F.A. Wood, G.A.F. Roberts, Natural Fibers and Dyes, in The Cultural

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126. 127.

128. 129.

130.

131.

132.

133.

134.

History of Plants, ed. G. Prance, M. Nesbitt, New York and London 2005, pp. 287–313, in particular pp. 297–298. ANV, As, C.a., 34, 2, some papers “for 1796” dated December 28, 1795. ANV, As, D.a. Agronomia, 55/14. See also ANV, As, Cataloghi degli accademici, 5, 7, 1794, for a list of the associates to the Agricultural Class. ANV, As, C.a., 34, 2, table 1796: Opere presentate per ottenere l’accademicato. For Moschettini’s contribution to Apulian agriculture please refer to: F.A. Mastrolia, Il tabacco in Terra d’Otranto tra fine Ottocento e Novecento, in Dentro e fuori la fabbrica: il tabacco in Italia tra memoria e prospettive, ed. R. Del Prete, Milan, FrancoAngeli, 2012, pp. 243–260, in particular pp. 243–244; A. Vallone, T. e F. Briganti e altri minori, Lecce, Milella, 1983, pp. 509–512; G. Donno, Sulla scelta delle varietà di olivo nel Salento (situazione nella fine del Settecento e nel periodo attuale), “Rivista di storia dell’agricoltura”, XI (1971), no. 2, pp. 128–152. For instance, see: F. Asquini, Discorso sopra la scoperta e gli usi della torba in mancanza de’ boschi e del legname, Udine, Fratelli Gallici, 1770; A. Zanon, Della formazione ed uso della torba e d’altri fossili combustibili, Venice, Fenzo, 1767. See also the already-mentioned essay Memoria sopra la torba by Antonio Turra for the Vicenza area. ANV, As, 1, 27, Piano disciplinare per l’Accademia, Ventôse 18, Year V (March 8, 1797), p. 6. For the political and institutional framework see V. Criscuolo, Giuseppe Lattanzi segretario della reale Accademia delle Scienze di Mantova, in Con la ragione e col cuore. Studi dedicati a Carlo Capra, ed. S. Levati, M. Meriggi, Milan, FrancoAngeli, 2008, pp. 369– 403. ASMi, Studi p.m., 39, documentation of December 28, 1803, October 24, 1808, and December 10, 1809. See also; Lorenzini, Navarrini, L’Archivio storico dell’Accademia Nazionale Virgiliana, pp. 22–23; F. Sinopoli, Murari dalla Corte Girolamo, in DBI, vol. LXXVII, 2012. ASMI, Studi p.m., 39, letter by the president of the Commission on Studies, Milan, April 14, 1802; letter by Murari dalla Corte to the vice president of the Italian Republic, Mantua, June 27, 1803; report of the facts, June 28, 1808; letter by Murari dalla Corte, December 10, 1809. See the text of Law no. 75 of September 4, 1802, in BLREP, (1802), in particular pp. 297, 306. Many foreign naturalists and agriculturists were still associated with the Academy, as we can read in: ASMi, Studi p.m., 39, list of foreign correspondents associated from 1768 to 1811; ANV, As, Cataloghi degli accademici, 9–10, lists updated in 1811 and 1814.

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135. For some examples see ANV, As: C.a., 36, record of the meetings from 1792 to 1805, in particular the meeting of March 8, 1802; C.a., 35, 1, letter by Carlo Amoretti, Milan, May 5, 1800; C.a., 36, 3, message by Murari dalla Corte to the superintendent of the experiments at Villa La Favorita, Mantua, November 30, 1808; C.a., 36, 3, 1812 dossier on cotton cultivation (Sulla coltivazione del cotone) and a letter by the prefect of the Mincio to the Academy about an essay on woad, Mantua, April 2, 1811. About rice growing see A. Chinaglia, “De’ segni caratteristici per distinguere in erba il giavone dal riso… Comitato agrario dell’Accademia Virgiliana di Mantova”, AARI (1809), book II, pp. 97– 113. About substitutes for cane sugar, see ANV, As, C.a., 36, 3, 1810 and 1811 documentation about essays and experiments on sorghum sugar and grape sugar. 136. ANV, As, C.a., 36, 2, letter by deputy secretary Pasquale Coddè to secretary Idelfonso Valdastri, Mantua, July 18, 1805, with a letter by the agent abbé Bonnefond to Valdastri, Verona, July 31, 1805. 137. ANV, As, C.a., 36, 3, letter by the prefect of the Mincio, Mantua, April 25, 1811, and some draft letters by Antonio Chinaglia, superintendent of the agricultural experiments near Palazzo Te at the turn of the nineteenth century. 138. ANV, As, C.a., 36, 3, letters and competition announcements from the Agricultural Society of Modena, the Agricultural Society of Reggio, and the Academy of Sciences, Letters, Agriculture and Arts of Brescia, from 1806 to 1811. 139. ANV, As: C.a., 36, 3, letter by the prefect of the Mincio, Mantua, September 22, 1809; Murari dalla Corte to secretary Valdastri, “from home”, November 8, 1809; draft letter by Murari dalla Corte and Valdastri to the prefect, Mantua, November 11, 1809; L.a., 8, letter by Bayle Barelle, Pavia, November 27, 1809. 140. ANV, As, C.a., 36, 3, printed announcements, April 4, 1807, and October 22, 1808. 141. For Nocetti’s instruction in medicine and natural sciences see: ASPv, U. Registri, 815, from academic year 1782–1783 to academic year 1787– 1788; U. Registri, 855, June 10, 1793; U. Medicina, 526, June 10, 1793; U. Registri, 816, from 1793–1794 to 1795–1796. For his career as professor: F. Bonali, L’attività scientifica di Paolo Barbieri (1789– 1875), botanico mantovano, “Pianura: Scienze e storia dell’ambiente padano”, XXXIV (2014), pp. 3–21, especially pp. 6–7; E. Pagano, I professori di liceo nel primo Ottocento: nascita di una professione moderna, in E. Pagano, G. Vigo, Maestri e professori: profili della professione docente tra Antico Regime e Restaurazione, Milan, UNICOPLI, 2012, pp. 125– 190, in particular p. 182. See also ASMi, Studi p.m., 381, declaration of Nocetti’s temporary substitute Giovanni Tinelli, Mantua, June 27 1802.

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142. ASMi, Studi p.m., 826, 2, documentation on the restoration work on the Garden and the construction of the new greenhouse. 143. Bonali, L’attività scientifica di Paolo Barbieri, p. 6, footnote 8. 144. ANV, As: C.a., 34, 5, some notes, Prairial, 30, Year VI (June 18, 1798); C.a., 36, 3, confirmation by Nocetti and other members of receiving cotton seeds, Mantua, March 31, 1811; official request to Nocetti to correspond with the Biblioteca, Milan, April 1807; C.a., 36, record of the meetings from 1792 to 1805, meetings of March 4, 1799, and March 22, 1802. See also AARI, (1809), book I, p. 293.

CHAPTER 3

Knowledge Network

3.1 Allochthonous Plants, a Controversial Resource An important debate that developed in the context of nascent agricultural science was whether governments and institutions should invest in the acclimatization of allochthonous plant species or on the strengthening of crops already existing in Europe. States with vast colonial empires, such as France, Spain, Great Britain, and the Low Countries, were more familiar with the study of alien species, especially from overseas, and tried to start more or less successful acclimatization experiments already during the Old Regime.1 In the case of the Italian States, there was no direct link with the New World, but the articulate knowledge network that the Italian experts were able to create throughout the continent also allowed them to study many exotic species and evaluate the feasibility of their acclimatization. However, there was also a notable interest in the more accessible resources, both in the Old Regime and under Napoleonic rule, that is, the plant species already present in the area. The debate on the potential of acclimatization of allochthonous plants was very animated among northern Italian experts, as was that on the pros and cons of enhancing indigenous crops. Naturalists, agriculturists, and landowners alike participated in this debate. One of the most interesting examples in this sense is © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. L. Fagnani, The Development of Agricultural Science in Northern Italy in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Century, Italian and Italian American Studies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-20657-3_3

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the Patriotic Society of Milan, founded at the end of 1776 under Maria Theresa of Austria and active from 1778 to 1796. On the one hand, its members tended to consider the agriculture of the Duchy of Milan already to be at an excellent level, which did not need corrections or upgrades. On the other hand, some members were aware that there was indeed room for improvement in many aspects of the agricultural sector. For example, they endorsed the acclimatization of allochthonous plants to reduce the need to import raw materials and finished products and the refinement of existing cultivation practices on the varied lands of Lombardy.2 The goal of the Patriotic Society of Milan was to introduce and disseminate scientific, technical, or even just practical innovations that would increase Lombard agricultural and manufacturing productivity, obviously without damaging the existing ownership structure. The Society pursued experimentation, acclimatization, debate, and interchange in many technical and scientific fields until it ceased activities in September 1796. Early the following year, the Transpadane Republic created a short-lived società di pubblica istruzione (society of public education), recruiting some of the former members of the Patriotic Society. Those republican institutions were generally installed on the scaffolding of previous academies and societies of a cultural, scientific, and social nature, which only in a few cases would have maintained a certain degree of continuity with the practices under the Old Regime and, in any case, with substantial changes in organization and inner dynamics.3 In 1807, some Milanese aristocrats, officers, and scholars founded the Società d’incoraggiamento delle scienze e delle arti (Society for the Encouragement of Sciences and Arts), whose interests included agriculture and related topics.4 However, it was a cabinet de lecture dedicated to erudition and debate, with little direct kinship with institutions for actual research and experimentation such as the extinct Patriotic Society founded by Maria Theresa. A broad variety of experiments and extensive network of contacts had been the distinctive traits of the Patriotic Society. Of particular importance were the experiments conducted in the 1780s and 1790s in the Brera Botanical Garden and other plots of land on dye and oil plants. The goal of these experiments was sometimes to find local substitutes for expensive plant products imported from abroad, other times to acclimate species from the latter category. Good options for dyes were the woad as a typical substitute for true indigo, dyer’s greenweed as a substitute for dyer’s mulberry to produce yellow, and the attempts to obtain red dye

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from the rose madder and from the chay root (Oldenlandia umbellata L.), probably to replace costly dyes obtained from Latin American (particularly Mexican) cochineal, which was under Spanish monopoly since the sixteenth century. The seeds of the chay root were imported by the Society from London; in this case the search for alternatives also involved acclimatization tests. With regard to oil plants, the Society conducted a series of experiments related to the cultivation and use of the castor oil plant and radish, but also safflower with both dye and oil-bearing properties.5 In the mid-1770s friar Eraclio Landi, agricultural inspector of the Duchy of Milan, led a strong campaign to re-establish olive growing on Lake Como; the Patriotic Society responded by supporting his experiments. Landi was associated to the institution precisely because of his key role in relaunching agriculture. Olives were cultivated in Lombardy in previous centuries, but in Landi’s day it was a backward practice with no positive impact on the economy of the Duchy. The efforts by Landi, the Society, and landowners on Lake Como to organize nurseries, spread sound knowledge of olive growing among the farmers, and award prizes to the best of them bore fruit in the form of improved olive growing in the Lake Como area.6 Landi selected for the project a Tuscan variety of olive that was resistant to northern winds and had it brought to northern Lombardy. Once again the goal was to provide the Duchy of Milan with an autonomous source of a material—olive oil was used as a fuel, in cooking, but also for the manufacture of soap and the processing of wool—which was normally imported at a high price. Landi also promoted experiments on the acclimatization of a cereal crop presumed to be a variety of durum wheat from Tuscany and a variety of barley from Siberia suitable for growing at high altitudes in relatively poor soils. While his attempts with the former proved unsuccessful, those with the latter brought some positive results in Valsassina, a valley in the Alps of the Duchy.7 In the case of olive growing, though, difficulties were around the corner. The cold year 1795 and the closing of the Patriotic Society in 1796 hindered the plans for improvements, and some recovery measures planned under Napoleonic rule were not implemented. In 1819 and 1820, the restored Habsburg-Lorraine rulers and the Institute of Sciences, Fine Letters and Arts of Milan still looked to Landi’s old writings and the plans of the former Patriotic Society as starting points to resume olive production in Lombardy. With some oscillations, olive

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growing eventually became a stable element in agriculture and biodiversity on Lake Como. Already in late 1798, the chancellor for the census of Tremezzo, a town on Lake Como, had defined olives “the finest fruit in the region” and in 1840, along with the vineyards, mulberry groves, and woods, olive trees were one of the features that caught the attention of the writer Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley.8 The Patriotic Society kept a keen eye on the evolution of European agriculture and sought to balance its membership between people who had direct contact with the Milanese and Lombard territory and those with a more international perspective. The brothers Castiglioni, Count Alfonso and Cavalier Luigi, certainly belonged to the latter category, joining the Society in 1780 and 1789, respectively. Alfonso was even appointed senior conservatore.9 In Limbiate, just north of Milan, the Castiglionis cultivated exotic plants and Alfonso established a model estate on his property in Mozzate, not far from the town of Como. The Castiglionis’ projects, especially the Mozzate estate, were the most original and complete expression of a trend of thought that began with the article Delizie della villa (Delights of Country Living) by Pietro Verri, published in 1764 in the magazine Il Caffè. Verri already theorized a model estate on the hills of the Brianza area, in which the ideal aristocratic landowner abandoned luxury and profligacy to contribute with his own means to experimentation in botany and agriculture. In the following years, many “laboratories” of this kind were organized, such as the Crivelli greenhouse in Mombello, the Cusani and the Andreoli gardens in Desio and Milan, and the Archduke’s vegetable garden.10 The model estate of Mozzate was appreciated by the English agriculturist Arthur Young on his travels through Italy in 1789. He was instead disappointed by the meetings of the Patriotic Society of Milan and by the agricultural garden of the University of Padua in the Republic of Venice. Young, who was a foreign associate of the Patriotic Society and used to the dynamic figure of the English gentleman farmer, found the institution little receptive to innovation and without an entrepreneurial vision for its members’ lands. The Castiglionis were an exception: they were practical, cosmopolitan, had a good knowledge of botany and agricultural matters, and were eager for real innovations in these fields.11 The Castiglioni brothers’ strength was the international network of scientific correspondents—especially in botany—they had built. For instance, Alfonso Castiglioni was in contact with the Madrid Botanical

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Garden and in particular with Professor Casimiro Gómez Ortega, with whom he established a solid exchange of news, seeds, texts, and illustrations of plants. In January 1785 Castiglioni praised Gómez Ortega in a letter because “you will contribute not a little – indeed you have already contributed—to increasing this useful and praiseworthy study [botany], which has now become almost the main object of the academies of Europe”.12 He thanked him for sending an avocado seed, but asked for others as they were rare and delicate and did not fare well in the northern Italian environment and climate. Alfonso had already built a good theoretical framework on this American vegetable that also included the previous experiences of cultivation in Spain and the French colonies: This delicate fruit originating from America should multiply very well in the hot provinces of Spain, while the French have brought it from Cayenne to Isle de France [Mauritius] where it has multiplied a lot, and they say that it germinates easily. [...] I am not surprised that this laurel was cultivated in Valencia before any other city since Clusius in the work Rariorum stirpium historia names a Laurus persea (which he calls only Persea) that was in his times in the garden of a convent called “del Gesù” [of Jesus] in the same city, from which the others that are now cultivated must have come.13

Castiglioni was probably referring to a work by botanist Carolus Clusius (1525–1609) from Picardy titled Rariorum aliquot stirpium per Hispanias observatarum historia, published in 1576 and included in the corpus Rariorum plantarum historia in 1601.14 Although European consumption of exotic fruits was still for the elites, the avocado had long been a food plant, having been cultivated by pre-Columbian peoples.15 In the Milan area, pineapples, cocoa, coffee, sugarcane, and various fruit-bearing palms were cultivated in private gardens and greenhouses, but still in a rather elitist context, far from the large-scale acclimatization of plants that would be of significant economic impact. The most alert observers, such as Pietro Verri, began to recognize the backwardness in Lombardy in terms of studies on exotic plants not only as ornamental curiosities or specimens of exclusive botanical interest, but also as food and economic resources. Given that Alfonso Castiglioni studied exotic plants on the basis of their possible usefulness in northern Italy, we may surmise that he had a practical interest in the avocado.16 The avocado was one of many practically useful species that Gómez Ortega could provide, not necessarily from distant America but from

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warm climates, including Spain. Castiglioni was also interested in another plant of practical utility: the Mediterranean dwarf palm (Chamaerops humilis L.), palmito in Spanish, “from which the base of the leaf is eaten like celery and whose leaves become small brooms”. Writing to Gómez Ortega, he added: “It would also be dear to me to have the seed of the esparto, which grows in the uncultivated places near the town of Osuna and of which they do so much trade for the manufacture of mats to spread out in the apartments in the winter”.17 Castiglioni gave Gómez Ortega a table from the Deliciae florae et faunae insubricae (volumes on plant and animal species in northern Italy) by Giovanni Antonio Scopoli, professor of botany and chemistry at the University of Pavia. The work was still in progress and the first volume would be published the following year, 1786, but Castiglioni wanted it to circulate among Spanish experts and benefactors to encourage their association and financial support. He also announced that his brother Luigi was in France and planning to go to England and then to North America, a long journey from which he expected to bring interesting samples of plants and insects to Milan.18 The exchanges between the two continued in the second half of 1785 and in the following years. Alfonso Castiglioni sent various plant species to Gómez Ortega, some of which he had received in the summer of 1785 from his brother Luigi, who was traveling along the east coast of North America and eager to go to the Antilles. In November Alfonso asked Gómez Ortega if he could find a correspondent to meet Luigi when he arrived in Havana. He assumed that Luigi had managed to get some letters of introduction during his long journey, but Gómez Ortega’s help getting him a contact in Cuba would have been very advantageous. As it turned out, Luigi did not go to Havana, as Alfonso stated in September 1786, when he thanked the Spaniard for his interest.19 In November 1785 Alfonso sent some extracts from Scopoli’s Deliciae to Gómez Ortega, asking him once again if he knew people or public libraries who wished to subscribe. In May 1787 Alfonso procured new species of trees from North America for the Madrid Botanical Garden, requesting in exchange the seeds of scorzonera, various species of Cucurbitaceae “of the biggest varieties” such as melons, watermelons, and pumpkins. He also asked for white cauliflower and broccoli because he was interested in species and varieties of Brassicaceae grown outside of Italy. He added: “If you want to add some other vegetable seeds to this,

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I would be grateful.” He specified that he had already planted mulberries on his lands and that he wanted silkworm eggs from Spain, to have proof of the differences between the Iberian and Italian varieties. Lastly, if Gómez Ortega needed any kind of seeds or scientific information, Alfonso would have gladly provided them.20 Luigi Castiglioni’s voyage cited by Alfonso was conducted from 1785 to 1787. An important publication came out of it, titled Viaggio negli Stati Uniti dell’America settentrionale (Journey to the United States of North America), published in two volumes in Milan in 1790 and including an appendix with observations on the practical uses of plants in that vast area. Another important work was influenced by that voyage: Storia delle piante forastiere: le più importanti nell’uso medico, od economico (History of Foreign Plants: The Most Important for Medical or Economic Use), published in four volumes in Milan from 1791 to 1794. Specifically, Luigi wrote the Storia with the collaboration of his brother Alfonso and other erudites. The work was not exclusively dedicated to American plants but included many species from other continents, although the knowledge Luigi had gained in North America was surely a major part of the content. A law student at the University of Pavia in the late 1770s and early 1780s, Luigi had cultivated an interest in the kingdom Plantae by attending the botany lessons of Giovanni Antonio Scopoli himself outside of his regular studies. He had then taken a long journey through France, England, and North America and then back to northern Italy via Portugal, Spain, and southern France21 (Figs. 3.1 and 3.2). In the preface to his Viaggio, Luigi Castiglioni emphasized that the intent of his travel was not only to collect seeds and samples of “plants from Florida to Canada”, but also to “investigate the nature of the most useful plants, the way to cultivate and propagate them, and the uses that are made or can be made of them”.22 From this point of view, he was particularly interested in trees for the use of their wood, as had been the case for the black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.), native to some regions of North America, already introduced to Europe and studied in Paris and in the Habsburg domains. Castiglioni described the uses of the black locust and promoted its cultivation. It later spread widely and became a significant part of northern Italian flora.23 But the Storia described a broader interest in other types of plants and their uses, from tea, vanilla, and coffee to cocoa, pepper, and cotton, also

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Fig. 3.1 Sugarcane by engraver Benedetto Bordiga (Source L. Castiglioni et al., Storia delle piante forastiere: le più importanti nell’uso medico, od economico, vol. I, Milan, Marelli, 1791, plate XVII [copy from Biblioteca Universitaria di Pavia— MiC, 20. D. 14/1])

touching on dye plants: either those used directly as dyes such as true indigo, or indirectly such as the Opuntia cochenillifera (L.) Mill., which is a particular species of nopal from Mexico used for the breeding of the cochineal, an insect used for the production of a red dye. Castiglioni commented that, once the Spanish had conquered the Mexican region

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Fig. 3.2 Cotton shrub by engraver Benedetto Bordiga (Source L. Castiglioni et al., Storia delle piante forastiere: le più importanti nell’uso medico, od economico, vol. I, Milan, Marelli, 1791, plate XXI [copy from Biblioteca Universitaria di Pavia—MiC, 20. D. 14/1])

and understood the value of the connection between that kind of nopal and the cochineal, “they guarded it with extreme jealousy so that no foreigners would learn of a treasure that was exclusively theirs, and they used all means to hide this element of natural history, it being strictly forbidden even to the Spanish to enter the interior of Mexico without a passport from the viceroy”.24

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We can easily assume that one of the main goals of Castiglioni’s American voyage in 1785–1787 was to find and collect seeds to spread in Europe for practical purposes. He thus aligned with important British and French scientists and explorers, for example, Joseph Banks from the Royal Society of London, who took part in Captain James Cook’s first voyage in 1768–1771 and also organized expeditions to many parts of the globe to gather information and samples of local crops. Captain La Pérouse led two French flag expeditions in 1772–1776 and 1785–1788; in 1786 he arrived on Easter Island and was particularly interested in the local crops. The Scottish botanist and surgeon Archibald Menzies, who accompanied George Vancouver on his voyage around the world in 1791–1795, frequently noted the use that the natives made of local plants.25 A similar practical and economic concept of botany was shared by Luigi’s brother Alfonso, as we have already seen both from the projects in his estates and from the strong interest in useful plants and animals— such as the silkworms from Spain—expressed in his correspondence and exchanges with Gómez Ortega. It would be misleading to identify the interests, projects, and experiences of the Castiglioni brothers with the programs of the Patriotic Society, as also demonstrated by the deep diversity of Young’s judgments on both. However, Alfonso and Luigi had a particular say in the Society’s institutional representation of Milanese agriculture, urging experimentation and dynamism. Moreover, thanks to his direct knowledge of the United States, Luigi played an important role in fostering contacts and exchanges of technical books between the Patriotic Society of Milan and the American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, led by Benjamin Franklin as president and Benjamin Rush as secretary.26 In addition, the interest of the Castiglioni brothers in acclimatizing and spreading new plant species had the advantage of not being guided merely by a scholarly interest in the exotic and the unusual. Their goal seemed to be to actively contribute both to expanding the variety of foods eaten by the populace, especially rural people who did not have the benefit of the more satisfying diet enjoyed in urban centers, and to improving crops and textile manufacturing.27 In the Napoleonic Era in Lombardy, the University of Pavia led the development of agricultural science, both as a teaching discipline and as a field of research. It did so by reworking the bases provided by the natural

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sciences already studied in Pavia and establishing relations with the international scientific community. The debate on the possible coexistence of allochthonous and autochthonous species then reached its peak, precisely because in the new Napoleonic Europe an even better circulation of plant and animal species became possible. Soon, this debate intertwined with the urgent need for autochthonous surrogate products due to the Continental Blockade decreed by Napoleon against the British in November 1806.28 Voices supporting acclimatization arose, such as Henri Grégoire in France, clergyman and important politician active during the revolutionary years.29 At the same time, many contrary opinions arose too. Giuseppe Bayle Barelle, professor of agricultural science at the University of Pavia, was quite critical. In 1808 he wrote: The acclimatization of those exotic commodities, of which we have made a need, would certainly be a great purchase in agriculture; but besides it supposes long difficult experiments and many intermediate stages from the native climate to the new in which they are to reproduce, they would perhaps not pay for our treatments with a product such as to induce us to continue them; for example there are coffee, pineapple, and sugar [cane]. For almost two centuries these useful plants have been introduced into the Italian regions; however, they have not yet been able to get out of the greenhouses of the botanical gardens nor do they make us hope that they will one day be able to stand outdoors. On the other hand, the growth of the cultivation branches only returns to the detriment of the quantity of those other commodities which, indigenous or already acclimatized, form the wealth of the country, and it was always the principle of the greatest agriculturists not to cultivate much, but to cultivate well.30

Bayle Barelle’s words should not be read as a final condemnation of those “exotic commodities” that were difficult to acclimatize in northern Italy. However, they followed a practical logic that called for the strengthening of existing agricultural resources, trying to optimize the tight deadlines imposed by the new imperial machine. They were not dictated by strict adherence to ancestral customs, but neither did they propose the uprooting of crops, livestock, and the respective cultivation/husbandry techniques, as may have been feared in the countryside. Bayle Barelle also mentioned sugar. Here, the University of Pavia made its scientific contribution more from its botanical garden than from its agricultural garden. At the end of March 1809, the Ministry of the

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Interior of the Kingdom of Naples—under the control of Napoleon’s brother-in-law, Joachim Murat, since July 1808—asked the Kingdom of Italy for a Tahitian variety of sugarcane. The General Director of Public Education from Milan turned the question over to the rector of the University of Pavia, who in turn asked not only Bayle Barelle, but also Domenico Nocca, professor of botany.31 The variety of sugarcane requested by the Ministry of the Interior of Naples was very particular. It was growing in Tahiti when the French expedition of Admiral Bougainville landed there in 1768. The Minister was probably looking for it in the hope that it could be acclimatized in the South, where other varieties had failed or performed poorly, as in Calabria and in Bourbon Sicily.32 With the same goal, sugarcane was imported from Tunisia between the summer of 1812 and the spring of 1813, following negotiations led by the consul and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Naples with the Bey of Tunis. It was planted on land near Naples purchased by the Ministry of the Interior, but the cultivation experiments did not produce satisfactory results.33 We assume that the sugarcane grown in the Pavia Botanical Garden was not the variety requested by Naples. However, Nocca—director of an institution that was fairly keen on the study of exotic plants—was the most recommended person to turn to in the field of allochthonous plants. Bayle Barelle, on the other hand, had listed sugarcane the year before among the examples of allochthonous plants that were confined to greenhouses and botanical gardens and did not seem able to acclimatize to the Italian habitat.34 It is no coincidence that, in 1812, a study by Nocca appeared in the Giornale di fisica, chimica e storia naturale (Journal of Physics, Chemistry and Natural History). His study summarized experiments conducted in Italy up to then on plants from which sugars could be obtained. His list ranged from beetroot to grapes and included roots that he had collected on explorations of both sides of the Po River not far from Pavia, such as the purple salsify and the meadow salsify, both naturally occurring plants.35 Nocca also referred to Luigi Arduino, professor of agricultural science at the University of Padua, who had found a method for extracting sugar from the pith of a variety of sorghum cultivated in the Padua Agricultural Garden.36 The results of his experiments were widely disseminated in the departments of the Kingdom of Italy thanks to a descriptive booklet

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printed in 1811. It was publicized in the main Italian agricultural periodical of the time—the Annali dell’agricoltura—and distributed by the authorities to universities, academies, and agricultural societies. Outside the national borders, Arduino’s research had resonance at the National Institute of Paris, above all thanks to praise from Antonio Marsand, professor of political economy and statistics at the University of Padua.37 Nocca also referred to many studies from other European countries to give an idea of the urgency felt throughout Europe to find substitutes for cane sugar and that resources were not lacking at every latitude. For example, he cited the De Graminum fabrica et oeconomia published in Halle in 1804. It was a booklet taken from the thesis in medicine by one Augustin Babel, who stated that sugar could be extracted from most grasses, since “in the joints of the stems […] there are particular small vesicles, exuberant with a very sweet juice”. Nocca also referred to the French agronomist Mathieu de Dombasle, known for his experiments on beetroot and critical of the excessive amount of bad distillers who ventured into the extraction of sugar and syrup from any plant species.38 As for Spain, Nocca referred to the date palm in a particularly sweet variety widespread in the Valencian area. For this and Sicily, Nocca also indicated the Mediterranean dwarf palm, whose fruit had around the core “a pulp filamentous and rich in a very white, firm and very sweet substance” from which sugar could be extracted. The carob tree could not be missing, given that it grew spontaneously from the Campania coast in Italy to Provence in southern France, and it was extremely widespread in the Valencian area, especially in a variety that had been examined by the Spanish botanist Antonio José Cavanilles.39 Nocca extended his study to species of extra-European origin. For example, he cited for Java the extraction of sugar from the flowers of the Palmyra palm (Borassus flabellifer L.) and for the Viceroyalty of New Spain the nectar from the century plant. Actually the latter, in addition to being widespread in the areas of Lake Como and Lake Garda in northern Italy, was also cultivated in the Pavia Botanical Garden itself, so Nocca had direct morphological and physiological knowledge of it. Excellent sugary properties belonged then to the bamboo exudate; even though its exotic origin, this plant was present in the Pavia Botanical Garden as “within the greenhouses of every botanical garden in Italy”.40 Nocca compared studies, experiments, and practices carried out by third parties, such as other botanists and agriculturists, but also both learned individuals and entire populations. However, Nocca’s knowledge

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and confidence were not based only on updated literature, but partly also on direct study, made possible by the fact that some species discussed in his articles were grown in the Pavia Botanical Garden and could be compared with native local plants. In the years 1812–1814, the Giornale di fisica, chimica e storia naturale and the Annali dell’agricoltura hosted a heated debate on sugar plants involving Nocca himself, the aforementioned Filippo Re, professor of agricultural science at the University of Bologna, and Giovanni Battista Gagliardo, agriculturist from Taranto, Apulia, and inspector of Waters and Forests for the Kingdom of Naples. Specifically, Nocca, Re, and Gagliardo discussed whether the cultivation of sugarcane and the related sugar production had been practiced in the previous centuries in Calabria, a region in the Kingdom of Naples. Nocca was of the opinion that they had not, criticizing observations by a Florentine scholar named Giovanni Bettoni published in the Giornale. Filippo Re referenced the works of other scholars to refute Nocca. Gagliardo too argued against Nocca in a letter published in the Annali. He claimed that in Calabria, the cultivation and refining of sugarcane was indeed practiced in the period in question, but had been interrupted due to the competitive price of the American product. He demonstrated this through a report written by the director of the General Archives of the Kingdom of Naples at the request of the Minister of the Interior. In addition to archival documentation, Gagliardo had collected the testimony of some Calabrian owners, whose land had in the past been used for the cultivation of sugarcane and now housed excellent vineyards. Among the landowners interviewed by Gagliardo, there was Giuseppe Melograni, important geologist and mineralogist that was also interested in agricultural studies.41 The debate appeared to be historical-economic and not so much agronomic. Nonetheless, it testified to the importance of in-depth knowledge of Calabria and its resources and how they had changed over time. For instance, Napoleonic authorities and institutions could learn new economic strategies from the past. Even the Institute for the Encouragement of Natural Sciences (Istituto d’Incoraggiamento alle Scienze Naturali) in Naples showed interest in the topic.42 Some conclusive thoughts. The involvement of the authorities was proof of how much the investigation triggered by Nocca’s observations had potential repercussions on contemporary economy. While discarding the restoration and improvement of sugarcane crops, it is possible to see a link between the search for the Tahitian variety in 1809 and the debate of

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1812–1814, in both of which the Ministry of the Interior of the Kingdom of Naples and its contacts with other Italian authorities had a paramount value. The sugar case also showed how Italian scientists had broadened their prospects for investigation compared to a few decades earlier. Nocca’s intervention considered agriculture and the economy of a territorial entity—the Kingdom of Naples—to which he did not formally belong. However, he appeared to recognize it as part of a wider system to which every State had to contribute in synergy. Regardless of the opinion he gave in the debate, he demonstrated his commitment to a broad scientific community extending across the lands of modern-day Italy. We can sense a similar perspective also on Gagliardo’s side. He complained that his northern Italian colleagues had not consulted him regarding the debate in spite of the fact that he was inspector of Waters and Forests in the Kingdom of Naples and long-time agriculturist (having been operative both in southern and northern Italy in teaching, dissemination, and experimentation of agricultural topics).43 His reaction should not be interpreted as regionalism, but as an openness to broader collaboration and knowledge exchange, with the common goal of expanding agricultural knowledge and improving Napoleonic economy. In his reply, Gagliardo also addressed a wide audience, who knew little about agriculture and the resources of the South. In the debate on autochthonous and allochthonous species under Napoleonic Rule and in the experimentation on surrogates made more urgent by the Continental Blockade, there was no lack of episodes in which the farmers made their voices heard directly. This was the case of the French departments in Piedmont, when the Agricultural Society of Turin tried to spread sugar beet cultivation with seeds from Silesia. The farmers proved to be refractory to such experiment, preferring not to modify traditional crops.44

3.2 Contacts with France: André Thouin and the Paris Botanical Garden A very important role for the development of agricultural science in northern Italy was played by André Thouin, a Paris-based botanist and agriculturist who managed a European network of contacts that facilitated the circulation of species and scientific knowledge about the kingdom

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Plantae. His scientific and institutional profile rested on solid experience gained during the Old Regime and in the revolutionary decade at the end of the eighteenth century. Thouin had major roles at the Paris Botanical Garden. From 1764 to 1793 he was head gardener, then he was appointed professor of horticulture while maintaining a key role in the administration of the institution. Also a member of the Agricultural Society and the Academy of Sciences in Paris, he had contacts with botanists and agriculturists from all over Europe, promoting a wide exchange of seeds that contributed significantly to the variety of the Paris Garden and at the same time benefited foreign colleagues.45 Thouin’s network of correspondents included many northern Italians: Giambattista Guatteri, professor of botany at the University of Parma; Angelo Gualandris, agricultural inspector of the Duchy of Mantua; and Valentino Brusati and Giovanni Antonio Scopoli, both professors of botany and chemistry at the University of Pavia.46 After the outbreak of the French Revolution, the Convention nationale—the executive and legislative assembly in force until October 1795—established the National Museum of Natural History in Paris on June 10, 1793, of which the Botanical Garden was a key component. The new policy reaffirmed the link between natural sciences and the national economy, of which agricultural production was part. One of the main tasks entrusted to the Museum was to maintain exchanges both with colonial scientific institutions and with botanical gardens and natural museums in France. It thus served as the ideal center for a network of nurseries available to growers and entrepreneurs. In the exchange of species and scientific information, a priority was placed on newly discovered plants and the performance of new crops, but there was general interest in any animal, mineral, or information that could be useful for promoting progress in agriculture and manufacturing.47 On November 3, 1793, a few months after the creation of the Museum, the French authorities approved a plan calling for a botanical garden and a museum in each department of the Republic. These research and teaching centers would be organized on and partially subordinate to the Parisian model. The emphasis was on agriculture and animal husbandry, with the aim of promoting the acclimatization of exotic plants and animals having practical utility. The plan also dictated the forfeiture of naturalistic collections and rare specimens from the homes and gardens of the émigrés. They were brought to the Museum, where Thouin and his colleagues tried in the following years to sort out the enormous

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amount of material and to evaluate what was superfluous and could be sent to provincial gardens and scientific institutions. The decrees of 1793 were also based on Thouin’s awareness-raising campaign. In the summer of that year, the Convention nationale began the sale of what were now considered national assets, namely the properties requisitioned from emigrants and convicts (many were former nobles). Thanks to the large network of correspondents that he had built over the years, Thouin knew which of these properties held botanical or agricultural value, such as gardens and nurseries, and did everything he could to save them from selling off. He addressed deputies of the Convention and members of the Committee of Public Instruction who had French agricultural studies at heart, bringing this issue to their attention. He also prepared the ground for future reforms that would enhance agricultural science and dedicated structures.48 Furthermore, in addition to having a key role in the Paris Museum, Thouin had an exquisitely practical approach to botany that he expressed also in other institutions even before the Revolution. For example, in 1785 he submitted the results of his research “sur les usages économiques de certaines plantes qui croissent naturellement en Sibérie” (on the economic uses of some plants that naturally grow in Siberia) to the attention of the Agricultural Society of Paris, including a species of rhubarb. Referring mainly to the Siberian populations—but pointing out that it was also cultivated in Great Britain and France for medicinal uses—he specified that the cleaned stems could be cooked with sugar and honey to produce a type of jam, while the leaves could be used in soups.49 In 1787, the Agricultural Society appointed Thouin and three other supervisors to carry out experiments on the cultivation and use of potatoes. Many parameters had to be considered carefully and competently, including the quality of the soil, how to prepare it, when to plant, and the palatability of the stems and leaves for sheep. The experiments were commissioned by the Generality of Paris and carried out on the nearby plains of Sablons and Grenelle. The project was part of a methodological framework drawing on the studies of Antoine Parmentier, pioneer in the study of the nutritional properties of the potato.50 Furthermore, Thouin provided other members of the Society with seeds for their personal studies. For example, when presenting some experiments to the other members in 1790, naturalist and physician Pierre Joseph Amoreux, librarian of the School of Medicine at the University of Montpellier, mentioned that Thouin had provided him with seeds from

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the Canary Islands and Madeira. Amoreux did not list the species, but we may assume that they were not easily obtainable. Thus, in spite of the prominence given to botany at Montpellier and the fact that he was a member of the local Royal Society of Sciences (Société Royale des Sciences ), relations with Thouin and the Agricultural Society proved a godsend for Amoreux.51 Another benefit Thouin provided to the Agricultural Society—complementing their network of correspondents throughout France—was scientific information from the colonies. For example, in 1791 Thouin transmitted a description by the head gardener of the Port-au-Prince Botanical Garden (Haiti), Hippolyte Nectoux, of measures for the transport of seedlings and shoots from Mauritius in the Indian Ocean to the French Antilles. As Nectoux noted, of the last two shipments from Mauritius to Haiti, each containing 477 plants, one arrived in Cap-Français (today Cap-Haïtien) with only 64 exemplars in good condition and the other in Port-au-Prince with only 20. The second shipment also included 50 cuttings of “Batavian” sugarcane and 50 clove trees from Cayenne, both to be planted in Port-au-Prince and Martinique. The conditions and duration of travel had weakened the plants. Preventive measures had to be taken to ensure survival in conditions of poor or excessive sunlight, poor air circulation, exposure to salt spray, loading and unloading operations, etc. Nectoux compiled a list of suggestions for future expeditions. For instance, he suggested the cultivation of particularly sturdy seedlings for such transport, careful attention to crate design and stability, proper ventilation, and shelter from both the scorching ocean sun and rains.52 The document transmitted by Thouin was of great use for colonial agricultural policy and for the circulation of plant species intended for acclimatization in distant colonies. This process often involved the Paris Botanical Garden as a center of study and selection. As proof of the usefulness of this information, on October 13, 1791, Nectoux was appointed correspondent of the Agricultural Society of Paris and was involved for a long time in the circulation of food plants in colonial territories. A few years later, he was part of the Commission of the Sciences and Arts during Napoleon’s conquest of Egypt.53 Thouin himself was anything but a casual intermediary in matters of colonial botany. Already in 1788, his Mémoire instructif pour le transport des végétaux (Instructive Manual on the Transport of Plants) was published. It addressed issues that were similar to those raised few years later by Nectoux. Thouin also prepared instructions for exchanges of

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botanical and economically useful specimens between French colonies and the Paris Botanical Garden. These were part of a project initiated at the end of 1787 by Thouin and the Minister of the Navy to intensify transoceanic exchanges. The emphasis was placed on the need to renovate the colonial gardens, enriching their botanical heritage and enhancing the structures. It was equally necessary to place them under the direction of valid experts willing to maintain regular contact with Paris. Alongside botanical interests, there was a more concrete intention to enrich agricultural production by experimenting with new sources of wealth from the plant kingdom.54 Thus the relations between Thouin, the Agricultural Society and the Botanical Garden in Paris, the French government, and colonial scientific institutions were already solid during the Old Regime. The organization of the Museum in 1793–1794 was therefore not a complete novelty. For the entire Revolutionary decade, Thouin’s stature assured him an appointment as member of the Agricultural Section of the General Committee of Agriculture, Art, and Trade (Ministry of the Interior advisory body), and a reappointment as member of the Agricultural Society of Paris when it was reconstituted in August 1798 after being dissolved in 1793 by decree of the Convention nationale along with all other societies and academies created before the Revolution. When the National Institute of Sciences and Arts was founded in 1795—coordinating from Paris all sorts of research, experimentation, and education throughout the Republic— Thouin was appointed as representative of rural economy and confirmed in subsequent reforms.55 Thouin was thus the main authority across the Alps for northern Italian agriculturists during the Napoleonic Era. For example, the chair of agriculture and the associated agricultural garden at the University of Pavia—founded, respectively, in 1804 and 1806—immediately referred to Thouin. Upon being appointed in 1804, Professor Giuseppe Bayle Barelle was already envisioning the ideal agricultural garden and suggested to the Italian Ministry of the Interior that they contact Thouin, the Paris Botanical Garden, and the nurseries of the French capital to request seeds and seedlings of oil plants, such as radish and peanut, and fruit trees.56 After the creation of the Agricultural Garden of Pavia, Bayle Barelle and his young assistant, lecturer Carlo Bellardi, carried out hybridization experiments of Polish wheat (Triticum polonicum L.) with other wheat species. Circa 1809, the results—perhaps not entirely convincing,

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if considered in light of today’s biological and agronomic knowledge— were described in articles and a monograph, but also included in the official catalog of the Pavia Agricultural Garden.57 Taking advantage of the dispatch to Paris of a list of seeds available for exchange in 1807, Bayle Barelle had already informed Thouin of his experiments, showing the esteem he felt for the French expert’s point of view.58 Thouin was favorably impressed by Bayle Barelle’s experiments. Among the many grass seeds he requested were those of the alleged Triticum polonico-compositum hybrid. Sending them to him in July 1808, Bayle Barelle added an ear of wheat to each packet of seeds in order to facilitate identification for Thouin. He took the opportunity to give him an inflorescence of the alleged Triticum polonico-caeruleum hybrid, but not seeds, perhaps not having enough to be exchanged. He noted that the two hybrid varieties in question were stable, reproducing for two years without differences. He also specified: “As you will see from other ears included in the box, T. polonicum is very prone to hybridism. It remains to be seen if there are gains in terms of vegetation period and quality of the grains”.59 In other contexts, Giovanni Biroli, professor of agricultural science at the University of Pavia after Bayle Barelle’s death in 1811, also sought Thouin’s help. Upon assuming the chair, Biroli contacted Thouin to ask for seeds “of economic plants”, specifying that he wanted some forage plants, fiber plants, dye plants, and oil plants. Furthermore, he asked him to send seeds “of uncommon trees and shrubs”, suggesting a greater interest in non-native plants than Bayle Barelle. Regarding teaching materials, Biroli asked Thouin if he could get him models of agricultural machinery like those in his large collection. He also hoped to obtain plant physiology and pathology specimens from Paris, either naturally preserved, injected with preserving substances, or reproduced in wax, possibly by the renowned plant physiologist Charles-François Brisseau de Mirbel. Mirbel was assistant to the botanist René Desfontaines at the Museum in Paris, director of the Malmaison Gardens, and member of the National Institute. Mirbel made a name for himself among the international scientific community with the two volumes of the Traité d’anatomie et de physiologie végétales (Treatise of Plant Anatomy and Physiology) published in Paris in 1802.60 Thouin’s example allows us to underline two elements in the development process of agricultural science in the Napoleonic Era.

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The first is continuity with Old-Regime technical and scientific progress, an essential basis for the development of the French technocratic model and its reception in northern Italy. The analysis of the contacts between the Paris Botanical Garden and Italian scientific institutions— such as the botanical gardens discussed in this chapter—highlights this continuity. In the field of botanical experimentation, similar models have been studied by Emma Spary and Joseph Horan. The chapter adds to their studies, focusing on northern Italy and introducing unpublished examples, such as the relations between Thouin and Bayle Barelle, Biroli, and other experts. We could also add Domenico Nocca, who had longlasting contacts with Thouin since the 1790s, exchanging seeds, texts, and scientific knowledge, even though he remained in a context of “economic botany” rather than fully affirmed agricultural science.61 The second aspect of the development of agricultural science in those years is particularly clear in Thouin’s relation with Bayle Barelle and Biroli: these two Italians had a particularly interactive relationship with the highest authority of the Paris Botanical Garden. Bayle Barelle benefited from the channel with Paris to publicize the results of his experiments, providing Thouin with material evidence such as seeds and ears in addition to the writings that were already circulating among the international community of experts. Furthermore, both Bayle Barelle and Biroli drew on the Museum to obtain educational materials to be used in their classes and in the Pavia Agricultural Garden. The two professors from Pavia were therefore able to take advantage of the network under Napoleonic rule and also participate actively in European scientific debate.

3.3 Contacts with Spain: The Cavanilles-Nocca-Re Network Another important example of the circulation of materials and knowledge is the network that developed between Spain and northern Italy especially in the 1790s and the first decade of the following century. Of particular interest is the correspondence and exchanges between botanists Antonio José Cavanilles and Domenico Nocca and the agriculturist Filippo Re. Renowned taxonomist, agricultural scholar, and professor of botany, Spanish clergyman Cavanilles directed the Madrid Botanical Garden from 1801 to 1804. He trained in Paris from 1777 to the start of the French Revolution in 1789. He studied natural sciences with the foremost experts of the Botanical Garden, the Academy of Sciences, and the Agricultural

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Society, such as André Thouin himself, Antoine-Laurent de Jussieu, and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, sharing with them his work in botanical descriptions and applied sciences. Forced to return to Madrid in September 1789, Cavanilles immediately sought permission from the Prime Minister to study the plants of the Madrid Garden; he also became a member of the Academy of Medicine of Madrid and of the Linnean Society of London.62 Cavanilles combined an interest in taxonomic botany with botany applied to progress in agriculture, food production, manufacturing, and economic productivity generally, writing many works on these topics. In 1784, he responded to criticisms of Spanish culture, sciences, and customs by Nicolas Masson de Morvilliers in his Encyclopédie Métodique, pointing out that the French scholar had overlooked the work of the Spanish economic and agricultural societies, as well as the large variety of novel plant species brought to Europe from the Spanish colonies in the New World. He cited, among others, the useful medical species in the genus Cinchona L., cocoa, vanilla, and the dye plants achiote (Bixa orelliana L.), brazilwood (Paubrasilia echinata Gagnon, H.C.Lima & G.P.Lewis), and logwood (Haematoxylum campechianum L.).63 Cavanilles published a six-volume description of Spanish spontaneous and cultivated plant species titled Icones et descriptiones plantarum quae aut sponte in Hispania crescunt, aut in hortis hospitantur between 1791 and 1801. As I pointed out in Chapter 2, the first volume contained a natural history of Méntrida, a rural village near Toledo, with many references to its vegetation. The village was part of the Duke of Infantado’s lands and Cavanilles knew it well, having been chaplain and preceptor to the family for many years.64 His descriptions were not strictly agrarian, but reflected a broader interest in the Spanish rural environment, an interest he would continue to develop in subsequent years. He devoted another scientific study to Spanish agriculture and flora in that period, progressing from botany toward what we might now term agricultural science. Titled Observaciones sobre la historia natural, geographía, agricultura, población y frutos del Reyno de Valencia (Observations on Natural History, Geography, Agriculture, Population, and Fruits of the Kingdom of Valencia), the work was published in two volumes between 1795 and 1797. It contained observations he made on travels between 1791 and 1793 in the Valencian area on royal commission.65 He assembled his personal notes on crops, manufacturing, and rural society together with the opinions of experts he met

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during his travels. The work is broadly critical of the social organization of the Old Regime and the scarce entrepreneurship of landowners of that region.66 Cavanilles published articles on agricultural topics in Spanish periodicals dedicated to applied sciences. Published between 1797 and 1801, their content was supposedly drawn from his Observaciones and other recollections of his travels in the Valencian area. He discussed such topics as rice growing and citrus cultivation on the Spanish coast; the chufa sedge as a food plant; and the cultivation and processing of textile fibers from such plants as the century plant, esparto grass, and the velvetleaf.67 Cavanilles established a European network of scientific contacts. He maintained his connections with André Thouin and other botanists from the Paris Botanical Garden, while also exchanging letters, seeds, and dried plant samples with Italian scientists. Among the latter were Domenico Nocca from Lombardy and Filippo Re from Emilia (we discuss them below).68 Cavanilles benefited greatly from this international network when he became professor and as director of the Madrid Botanical Garden from 1801 to his death in 1804. He participated personally in the initiatives championed by the Spanish statesman Manuel Godoy to improve Spanish agricultural science. He left an important botanical legacy to subsequent Garden directors and their staff, who would be more explicitly interested in agricultural science.69 In Chapter 2 we referred to the contacts between Nocca and Cavanilles in the 1790s, when the former was in Mantua as a member of the Academy of Sciences and Fine Letters and professor of botany at the Royal Gymnasium. We also mentioned that Spanish Jesuit Juan Andrés, who lived in Mantua, played an important intermediary role between the two botanists. The contacts between Nocca and Cavanilles were very important for the circulation of plant species and remained active until the latter’s death in 1804. In the late 1790s, Nocca was transferred to the University of Pavia to teach botany and superintend the local botanical garden. At the University, he became one of the mentors of Bayle Barelle.70 Nocca held the chair of Botany throughout the Napoleonic Era and later, during the Restoration in the Habsburg Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia. He continued to study how botany could be applied to benefit national economies. In 1812 he criticized attempts coordinated by the Napoleonic

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authorities to acclimatize cotton in northern Italy, relating failed experiments in growing the plant either in greenhouses or in outdoors—the cotton was stunted or vulnerable to insect pests—to the podestà of the district of Pavia. Nocca was not alone in doubting the feasibility of doing so on the Po River plain: in Piedmont, the Agricultural Society of Turin was of a similar negative opinion. In roughly the same period, he also collected information on alternative sources of sugar and discussed sugarcane cultivation in southern Italy.71 As regard seed exchanges, Nocca maintained particularly fruitful contacts with Cavanilles in the years 1801–1804, when they both were directing scientific gardens (in Madrid and Pavia, respectively). Cavanilles significantly improved his European network in those years, receiving seeds from all over the continent and many of those with economic potential were received from Nocca, who sent him cereals for human and livestock consumption such as foxtail millet, barley, spelt, a species of oat, and Polish wheat. Among the oil-producing species, there were several varieties of radish, Crambe hispanica L., as well as woad, which could be used as a dye and was widely studied in northern Italy at the end of the eighteenth century and during the Napoleonic Era.72 Given the wide variety of seeds supplied by Nocca and sown by Cavanilles, it is difficult to claim a precise agrarian orientation at the Madrid Garden already in 1801–1804. However, cereals, oil plants, and dye plants were and would continue to be cultivated in passing from the more classical stewardship of Cavanilles to the more overtly agricultural interests of Francisco Antonio Zea, who assumed directorship of the Madrid Garden from Cavanilles’s death in 1804 to 1807, and his colleagues during Joseph Bonaparte’s brief reign in Spain (1808–1813).73 The third scientist included in this network was Filippo Re, professor of agricultural science at the University of Bologna and director of the associated scientific garden and the local Agricultural Society. Unlike Cavanilles and Nocca, and although he had earned a mathematics degree from the Seminary-College of Reggio, Re was focused on progress in agriculture almost from the beginning of his career and taught agricultural science at the Liceo of Reggio from 1790 to the end of the decade. He had been engaged in botanical and agriculture experiments on his family’s lands since the 1780s, writing to other scientists, asking for seeds and books, and exploring the northern Italian countryside.74 In the spring of 1792, as corresponding member of the Agricultural Colony, Re was associated with the Academy of Sciences and Fine Letters

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of Mantua thanks to his interests in agriculture and natural sciences “by genius and also by profession”.75 In the following years, he contributed to the Mantuan debate on agricultural topics with two written dissertations. The first was on the management of permanent meadows; it was read by the members of the Agricultural Colony in a session in early 1794. It was not very innovative. Re justified this by the fact that French agriculturists had already addressed the topic in great depth, although the processes they described could not always be applied to the varied Italian case studies. The long essay retraced the technical aspects and reaffirmed the concept of maintaining a certain systematicity throughout the process of exploiting meadows without leaving anything to chance.76 Re’s second dissertation was on the production of books and journals on agricultural subjects and was read by the Mantuan members in the winter of 1795. This work was of greater interest than its predecessor for the codification of Italian agricultural science. Filippo Re advocated reading texts with a strong critical spirit and felt that there was an excessive number of agricultural papers that added little to the advancement of the discipline and should be more strictly screened. He also hoped for better quality translations and emphasized the primacy that in any case research and experimentation had to have over theory to avoid a slide into rarefied erudition or a fashionable interest in agricultural topics.77 Skepticism regarding some kinds of agricultural literature was also present in the Annals of Agriculture, edited by Arthur Young and published in England. For instance, a correspondent pointed out in 1793 that anthologies of georgic wisdom going back to Virgil belonged to fine letters and had no use in the material improvement of agriculture.78 Re’s thoughts expressed in the dissertation were part of his manifesto relating to the organization of an Italian agricultural science that until then had been uncertain on its feet, struggling to enter universities, to free itself from botany, and to be emancipated from a predominantly foreign literature, mainly in French, English, and German. In the same theoretical framework, Re published a text in Parma in 1795 on the same topics as the second dissertation sent to Mantua, an essay in letter form (Lettera al signor Giulio Montanari della Mirandola).79 In 1803, the new Napoleonic authorities summoned Re to teach agricultural science at the University of Bologna and in 1805 to direct the agricultural garden. He arrived at the university as a thoroughly experienced botanist with a focus on agriculture. As is evident in his writings, from journal articles to educational texts, he was specifically interested in

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agricultural practices in the Italian departments, demonstrating a pragmatic approach to well-defined horticultural and agricultural issues, both in his own region, Emilia, and in others areas of Italy. Re’s pragmatism and interest in farming techniques were aptly expressed in his collection of tools and machines from different parts of Italy. He had brought chests of dirt and models of agricultural machinery to the university so he could give practical demonstrations of their use during lessons.80 Re was also interested in grain cultivation as an economic resource in Italy. His study of wheat focused mainly on its pathologies.81 Cereal diseases were discussed in the Saggio di nosologia vegetabile (Essay on Plant Nosology) and the Saggio teorico-pratico sulle malattie delle piante (Theoretical-practical Essay on Plant Diseases). He wrote various fragments on the cultivation techniques of the Poaceae in L’ortolano dirozzato (The Educated Farmer).82 The Bologna Agricultural Garden had a rich array of cereal genera and species for teaching and experimentation. In 1812 Re had access to various Triticum species, but also maize, rye, oats, barley, and rice. Other Poaceae were present, such as proso millet and fox millet, in addition to buckwheat and Tartary buckwheat in the family of the Polygonaceae.83 Like Cavanilles and Nocca, Re valued the exchange of information and specimens among the international scientific community. In 1793, barely thirty years old, he wrote to Cavanilles from Reggio. Like Nocca, he was probably taking advantage of the presence of Juan Andrés in the Mantuan and Emilian area to establish a bridgehead with the Madrid Garden. Re admitted his lack of a proper botanical training to Cavanilles, stating that it was mainly a personal interest. He explained his difficulty in maintaining his own small botanical garden in Reggio and obtaining adequate botanical texts, asking Cavanilles for guidance in assembling a proper botanical library. Although Re remained oriented toward classical botany, his letter expressed an important value he held: the utility intrinsic to scientific research. For example, he explained to Cavanilles that his small garden in Reggio was available at least to acquaintances who wanted to use it.84 Re attached a list of the plants growing in his garden in his letter: while highly unlikely, Cavanilles might have needed some of the species for the Madrid Garden.85 Re’s list suggests that his first garden had a pronounced classical botanical profile far removed from agricultural gardens, such as Pietro Arduino’s garden in Padua established in the 1760s, dedicated exclusively to practical uses, mainly food, textiles, or dyes.86 However,

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some of the plants in Re’s garden heralded the future agricultural trend in his botany studies. For example, representing food plants and the Poaceae family, he cultivated Polish wheat and foxtail millet, both of which were among the plants sent by Nocca to Cavanilles a decade later. The Cucurbitaceae family was represented by the so-called Turkish turban squash, today considered a variety of Cucurbita maxima Duchesne, but then classified in the Italian area as a separate species (Cucurbita monsulmana Ard.) and also published by Re in his later books.87 The century plant also grew in Re’s garden. It was used in the Viceroyalty of New Spain for its sweetening properties and discussed by Nocca in his articles on sugar surrogates. The presence of this plant in a relatively small botanical garden as far back as the 1790s provides evidence of the value Filippo Re placed on exchanges and keeping up to date. Re maintained intermittent contacts with Cavanilles through Juan Andrés until the death of Cavanilles in 1804. Re told Cavanilles of his desire to contribute to the Anales de ciencias naturales (Annals of Natural Sciences), of which Cavanilles was an editor and which Re had certainly had the chance to read. He sent the Spaniard at least the second volume of his own Elementi di agricoltura (Elements of Agriculture) printed in Parma in 1798.88 After assuming the post of professor of agricultural science in Bologna, he sent a copy of his opening speech for the university course to get an opinion from Cavanilles and from Juan Antonio Melón, a learned man interested in agriculture and food production, and first editor of the agrarian periodical Semanario de agricultura y artes (Weekly of Agriculture and Arts). He also asked Cavanilles to send seeds of other useful plants, with the goal of enriching Italian agriculture with non-native species. He was also fascinated by the possibility of growing species from Latin America.89 Re had a good knowledge of Spanish agricultural literature, at least that regarding applied botany. However, he was disappointed in its circulation, feeling it had the potential for greater international success, especially among an Italian audience. In one of his compendia of “georgic bibliographies”, he commented on the existence of excellent Spanish naturalists, some of them keen observers of agricultural practices, Cavanilles above all. Moreover, Spanish was a relatively easy language for speakers of Italian. The works were printed in large, undoubtedly beautiful volumes, although this had the disadvantage of making them expensive, many

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remaining “buried in un-consulted libraries of the wealthy, to the detriment of science”. Re gave the example of a recent work on Peruvian and Chilean flora, which could quite probably have introduced interesting naturalistic information on South America to Italy even though it was written in Latin. The price of the two volumes in folio was high in Madrid, plus shipping costs.90 Moreover, Re confessed that he had never read the original version of the Semanario. He had read a negative review in a French periodical accusing the Spanish weekly of publishing rather non-innovative articles. However, the Italian agriculturist proved indulgent, commenting that the review was based on very few issues of the Semanario and even if the articles were not particularly innovative, if they were technically and scientifically sound they would still have benefited Spanish agricultural knowledge.91 Nocca was even more important to Re than he was to Bayle Barelle. The contacts between Nocca and Re began in 1792, when the former was still living in Mantua, and the latter was a foreign correspondent with the agricultural branch of the local Academy. As discussed a few pages ago, Re contributed dissertations on the management of meadows and the circulation of scientific literature useful for agricultural science. He shared his opinions on the work of Mantuan academicians with Nocca. The contacts between the two scholars continued after Nocca began teaching at the University of Pavia and Re at the University of Bologna. On more than one occasion, Filippo Re sought Nocca’s opinion on matters of agricultural botany. They exchanged seeds, commented on publishing ventures and book acquisitions, and shared their opinions of national legislation on the teaching of agricultural and natural sciences. Re expressed to Nocca his skepticism about some of Bayle Barelle’s studies on cereal conducted in the Pavia Agricultural Garden.92 In this chapter, we have analyzed a European knowledge network developing through the late eighteenth century and the first two decades of the nineteenth century that included not only Cavanilles, Nocca, and Re, but also the Castiglioni brothers, Gómez Ortega, Thouin, Nectoux, Bayle Barelle, and Biroli. We understand how the constant exchange of knowledge, specimens, and seeds was fundamental in the definition of agricultural science and that this European and transoceanic network was not exclusively interested in the classification of the various species but also recognized the value of studying their economic potential. The coming-of-age of this “economic botany” owed much to the interactions among experts of different origins and backgrounds. Not only did

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the exponents of the most important European scientific institutions— Thouin for the Paris Botanical Garden or Gómez Ortega and Cavanilles for the Madrid Botanical Garden—actively participate in this process, but the northern Italian experts also made an active, original contribution, proposing thoughts, sharing knowledge, and providing the seeds of their plants. As we have seen, physical spaces also played an important role in supporting the structure and function of this international knowledge network, making it possible to grow different species of plants and experiment with cultivation methods. The peculiar case of northern Italian agricultural science once again provides a broad range of examples, spanning scientific gardens, experimental fields, and model estates and farms. Chapter 4 analyses this aspect of the discipline.

Notes 1. For example, Joseph Horan has studied the acclimatization of cotton growing in southern Europe between the Old Regime and the Napoleonic Era. In this regard see the publications from his PhD research: J. Horan, King Cotton on the Middle Sea: Acclimatization projects and the French links to the early modern Mediterranean, “French History”, XXIX (2015), no. 1, pp. 93–108; J. Horan, Napoleonic cotton cultivation: A case study in scientific expertise and agricultural innovation in France and Italy, 1806–1814, in New Perspectives on the History of Life Sciences and Agriculture, ed. D. Phillips, S. Kingsland, Cham, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015, pp. 73–91. Regarding cotton, refer also to: S. Beckert, Empire of Cotton: A Global History, New York, Knopf, 2014; G. Riello, Cotton: The Fabric that Made the Modern World, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2013, in particular pp. 87–263. About the link between science and French colonial network see J.E. McClellan III, F. Regourd, The Colonial Machine: French Science and Overseas Expansion in the Old Regime, Turnhout, Brepols, 2011. For the case of the British colonial empire see the classic L.H. Brockway, Science and Colonial Expansion: The Role of the British Royal Botanic Gardens, New York–London, Academic Press, 1979. 2. For instance, see A. Visconti, Cibo per gli uomini, cibo per gli animali: Tentativi, osservazioni ed esperimenti della Società Patriotica di Milano (1776–96), in Le vie del cibo: Italia settentrionale (secc. XVI-XX), ed. M. Cavallera, S.A. Conca Messina, B.A. Raviola, Rome, Carocci, 2019, pp. 223–234. As comparison, the importation of tobacco to Italy throughout the early modern period and attempts at acclimatization

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3.

4.

5.

6.

constituted an interesting reference for my analysis of other products in this chapter. On the evolution of tobacco as a commodity in early modern and nineteenth-century Italy and its cultural and political implications, see S. Levati, Storia del tabacco nell’Italia moderna, secoli XVII-XIX , Rome, Viella, 2017. L. Maddaluno, De Facto policies and intellectual agendas of an eighteenthcentury Milanese agricultural academy: Physiocratic resonances in the Società Patriotica, in The Economic Turn: Recasting Political Economy in Enlightenment Europe, ed. S.A. Reinert, S. Kaplan, London, Anthem Press, 2019, pp. 395–438; C. Rotondi, “Rendere facili le verità utili”. Dalla Società Patriottica all’Istituto lombardo (1776–1859), in Associazionismo economico e diffusione dell’economia politica nell’Italia dell’Ottocento: Dalle società economico-agrarie alle associazioni di economisti, vol. I, ed. M.M. Augello, M.E.L. Guidi, Milan, FrancoAngeli, 2000, pp. 39–62, in particular pp. 39–42; S. Nutini, La Società di pubblica istruzione di Milano, “Studi storici”, XXX (1989), no. 4, pp. 891–916; E. Brambilla, Le accademie nella Repubblica Cisalpina e nel Regno italico, con particolare riguardo all’Istituto nazionale, in Napoleone e l’Italia, vol. I, ed. Accademia Nazionale dei Licei, Rome, Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, 1973, pp. 473–491, specifically pp. 473–478. In 1809, the monthly journal of the Society published in installments a treatise by agriculturist Giuseppe Bayle Barelle on phytopathology and parasitology, also printed as a volume. See ASMi, Agricoltura p.m., 72, note written by bursary Carlo Pagnini to the Ministry of the Interior about the expenses borne by the Society for the printing of 300 copies of Bayle Barelle’s treatise, Milan, August 14 and 19, 1809, with the answer communicating the reimbursement, Milan, August 28, 1809. The volume was G. Bayle Barelle, Saggio intorno agli insetti nocivi, ai vegetabili economici, agli animali utili all’agricoltura, ed ai prodotti dell’economia rurale, Milan, Marelli, 1809. On the history of the Society for the Encouragement of Sciences and Arts refer to M. Meriggi, Milano borghese. Circoli ed élites nell’Ottocento, Venice, Marsilio, 1992, pp. 36–41, 61–62, 87–88. A. Visconti, Il giardino botanico della Società Patriotica di Milano (1776– 1796), “Museologia scientifica”, XIV (1998), no. 1, pp. 263–269; J. Baskes, Seeking red: The production and trade of cochineal dye in Oaxaca, Mexico, 1750–1821, in The Materiality of Color: The Production, Circulation, and Application of Dyes and Pigments, 1400–1800, ed. A. Feeser, M. Daly Goggin, B. Fowkes Tobin, Farnham-Burlington, Ashgate, 2012, pp. 101–117. About the relaunch of olive growing see ASMi, Agricoltura p.a., 77, documentation from the 1770s to the 1790s. Landi officially started to attend the meetings in January 1780, as we can read in BNB, AF XI 33, 22 verso, but the Society had already planned to associate the agricultural

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inspector of the Duchy of Milan at the end of 1776 (BNB, AF XI 33, 2 verso). A. Visconti, Il trasferimento delle piante nella Lombardia austriaca negli ultimi decenni della dominazione asburgica, “Altre modernità” (2013), no. 10–11, pp. 39–51, in particular pp. 42–44; A. Visconti, Paesaggi di Lombardia: il caso dell’ulivo tra ambienti naturali e tecniche manifatturiere (1772–1796), in Oltre il giardino: le architetture vegetali e il paesaggio, ed. G. Guerci, L. Pelissetti, L. Scazzosi, Florence, Olschki, 2003, pp. 167–174; G. Pescosolido, Unità nazionale e sviluppo economico in Italia 1750–1813, Rome-Bari. Laterza, 1998, p. 28. See also: G. Biroli, Trattato di agricoltura, vol. III, Novara, Mezzotti and Vercellotti, 1811, pp. 164–165. Archivio Storico Civico di Milano, Materie, 426, dossier “Olive ed ulivi”, Tremezzo, Frimaire 15, year VII (December 5, 1798); AIL, Archivio storico, section I, IV, 7, 3, documentation of 1819 and 1820. For the testimony of Wollstonecraft Shelley see B.T. Bennet (ed.), Selected Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995, pp. 296–300, Mary Shelley to Everina Wollstonecraft, Lake Como, July 20, [1840]. For an introductory profile of the two brothers see C. Capra, Castiglioni Alfonso and Castiglioni Luigi, both in DBI, vol. XXII, 1979. For more bibliography refer to the following notes. S. Sicoli, Introduzione, in L. Castiglioni et al., Storia delle piante forastiere: le più importanti nell’uso medico, od economico, ed. L. Saibene, Milan, Jaca Book, 2008, pp. 11–34, in particular pp. 13–16; A. Ferraresi, Linnaeus in Lombardy, in Linnaeus in Italy: The Spread of a Revolution in Science, ed. M. Beretta, A. Tosi, Sagamore Beach, Science History Publications, 2007, pp. 147–167, specifically pp. 164–167. Sicoli, Introduzione, p. 20; P.G. Zanetti, L’orto agrario di Padova e l’agricoltura nuova, “Rivista di storia dell’agricoltura”, XXXVI (1996), no. 1, pp. 5–67, specifically p. 6. About English, and generally British, rural society, “enlightened” landownership, and cultural and social implications see: M.L. Fagnani, From botany to agriculture: The scientific network linking Great Britain, Spain and Italy in the late eighteenth century, “Agricultural History Review”, LXIX (2021), no. 2, pp. 213–235; H. French, The “Remembered Family” and dynastic senses of identity among the English gentry c. 1600–1800, “Historical Research”, XCII (2019), no. 257, pp. 529–546; B. McDonagh, Elite Women and the Agricultural Landscape, 1700–1830, Abingdon-New York, Routledge, 2018; C. Christie, The British Country House in the Eighteenth Century, Manchester-New York, Manchester University Press, 2000. See also the two classic studies G.E. Mingay, English Landed Society in the Eighteenth Century, LondonToronto, Routledge and Kegan Paul—Toronto University Press, 1963,

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D. Spring, The English Landed Estate in the Nineteenth Century: Its Administration, Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1963. ARJB, DIV. I, 20, 2, 5, letter by Alfonso Castiglioni to Casimiro Gómez Ortega, Milan, January 15, 1785. Ibid. Castiglioni called the avocado “this laurel” because at the time both the avocado and the actual laurel were considered to belong to the same genus, Laurus. For more information on this naturalist see some up-to-date studies, notably: F. Egmond, The World of Carolus Clusius: Natural History in the Making 1550–1610, London, Pickering & Chatto, 2010; F. Egmond, P.G. Hoftijzer, R.P.W. Visser (eds.), Carolus Clusius: Towards a Cultural History of a Renaissance Naturalist, Amsterdam, KNAW, 2007. The consumption of avocado among pre-Colombian peoples emerges in some studies in A. Capparelli, A. Chevalier, R. Piqué (eds.), La alimentación en la América precolombina y colonial: una aproximación interdisciplinaria, Madrid, CSIC, 2009. For an interesting study on the circulation and consumption of exotic fruits in the eighteenth century see L. Maddaluno, “A box of fresh pineapples to the Holy Father” : Pineapples and the worlds of sociability in eighteenth-century Rome, in The Pineapple from Domestication to Commodification: Re-presenting a Global Fruit, ed. M. Calaresu, V. Avery, Oxford, Oxford University Press, forthcoming. Sicoli, Introduzione, pp. 16–17. Both quotes are from ARJB, DIV. I, 20, 2, 5, letter by Alfonso Castiglioni to Casimiro Gómez Ortega, Milan, January 15, 1785. Ibid. On Scopoli’s Deliciae see M. Siviero, C. Violani, Drawings for an exacting author: illustrations from Giovanni Antonio Scopoli’s Deliciae florae et faunae insubricae, “Archives of Natural History”, XXXIII (2006), no. 2, pp. 214–231. ARJB, DIV. I, 20, 2, 6 and 20, 2, 7: Two letters by Alfonso Castiglioni to Casimiro Gómez Ortega, Milan, November 8, 1785, and September 29, 1786. ARJB, DIV. I, 20, 2, 6; 20, 2, 7; 20, 2, 8: Three letters by Alfonso Castiglioni to Casimiro Gómez Ortega, Milan, November 8, 1785, September 29, 1786, and May 26, 1787. Refer also to the list of seeds sown in the Madrid Botanical Garden on May 24, 1787 (ARJB, DIV. I L.S. 6 1787, 24 verso) and noted as sent by Castiglioni, probably with the letter of September 1786. My translation. ASPv, U. Registri, 814 and 815, in which Luigi Castiglioni is listed as law student from the academic year 1779–1780 to the academic year 1782– 1783. For the cultural and intellectual framework of his journey through North America see G. Di Capua, L. Saibene, Luigi Castiglioni nel Paese degli uomini liberi, Soveria Mannelli, Rubbettino, 2005.

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22. L. Castiglioni, Viaggio negli Stati Uniti dell’America settentrionale fatto negli anni 1785, 1786 e 1787 , vol. I, Milan, Marelli, 1790, p. vi. 23. Castiglioni, Viaggio negli Stati Uniti, vol. II, pp. 367–370. Interesting is the analysis of Castiglioni’s role in global plant circulation advanced many decades ago in H. Li, Luigi Castiglioni as a pioneer in plant geography and plant introduction, “Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society”, XCIX (1955), no. 2, pp. 51–56. 24. L. Castiglioni et al., Storia delle piante forastiere: le più importanti nell’uso medico, od economico, vol. IV, Milan, Marelli, 1794, p. 95. See also A.J. Cavanilles, Observations sur l’article Espagne inséré dans la nouvelle Encyclopédie, Paris, Jombert, 1784, p. 155, footnote. 25. Sicoli, Introduzione, p. 21. On the relationship between natural sciences and voyages in the eighteenth century see: Fagnani, From botany to agriculture, pp. 221, 230–231; L. Schiebinger, Prospecting for drugs: European naturalists in the West Indies, in Colonial Botany: Science, Commerce, and Politics in the Early Modern World, ed. L. Schiebinger, C. Swan, Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005, pp. 119–133; M.N. Bourguet, L’esploratore, in L’uomo dell’Illuminismo, ed. M. Vovelle, Rome-Bari, Laterza, 1992, pp. 283–351. 26. BNB, AF XI 38: 3 recto, letter by Carlo Amoretti to the American Philosophical Society (called “Società Economica”), March 1786; 3 verso, letter by Amoretti to Alfonso Castiglioni, April 6, 1786; 18 recto, letter by Amoretti to Alfonso Castiglioni, March 3, 1787. 27. Another example were some experiments of the Patriotic Society on the acclimatization in Habsburg Lombardy of wild rice from North America as a food: Luigi Castiglioni was assigned to supervise these experiments given that he had seen wild rice growing in its native environment during his journey in 1785–1787 (BNB, AF XI 39: 61 recto, letter by Carlo Amoretti to Antonio Songa, imperial consul in London, May 1, 1792). On the complex dietary situation in eighteenth-century Europe, please refer to the articulate analysis in M. Montanari, La fame e l’abbondanza: storia dell’alimentazione in Europa, Rome-Bari, Laterza, 1993, pp. 161– 188 (the book has also been published in English as The Culture of Food, Oxford, Blackwell, 1996). 28. L. Brassart, Improving useful species: A public policy of the Directoire Regime and the Napoleonic Empire (1795–1815) in Europe, Historia Agraria: Revista de agricultura e historia rural, LXXV (2018), pp. 93– 113. For perspectives on the political, social, and cultural context of the Continental Blockade see: J. Joor, K.B. Aaslestad (eds.), Revisiting Napoleon’s Continental System Local, Regional and European Experiences, Basingstoke-New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. Also interesting K.B. Aaslestad, War without battles: Civilian experiences of economic warfare during the Napoleonic Era in Hamburg, in Soldiers, Citizens and Civilians:

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30. 31.

32.

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Experiences and Perceptions of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, 1790–1820, ed. A. Forrest, K. Hagemann, J. Rendall, Basingstoke-New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2009, pp. 118–136. H. Grégoire, Nouveaux développements sur l’amélioration de l’agriculture, par l’établissement de maisons d’économie rurale, Paris, Imprimerie Nationale, no year, pp. 5–7. G. Bayle Barelle, Saggio intorno la fabbricazione del cacio detto Parmigiano, Milan, Silvestri, 1808, pp. 6–7. My translation. ASPv, U. Rettorato, 184, 3, letter by the General Director of the Public Education to the rector of the University of Pavia, Milan, March 29, 1809; draft answers by the rector, Pavia, April 3 and 5, 1809. M. Vitrac, T. Teai, F.-R. Goebel, I. Shilitouzi, Organic sugarcane cultivation in Tahiti, “AGROFOR International Journal”, III (2018), no. 3, pp. 31–38, in particular p. 32. Difficulties in the acclimatization of sugarcane in the Kingdom of Naples are reported in a supplement on sugar extraction from grape juice of the Monitore Napolitano, September 22, 1810, no. 477. D. Ciccolella, “Un genere pressoché necessario”. Consumo, politica e industria dello zucchero nel Regno di Napoli in età rivoluzionaria e napoleonica, “Storia economica”, VII (2004), no. 2–3, pp. 263–314, specifically pp. 296–298. Horti Botanici Ticinensis Sinopsis, Pavia, without printer, 1803, p. 37; Onomatologia seu Nomenclatura Plantarum quae in Horto Medico Ticinensi Coluntur anno MDCCCXIII , Pavia, Bolzani, 1813, p. 48. No sugar cane was cultivated in the Pavia Agricultural Garden, as its catalog shows: C. Bellardi, Catalogo primo de’ vegetali economici che si coltivano nel R. Orto Agrario dell’Università di Pavia, Pavia, without printer, [1809]. D. Nocca, Storia ragionata delle piante nostrali ed esotiche dalle quali si può estrarre dello zucchero [part 2], GFCS, V (1812), no. 2, pp. 81–98, in particular pp. 83–84. A. Bassani, Gli studi agroindustriali di Luigi Arduino: lo zucchero d’olco cafro e l’estratto tintorio del solano di Guinea, “Quaderni per la Storia dell’Università di Padova”, XXXVIII (2005), pp. 33–128. L. Arduino, Istruzione sull’olco di Cafreria, Padua, Penada, 1811, 2nd edition, publicized in AARI, (1811), book X, pp. 179–183. The praise by Marsand is the Mémoire adressé à messieurs les membres de l’Institut de France, composant la classe des sciences physiques et mathématiques, sur la découverte de mons. Arduino professeur de science agraire dans l’université royal de Padoue, AARI, (1814), book XXI, pp. 60–63. This sorghum was already indexed as Holcus cafer in the catalog of the Padua Agricultural Garden printed a few years earlier: Catalogo primo delle piante che si coltivano nel r. orto di agricoltura di Padova nonché quelle che vi crescono spontanee, Padua, Penada, 1807, p. 18.

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38. Nocca, Storia ragionata [part 2], pp. 81–83. See also De Graminum fabrica et oeconomia, ut gradum doct. medicin. adipiscatur publ. disputabit Aug. Babel. Hallae. 1804, “Neues Journal für die Botanik”, (1806), book I, pp. 169–170. About Dombasle and his theoretical contribution to nineteenth-century agricultural science and agrarian education see, among other studies, F. Knittel, L’Europe agronomique de C.J.A. Mathieu de Dombasle, “Revue d’histoire moderne et contemporaine”, LVII (2010), no. 1, pp. 119–138. 39. D. Nocca, Storia ragionata delle piante nostrali ed esotiche dalle quali si può estrarre dello zucchero [part 1], GFCS, V (1812), no. 1, pp. 41–52, specifically pp. 49–50. 40. Ibid., pp. 47–48. For instance, the century plant and the bamboo (the latter as Bambusa arundinacea Willd.) were both indexed in the 1813 Pavia Botanical Garden catalog: Onomatologia seu Nomenclatura plantarum, pp. 4 and 11. 41. G. Bettoni, Compendio istorico di notizie relative alla materia zuccherina indigena e esotica, GFCS, V (1812), no. 3, pp. 161–181; D. Nocca, Lettera al sig. prof. Luigi Brugnatelli sull’origine dello zucchero e su la coltivazione antica del cannameli in Calabria, GFCS, V (1812), no. 4, pp. 278–286; F. Re, Sulla coltivazione dello zucchero in Calabria, lettera al sig. prof. Brugnatelli, GFCS, V (1812), no. 6, pp. 447–452; D. Nocca, Lettera al sig. cav. Luigi Rossi in conferma dell’opinione che il cannamele non fu mai coltivato in Calabria, GFCS, VI (1813), no. 1, pp. 60–72; G.B. Gagliardo, Lettera al cav. Filippo Re p. profess. di agraria nell’università di Bologna colla quale si dimostra che le canne a zucchero furono nei secoli decimo quinto e decimo sesto coltivate nelle Calabrie, AARI, (1814), book XXII, pp. 140–168. 42. Gagliardo, Lettera a Filippo Re, p. 140. 43. On Gagliardo’s intellectual contribution to Italian agrarian education and the dissemination of agricultural science see: F. Guida, Giovan Battista Gagliardo: prete illuminista del Settecento, Taranto, Edizioni Archita, 2020; V. Trombetta, L’editoria a Napoli nel decennio francese: produzione libraria e stampa periodica tra Stato e imprenditoria privata (1806–1815), Milan, FrancoAngeli, 2011, pp. 120–128. 44. P.L. Ghisleni, L’orto della Crocetta dell’Accademia di agricoltura di Torino, “Rivista di storia dell’agricoltura”, XXXVI (1996), no. 1, pp. 109– 121, specifically p. 113. 45. E.C. Spary, Utopia’s Garden: French Natural History from Old Regime to Revolution, Chicago-London, The University of Chicago Press, 2000, pp. 49–98; Y. Letouzey, Le Jardin des Plantes a la croisée des chemins avec André Thouin, 1747–1824, Paris, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, 1989, pp. 63–244. French naturalist Georges Cuvier (1769–1832) wrote an interesting eulogy describing Thouin’s career in the framework of the

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49. 50.

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evolution of the Paris Botanical Garden: G. Cuvier, Éloge historique de M. A. Thouin lu dans la séance publique annuelle de l’Académie du lundi 20 juin 1825, in Mémoires de l’Académie Royale des Sciences de l’Institut de France, vol. VII, Paris, Didot, 1827, pp. ccxiii-ccxxiv. BCMHN: MS 1971, 988–989 (Gualandris) and 990 (Guatteri); MS THO 367/4 (Scopoli); MS THO 367/5 (Brusati). Brassart, Improving useful species, pp. 99–103; P. Lacour, La République naturaliste: Collections d’histoire naturelle et Révolution française (1789– 1804), Paris, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, 2014, pp. 341–346. For the annotated text of the decree for the establishment of the Museum see M.J. Guillaume (ed.), Procès-verbaux du Comité d’instruction publique de la Convention national, vol. I, Paris, Imprimerie Nationale, 1891, pp. 479–486. For an example of animal husbandry experiments on the grounds of the Museum see L.J.-M. Daubenton, Plan des expériences qui se font au Jardin des plantes sur les moutons et d’autres animaux domestiques, in Mémoires de l’Institut National des Sciences et Arts pour l’an IV de la République: sciences mathématiques et physiques, vol. I, Paris, Baudouin, 1798, pp. 377–386. Spary, Utopia’s Garden, pp. 92–93, 227–231; C.C. Gillispie, Science and Polity in France: The End of the Old Regime, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1980, pp. 290–292. MSAP, (1785), summer issue, pp. xxx-xxxii. A. Thouin, P.M.A. Broussonet, G.L.M. Dumont de Courset, A.A. Cadet de Vaux, Rapport sur la culture des pommes de terre faite dans la plaine des Sablons et celle de Grenelle, in MSAP, (1788), winter issue, pp. 46–57. About Parmentier and his studies on nutritional properties of potatoes and also milk see: E.C. Spary, Feeding France: New Sciences of Food, 1760–1815, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2014, pp. 60–76; B. Orland, Enlighted milk: Reshaping a bodily substance into a chemical object, in Materials and Expertise in Early Modern Europe: Between Market and Laboratory, ed. U. Klein, E.C. Spary, Chicago-London, The University of Chicago Press, 2010, pp. 163–197. P.J. Amoreux, Observations sur un moyen de rendre les observations thermométriques plus intéressants au cultivateur, in MSAP, (1790), winter issue, pp. 33–41. Amoreux also wrote many essays on medicine, natural history, and agriculture, besides being professor of natural history for a brief time: J. Paget, Amoreux Pierre Joseph, in The Biographical Dictionary of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, vol. II, book II, London, Longman Brown Green and Longmans, 1843, p. 494. H. Nectoux, Observations sur la préparation des envois de plantes et arbres des Indes Orientales pour l’Amérique, et leur traitement pendant la traversée, in MSAP, (1791), winter issue, pp. 110–123. For Nectoux’s contribution to the French botanical network outside Europe please refer

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54. 55.

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to: J.E. McClellan III, Colonialism and Science: Saint Domingue in the Old Regime, Chicago-London, The University of Chicago Press, 2010, 2nd edition, pp. 157–162; P. Bret, Le réseau des jardins coloniaux: Hypolite Nectoux (1759–1836) et la botanique tropicale de la mer des Caraïbs aux bord du Nil, in Les naturalistes français en Amérique du Sud, XVI e XIX e siècles, ed. Y. Laissus, Paris, Éditions du CTHS, 1995, pp. 185–216. More in general, on the commerce and circulation of plants around the globe in the early modern period and the nineteenth century see the articles in the interesting “Revue d’histoire moderne et contemporaine”, LXVI (2019), no. 3, special issue Le commerce des plantes: Empires, réseaux marchands et consommation (XVIe-XXe siècle), ed. H. Blais, R. Markovits. On the importance of colonial botanical gardens see H. Blais, L’empire de la nature : une histoire des jardins botaniques coloniaux (fin XVIIIe siècle – années 1930), Champ Vallon, Ceyzérieu dans l’Ain, 2023. MSAP, 1791, autumn issue, p. vi. See also P. Bret, La plantation idéale des Lumières: nature, esthétique et équilibre dans la caféière du jardinierbotaniste Nectoux, in Le sucre, de l’Antiquité à son destin antillais, ed. D. Bégot, J.-C. Hocquet, Paris, Éditions du CTHS, 2000, pp. 215–242. Spary, Utopia’s Garden, pp. 90–91. Mémoires publiés par la Société d’Agriculture du Département de la Seine, vol. I, Paris, Huzard, year IX, pp. 15–21; Institut de France: Lois et règlements, in L’Institut de France: Lois, statuts et règlements concernant les anciennes académies et l’Institut de 1635 à 1889, ed. L. Aucoc, Paris, Imprimerie Nationale, 1889, pp. 12, 78. See also Brassart, Improving useful species, p. 96. ASMi, Autografi, 111, letter by Giuseppe Bayle Barelle to the Minister of the Interior, Milan, June 14, 1804. C. Bellardi, Saggio botanico-georgico intorno all’ibridismo delle piante e tre nuove razze di formento ottenute mediante artificiale spuria fecondazione, AARI, (1809), book III, pp. 161–184; G. Bayle Barelle, Dei cangiamenti che produce nei vegetabili la coltivazione, AARI, (1809), book III, pp. 245–256; G. Bayle Barelle, Monografia agronomica dei cereali: del formento, Milan, Silvestri, 1809, table 1, table 2, and p. 118. For the indexing of the alleged hybrids see Bellardi, Catalogo primo de’ vegetali economici, pp. 7–8. BCMHN, MS 1971, 152, letter by Giuseppe Bayle Barelle to André Thouin, Pavia. November 29, 1807, 1 recto. BCMHN, MS 1971, 152, letter by Giuseppe Bayle Barelle to André Thouin, Pavia, July 20, 1808. BCMHN, MS THO 367/1, letters by Giovanni Biroli to André Thouin, Pavia, November 3 and December 2, 1811. The details about Mirbel’s life are from P. Jaussaud, É.-R. Brygoo, Du Jardin au Muséum en 516

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67. 68.

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biographies, Paris, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, 2004, pp. 483– 485. For Horan’s and Spary’s studies see the previous notes. The letters written by André Thouin to Domenico Nocca are in BUPv, Autografi, 4, dossier André Thouin. J.M. López Piñero, La obra botánica de Cavanilles, in Antonio José Cavanilles (1745–1804): Segundo centenario de la muerte de un gran botánico, ed. Real Sociedad Económica de Amigos del País de Valencia, Valencia, Real Sociedad Económica de Amigos del País, 2004, pp. 11–146. Cavanilles, Observations sur l’article Espagne, pp. 3–5 and p. 155, footnote. See also N. Guasti, L’esilio italiano dei gesuiti spagnoli: identità, controllo sociale e pratiche culturali (1767–1798), Rome, Storia e Letteratura, 2006, pp. 380–383. A.J. Cavanilles, Icones et descriptiones plantarum quae aut sponte in Hispania crescunt, aut in hortis hospitantur, vol. I, Madrid, Imprenta Real, 1791, pp. 29–31. A.J. Cavanilles, Observaciones sobre la historia natural, geografía, agricultura, población y frutos del Reyno de Valencia, 2 volumes, Madrid, Imprenta Real, 1795–1797. A. González Bueno, Gómez Ortega, Cavanilles, Zea, tres botánicos de la Ilustración: la ciencia al servicio del poder, Madrid, Nivola, 2002, pp. 88– 96. Fagnani, From botany to agriculture, p. 231. ARJB, DIV. XIII: 4, 2, 1, letter by Filippo Re to Antonio José Cavanilles, Reggio, October 20, 1793; 4, 2, 2, letter by Re to Cavanilles, Bologna, April 2, 1804. BUPv, Autografi, 3, many letters from Cavanilles to Domenico Nocca, from 1792 to 1804. D.E. Soto Arango, Francisco Antonio Zea y la enseñanza de la agricultura en el Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid, “Historia critica”, (1998), no. 16, pp. 43–60; D.E. Soto Arango, Cavanilles y Zea: una amistad políticocientífica, “Asclepio: Revista de historia de la medicina y de la ciencia”, XLVII (1995), no. 1, pp. 169–196. M.L. Fagnani, L’agraria “italiana” prima e dopo Napoleone: percorsi formativi di una scienza, “Società e Storia”, (2020), no. 169, pp. 457– 491, in particular pp. 463–467. BUPv, Autografi, 4, letter by Domenico Nocca to the podestà of Pavia, January 15, 1812. Horan, Napoleonic Cotton Cultivation; R. De Lorenzo, Società economiche e istruzione agraria nell’Ottocento meridionale, Milan, FrancoAngeli, 1998, pp. 181–184. ARJB, DIV. I L.S. 28 1803, from 118 to 140 recto. D.E. Soto Arango, M.A. Puig Samper Mulero, Francisco Antonio Zea (1766–1822). Las facetas de un crientífico criollo, in Naturalistas proscritos,

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ed. E. Cervantes Ruiz de la Torre, Salamanca, Prensa de la Universidad, 2011, pp. 61–72. G. Fumi, Filippo Re (nota introduttiva), in Scritti teorici e tecnici di agricoltura, vol. II, ed. S. Zaninelli, Milan, Il Polifilo, 1989, pp. 385–403. ANV, As, L.a., 11, Filippo Re expresses thanks for being accepted as an associate of the Agricultural Colony, Reggio, May 5, 1792. See also the lists of the members in ANV, As, Cataloghi degli accademici, 5, 8–10, years 1810, 1811, and 1814. ANV, As, D.a. Agronomia, 56/5, 2 recto. ANV, As, D.a. Agronomia, 56/15. As reported in P.M. Jones, Agricultural Enlightenment: Knowledge, Technology and Nature, 1750–1840, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2016, p. 6. F. Re, Al signor Giulio Montanari della Mirandola, convittore del Collegio di Reggio e principe di lettere, Parma, Carmignani, 1795. M.L. Boriani, L. Baroni, L’orto agrario di Bologna, “Rivista di storia dell’agricoltura”, XXXVI (1996), no. 1, pp. 123–182, in particular pp. 141–143; Fumi, Filippo Re (nota introduttiva), pp. 389–392. F. Re, Sul morbo che guasta i frumenti, in Toscana detto golpe e volpe, e in Lombardia marzetto, carbone o carboncino, “Giornale d’agricoltura”, (1807), book I, pp. 59–68; F. Re, Nota sopra una specie di frumento che si coltiva nei contorni di Reggio detto farro, AARI (1809), book I, pp. 93–94. F. Re, L’ortolano dirozzato, 2 volumes, Milan, Silvestri, 1811; F. Re, Saggio teorico-pratico sulle malattie delle piante, Venice, Vitarelli, 1807; F. Re, Saggio di nosologia vegetabile, Florence, Tofani e Comp., 1806. F. Re, Catalogo delle piante coltivate nell’orto agrario della r. Università di Bologna nell’anno 1812, AARI, (1812), book XIV, pp. 118–152. ARJB, DIV. XIII, 4, 2, 1, letter by Filippo Re to Antonio José Cavanilles, Reggio, October 20, 1793. A note by Cavanilles in the same letter states that he replied on March 1 and 2, 1794. ARJB, DIV. XIII, 4, 2, 5, list without date or signature, but attributable to Re thanks to the handwriting and some references in the 1793 letter. Zanetti, L’orto agrario di Padova, pp. 11–17; P. Del Negro, La politica di Venezia e le accademie di agricoltura, in La politica della scienza: Toscana e stati italiani nel tardo Settecento, ed. G. Barsanti, V. Becagli, R. Pasta, Florence, Olschki, 1996, pp. 451–489, in particular pp. 453–454. Re, L’ortolano dirozzato, vol. II, p. 393; F. Re, Nuovi elementi di agricoltura, vol. II, Milan, Silvestri, 1818, p. 154. L. Brunori (ed.), Epistolario de Juan Andrés y Morell (1740–1817), vol. II, Valencia, Generalitat Valenciana, 2006: pp. 1057–1058, letter by Juan Andrés to Antonio José Cavanilles, Parma, August 15, 1801; p. 1147, Andrés to Cavanilles, Parma, July 4, 1803; pp. 1147–1148, Andrés to

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Cavanilles, Parma, August 17, 1803. These three letters are kept in ARJB, DIV. XIII, 5, 2, 40–41 and 5, 3, 33. ARJB, DIV. XIII, 4, 2, 2, letter by Filippo Re to Antonio José Cavanilles, Bologna, April 2, 1804. Melón was the first editor of the Semanario de agricultura y artes and was interested in agricultural experimentation: A. Calama y Rosellón, Juan Antonio Melón González, in DBE, vol. XXXIV, 2012. F. Re, Saggio di bibliografia georgica ossia Indice ragionato delle principali opere di agricoltura sì antiche che moderne, Pezzana, 1802, pp. 236–237. Re used the title Species Plantarum Peruvianarum et Chiliensium: Probably this was the work of the botanists and travelers Hipólito Ruiz and José Pavón titled Flora Peruviana et Chilensis sive Novorum Generum Plantarum Peruvianarum et Chiliensis Descriptions et Icones, 3 volumes, Madrid, Typis Gabrielis de Sancha, 1794–1802, with two other volumes consisting entirely of plates of the species described in the text. Re, Saggio di bibliografia georgica, p. 257. For the letters between Re and Nocca see BUPv, Autografi, 4, dossier Filippo Re: The correspondence goes from the 1790s to Re’s death in 1817.

CHAPTER 4

Experimentation

This chapter analyzes the importance of spaces for experimentation in agricultural science from the 1760s to the 1810s. These spaces were essential along with scientific and cultural policies, debates, and knowledge networks. The first section analyzes the development of experimental fields, model farms and estates, botanical gardens, agricultural gardens, and associated facilities such as laboratories and rudimental factories throughout Italy and then focuses on specific cases in the Po Valley. The second section analyzes cereal growing and the third oil and sugar production. The dynamics of the establishment, organization, and maintenance of spaces for experimentation in agriculture, animal husbandry, and related production sectors are examined through plans, reports, and operating records.

4.1

Experimentation Spaces

Effective agricultural development, focused on the application of advances in crops, animal breeding, and derived products, could not be limited to the theoretical debate described in Chapter 2, nor to an exchange of knowledge and materials between experts as described in Chapter 3. Concrete experiments were needed both in botanical and agricultural gardens and in full-scale fields. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. L. Fagnani, The Development of Agricultural Science in Northern Italy in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Century, Italian and Italian American Studies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-20657-3_4

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In northern Italy, where the development of agricultural science was in full swing in the late eighteenth and the early nineteenth centuries, the importance of experimentation was quite evident to the institutions and individuals interested in strengthening agriculture and animal husbandry. Thus, although previous chapters have discussed gardens and nurseries, there has also been an emphasis on landowners who were able to conduct large-scale experiments. The wide range of examples discussed includes the Castiglioni brothers, model estates, greenhouses, and exotic plant cultivation in Mozzate and in the Brianza area; the experiments conducted by the Patriotic Society of Milan on oil and dye plants in botanical gardens and vegetable plots; the involvement of landowners and farmers near Lake Como in the relaunch of olive growing; the role in the Napoleonic Era of the Padua Agricultural Garden, directed by Professor Luigi Arduino (his father Pietro founded it in the 1760s and directed it until 1805); and the Pastoral Society of Chivasso founded in 1801 by landed Piedmontese noble families and employing a large number of hired hands who helped conduct experiments on the breeding of merino sheep. There were similar, albeit less numerous, cases in other areas of Italy. Let us consider Sicily at the turn of the nineteenth century. The Bourbons resided in Palermo under English protection from the end of 1798 to 1802, while Naples was torn between republican uprisings and conservative repression. The Bourbons returned to Palermo again from 1806 until the fall of Joachim Murat, whom Napoleon had placed on the throne in Naples. The British had a strong interest in Sicily both militarily and commercially, especially to circumvent the Continental Blockade decreed against them by Napoleon in November 1806. Sicily was a source of raw materials and agricultural products, such as wine, spices, and fruits. Alongside a British contingent of 15,000 men, there were numerous commercial agents who fled to Sicily from Livorno and Naples after the arrival of the French. These agents operated in Sicilian ports mainly in the interests of the British textile industries.1 The English economic support for the Bourbons and the support of the Sicilian parliament made it possible to start agricultural experiments, even if these were limited to botanical gardens and farms in the extensive Bourbon landholdings. For example, new animal husbandry and plant cultivation methods were studied in the vast Boccadifalco Royal Estate. These paved the way for the foundation in 1817 of a botanical garden for the acclimatization of exotic species. In the same years the Academy

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of Palermo (Accademia degli Studi) expanded its botanical garden, which had been created together with the chair of botany and a dedicated library between 1779 and 1786. The garden was rapidly upgraded both in structure and variety of plants, with some 3,000 native and non-native species grown there by 1820. This garden contributed to Sicilian agriculture especially during the nineteenth century. Examples include the cultivation of citrus fruits in the Conca d’Oro and the introduction of the loquat, as well as studies on saffron and its cultivation.2 In addition, the circle of enlightened aristocrats, intellectuals, and scientists headed by the Freemason Giuseppe Ventimiglia Prince of Belmonte and associated with the Academy of Palermo was strengthened. They shared the belief that landowners and the scientific-cultural elite should use their privileged position to actively contribute to the improvement of the production sector. Economist and agronomist Paolo Balsamo was part of this circle. He was active since the late eighteenth century as a scholar and professor at the Academy. He looked to the Belmonte estates—but also to the English landowners with whom he had become acquainted during a stay in Great Britain in 1789 and 1790—as a model of enterprising and modern agrarian management.3 Returning our gaze to northern Italy, we may provide further examples. Experts, governments, and landowners showed full awareness that experimentation and practical application were fundamental to the progress of agricultural science. The Society of Practical Agriculture (Società d’Agricoltura Pratica) of Udine was a model for the network of agricultural academies in the Republic of Venice. When it was founded in 1762, the Society immediately planned to rent a large piece of land and parcel it out to its members so that they could conduct agricultural experiments.4 Some members were aristocrats with large landholdings, on which they conducted experiments in agriculture, animal husbandry, and manufacturing, discussing their results at meetings. A notable case is that of Fabio Asquini, Count of Fagagna and perpetual secretary of the Society. He cultivated large vineyards on his estate, producing fine dessert wines, particularly with the Picolit grape variety, sold throughout Europe since 1758. Furthermore, having discovered rich deposits of peat on his estate that he could use as fuel, Asquini founded a pioneering but not very lucrative business making bricks, lime, and ceramics, in which he invested from 1767 to 1800.5 Carlo Amoretti, secretary of the Patriotic Society, came from Milan to visit Asquini estate and cultivations in November

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1790, extolling the Picolit production chain while noting the limits to the ceramics operation.6 A second example is the Agricultural Society of Turin, created in 1785 on initiative of some landowners and young scientists. It conducted its agricultural experiments in the Crocetta Garden of the Trinitarians on the outskirts of Turin. When the friary was suppressed in 1798, the Savoy government bought it for the Society, which converted the land into an agricultural garden. The occupation of Turin by the French in December 1798 ushered in particularly prosperous years for the Society’s experiments thanks to the funds guaranteed for many years by the new administration.7 From 1798 to 1812 the director of the agricultural garden was Count Giuseppe Nuvolone Pergamo. He was a nobleman of modest wealth who had held minor posts in the Savoy court. He was always very active in the Society and owned lands in the Monferrato area in eastern Piedmont, where he carried out experiments inspired by French agronomic texts.8 He himself was the author of technical pamphlets and almanacs addressed to rural communities, in which he discussed various crops, such as hemp, oil plants, rose madder, and flax, as well as beekeeping, veterinary issues, artificial meadows, and viticulture.9 Nuvolone Pergamo’s experimental activity was linked to the fact that the Agricultural Society asked landowners to use their land for experiments. These lands were generally used for large-scale tests of plants previously studied on a smaller scale in the Crocetta Garden. This practice was adopted even more systematically under Napoleonic rule. A good example is the spread of peanut cultivation in the departments of Piedmont in the first decade of the nineteenth century. The Turin Society studied the peanut for the oil-bearing properties of its seeds in experiments at the Crocetta Garden. Given the positive results, it then promoted large-scale cultivation on the lands of members or accommodating third parties.10 Another important investment both before and during Napoleonic rule was in merino sheep breeding, with the goal of acclimatizing the Spanish breed outside its native land, perhaps interbreeding it with local sheep. For instance, the Savoy government entrusted the Agricultural Society of Turin with some merino flocks from Segovia, Spain, in the 1790s and the Napoleonic authorities confirmed this assignment. Moreover, the Pastoral Society of Chivasso , founded by Piedmontese aristocrats in 1801, could accommodate up to 6,000 head and produced wool, meat, and dairy products, employing between 1,000 and 3,000 workers.11

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Another entrepreneur who invested in this type of breeding was politician and agriculturist Vincenzo Dandolo. In 1802, he imported some merino rams from Piedmont and Switzerland to the town of Varese in the Department of the Lario (northwestern Lombardy, at the time part of the Italian Republic), where he also had an estate. Dandolo invited shepherds to have their locally bred ewes mated with his rams. He also initiated training courses for shepherds at his estate, where merino sheep thrived together with local sheep and with the full endorsement of the Napoleonic authorities of Milan.12 Successful experiments such as the ones in Varese and Chivasso convinced the government of the Kingdom of Italy in 1808 to expand merino sheep breeding in its departments (or at least to try). The government introduced many head into the Kingdom and distributed them to breeders in many areas, such as the Department of the Mincio (Mantua), where merino sheep breeding was not very successful.13 In 1808 and 1809, due to the Spanish Wars, exportation of merino wool was interrupted. The merino flocks in Italy were thus an important asset to fill the temporary gap. However, many difficulties were encountered in the Kingdom of Italy in the following years. First, merino sheep needed particular and costly care. Second, their wool was too fine and expensive to find great demand on the market. While the Pastoral Society of Chivasso remained successful, merino sheep breeding in the Kingdom of Italy was a failure and the flocks were soon butchered.14 However, one of the most complicated and interesting examples of experimenting in northern Italy again relates to the kingdom Plantae and the Agricultural Colony of Mantua, both during the Old Regime and under Napoleonic rule. When they created the Colony in 1770 as a specialized branch of the Academy of Sciences and Fine Letters, the Habsburgs endowed it with lands near Palazzo Te, on the outskirts of Mantua, and near Villa La Favorita, in the countryside, to use for agricultural experimentation.15 The area provided to the Colony was about 123 Mantuan biolche near Palazzo Te: about 38.6 hectares; the Colony also had use of various rooms in Palazzo Te itself. The area near La Favorita was about 40 Mantuan biolche: about 12.6 hectares. Unfortunately, these lands suffered serious damage during the siege of Mantua by the French troops in 1796 and 1797.16 The effectiveness of the lands near Palazzo Te and Villa La Favorita as experimental fields certainly paid off from 1770 to the arrival of the

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French troops. Under Napoleonic rule the subsidies for the Academy’s activity began to dry up and the two estates were removed from its management in May 1806 and May 1811, respectively, as discussed in Chapter 2. This penalized the Academy and its Agricultural Colony/Class within the system of departmental agricultural societies introduced in September 1802.17 However, the Agricultural Colony faced difficulties in the organization of its experiments already in the 1770s. On February 4, 1771, Joannon de Saint Laurent, State councilor, imperial commissioner, and also director of the Colony, wrote a report to Count of Firmian, Plenipotentiary Minister in Milan. Saint Laurent reported that at their first meetings, Colony members had assessed the feasibility of new agricultural experiments, but the lands at Palazzo Te and Villa La Favorita were in very bad condition and “by their nature very barren”. Moreover, part of the lands at Palazzo Te had previously been rented to a man whose main income was “from a sort of tavern […] for low and sometimes dishonest people”. The establishment was promptly dislodged by the Agricultural Colony as soon as it took over the management of the land to prevent these people from damaging the experimental crops.18 Saint Laurent continued that as far as La Favorita was concerned, its lands and pastures, which did not promise abundant harvests, were rented for a total of 1,800 lire. He pointed out to Firmian that the preliminary work would cost around 1,200 lire and would be followed by more detailed reports during the year. Saint Laurent promised that the sum would have been repaid with the first income of the Colony.19 Saint Laurent enclosed a list drawn up by the two superintendents assigned by the Colony to the estates. An assortment of tools, livestock, and manpower was required to implement and conduct proper agricultural experiments. The total cost would be 7,087 lire. The most costly items were two pair of oxen (3,060 lire), two well-shod carts (2,000 lire), and two cows (900 lire). The rest was for yokes, harrows, hoes, shovels, and various other tools. Finally, 500 lire would have been necessary to pay two keepers to look after the oxen and cows.20 We can understand that the Colony planned to use the bovines only as motive power and a source of fertilizer; no dairy production was envisaged, a situation that remained quite similar in the Napoleonic Era.21 There were major differences between the estates. For example, in the second half of the 1780s, La Favorita seemed to be in full activity, having overcome most of the problems presented by Saint Laurent in 1771.

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In the years 1786–1789, for example, there was such a great variety of experiments that the Colony board urged the superintendents and the staff many times to rationalize both the management of the crops and the data collection in order to avoid a confusing profusion of results in the year-end reports. It thus appears that management of the estate was less meticulous that the board would have liked. Indeed, at the time, its leading scientist was the scrupulous Angelo Gualandris, agricultural inspector of the Duchy of Mantua and professor of botany at the Royal Gymnasium until his death in the autumn of 1788.22 The experiments at La Favorita were divided into four areas: pastures and forage grasses; cereals and roots for human consumption; livestock and fodder (cereals, tubers, roots); and plants useful in manufacturing, especially textiles. In the first area, comparisons were made among pastures tilled and fertilized in different ways, and studies were carried out on the physiology of Poaceae, Fabaceae, and Apiaceae. As for cereals, the Agricultural Colony was mainly interested in different varieties of wheat in those years, grown in five plots that differed in how they were tilled and the composition of the manure-lime fertilizer. It was important that the ears did not intermix and that the quality of the manure was carefully verified before using it. The differentiated crop experiment lasted three years, until the Colony determined that the experiment had not “corresponded to hopes” and the superintendent at the time combined them into a single crop, focusing efforts on preparing uniform soil and fertilizer for the entire plot in order to obtain a good harvest and consequent good sales. Many experiments were also performed indoors, such as the comparison of two different varieties of barley in soup. This experiment was also to be extended to the species of the genus Panicum. The human nutrition section also included vines, an apple and pear orchard, and vegetable crops such as varieties of “white and red” radishes, some of which would be saved for future crops and the rest sold to replenish the coffers of the Colony.23 For the animal husbandry section, the Colony had a couple of oxen and from two to four cows and calves in the stable at La Favorita. They were fed with white potatoes and turnips grown by the Colony. Most of the poultry experiments focused on how well the birds liked millet, wheat, and alternative feeds—always grown by the Colony—such as finger millet, pale persicaria, and foxtail millet. The Colony also had pigs, but they were of secondary interest. They were subjected to fattening experiments and,

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in one particular case, an experiment to determine whether they would eat a new unspecified squash variety from Virginia.24 There was also a certain interest both in the cultivation and in the processing of oil plants, followed by the evaluation of their product. These included Crambe hispanica L. and an ambiguous Brassica eruca sinica. As far as textile fibers were concerned, experiments were planned on the maceration of a presumed variety of hemp from China cultivated in the estate and to be compared with the common hemp. Safflower was cultivated for both dye and oil-producing properties. The Carolina indigo was grown only for its properties as a dye, its development supervised in close collaboration with Gualandris.25 There was a very broad variety of plant species at La Favorita, both autochthonous and non-native. The former were supplied by local farmers.26 A significant portion of the latter came from the Mantua Botanical Garden at the Royal Gymnasium, whose director had always been a prominent member of the Agricultural Colony. Specifically, Gualandris was a trump card thanks to his deep knowledge of natural sciences and his international contacts, which guaranteed a good supply of rare species. Let us examine some examples. In 1784, Gualandris made contact with the Paris Botanical Garden, asking to correspond with the botanist Antoine-Laurent de Jussieu and the botanist and agronomist André Thouin. He asked for seeds of boxelder maple (Acer negundo L.) and other unspecified rare plants (quelque espèce de graines de plantes un peu rares ).27 In early 1785, he wrote for the first time to Casimiro Gómez Ortega, professor at the Madrid Botanical Garden. Gualandris described to him his teachings at the Mantua Gymnasium and his direction of the garden begun in 1784. The species that Gualandris requested from Gómez Ortega were not of particular economic interest, but among them there was the true indigo, which like the safflower and Carolina indigo grown at La Favorita, was studied for its dye properties in various European institutes in that period. Among the plants that Gualandris offered to Gómez Ortega were some edible Cucurbitaceae.28 Gualandris boasted to Gómez Ortega that he had a network of contacts that extended to almost all of Europe.29 We can assume that he had met some of his correspondents during his scientific journey through Europe from 1775 to 1777. In addition to Gómez Ortega, Gualandris corresponded with the Spanish botanist Antonio José Cavanilles, with the French chemist and mineralogist Balthazar-Georges Sage, the

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French botanist Charles-Louis L’Héritier de Brutelle, and in general with the naturalists of the Paris Botanical Garden, but also with the Swedish mineralogist and botanist Johann Jacob Ferber, who had made a scientific journey through Italy that took him as far as Calabria.30 Gualandris thus had a very large network whence he could obtain seeds, but also useful updates on synergies between botany, chemistry, and geology to improve the agricultural sector. We can assume that his work had considerable advantages not only for the Mantua Botanical Garden as a space for cataloging and teaching, but also for the experiments of the Agricultural Colony, whether these took place in the preliminary phase in the facilities of the Botanical Garden or on a larger scale at La Favorita. The situation at Palazzo Te was quite different in those years. It was located close to the town and adjacent to the sumptuous country palace built by Marquis Federico II Gonzaga in the 1520s and 1530s.31 Under Habsburg rule, it retained its architectural, artistic, and scenic value. In 1781 the garden was further embellished with the construction of a monumental exedra designed by the architect Paolo Pozzo.32 The proximity of the Agricultural Colony’s lands to a building of such value was not an ideal marriage. The area around the Palazzo was often used by the public administration for fairs and entertainments, which did not coordinate well with the Colony’s experiments on crops and livestock. A particular dispute continued for much of the year 1788 relating to celebrations to be held in late spring which would be attended by the Archduke and his wife, visiting from Milan, who were scheduled to arrive on May 25. The conflict developed between the political intendancy (intendenza politica provinciale) and the Academy, represented by the secretary Matteo Borsa and the vice-secretary Pasquale Coddè, who were very active in defending the scientific profile of the institution and in particular of its Agricultural Colony.33 The public promenade at Palazzo Te was considered by authorities and citizens as a place for outdoor pleasure and the Colony was assigned the task of maintaining it. It had to keep it pleasing to the eye, to tend the rows of trees that lined the avenues, and to provide gravel for the paths. With the aim of limiting recreational activities on the lawns organized by the town, it was envisaged that these would be coordinated by a commission composed not only of a representative of the intendancy and the director of entertainment (direttore degli spettacoli), but also of a representative of the Agricultural Colony. This failed to happen in 1788 and the Academy complained that the schedule had been decided

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without the appropriate involvement of its Colony and that many of the planned activities would have damaged the experiments conducted in some areas.34 As if that were not enough, the intendancy assigned dust-management duties to the Colony, which was obliged to water the paths using special mobile horse-drawn pumps. Once again the scientific institution was forced to accept, but secretary Borsa clearly informed the intendancy that it was an exceptional assignment, not to be repeated in subsequent years, and that the intendancy had to bear the costs. In September it was vicesecretary Coddè who raised his voice, complaining that many of the 2,000 young elms cut from the cameral forests and transplanted in the spring had been trampled by the cheering crowd. In all probability, the elms not only had the aesthetic function of lining the paths but were also the subject of study by the Colony. The Colony had paid for cutting and transporting the trees and had directly supervised the work with the senior engineer Giuseppe Bisagni—a member of the Colony—and an assistant from the royal forests.35 The disadvantageous location of the Te lands as an experimental space was also evident on other occasions. For instance, nobleman Giambattista of Colloredo, owner of some lands contiguous to the Te grounds that he rented to a certain Giulio Cambi, complained about the damage caused to his property by the Agricultural Colony cattle. Giambattista did not hesitate to turn to his powerful cousin Carlo Ottavio, prefect of the Academy, to assure that such occurrences stopped. Furthermore, when it was necessary to excavate some gravel to be used by the Agricultural Colony, Giambattista of Colloredo and Cambi immediately took care that the work would not represent a nuisance to the management of their estate in any way. It is comprehensible that Giambattista asserted his rights to safeguard his private affairs, but his lack of interest in the activities of the Colony, of which he was a member, was truly striking.36 Another critical aspect that characterized the lands of the Colony near Palazzo Te is that the cattle kept there were not sufficient for working the fields and so the Colony board sometimes had to resort to using the animals from La Favorita, which had to be brought there for that purpose.37 Having analyzed all this information, we can deduce that the lands near Palazzo Te, unlike La Favorita estate, had greater difficulties in being socially accepted in their new function as scientific and experimental spaces. Their location near the beautiful Palazzo Te was a factor here. The

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management of the Agricultural Colony, however, demonstrated great consistency in keeping the technical and scientific sphere separate from other activities in the episodes of 1788. Like the Agricultural Society of Turin, the Agricultural Colony of Mantua also made use of lands and facilities made available by its members to carry out experiments on a large scale. A good example is the involvement of some of them in experiments conducted in 1788 on the feeding of silkworms. The goal in this case was to find an alternative diet to green mulberry leaves in years when the trees suffered climate effects or epidemics. It must have been a serious issue throughout northern Italy in that period; a booklet on the subject had been published by the Agricultural Society of Turin in 1787, written by physician and botanist Carlo Antonio Lodovico Bellardi.38 Bellardi immediately sent a copy of the booklet to the Patriotic Society of Milan, which made 300 additional copies and distributed them, probably sending some also to the Agricultural Colony of Mantua.39 Not surprisingly, one of the members asked by the Colony to take part in the silkworm experiment was the aforementioned Carlo Amoretti, secretary of the Patriotic Society. As corresponding member of the Colony, he was given instructions for conducting the experiment. Amoretti replied with little enthusiasm, but agreed to find individuals who would attempt to feed silkworms dried mulberry leaves. He probably provided no further updates on the experiment.40 Strong interest was expressed, on the other hand, by the dowager Marchioness Maria Teresa Cristiani Castiglioni of Casatico. She distinguished herself for research and inventions in the field of textile materials and techniques in the 1770s and 1780s, collaborating also with the Academy’s Arts and Crafts Colony. Her studies on the use of vinegar instead of oil in the processing of flax and wool were much appreciated, as well as the design of tools for spinning, which in 1775 earned her membership in the Agricultural Colony. Actually, the Colony had already extended an invitation in 1770, but she had refused it due both to modesty and to the discomfort she felt for being the only female associate at the time.41 The Marchioness was also a friend and correspondent of Angelo Gualandris since 1768. The two had probably been put in contact by their mutual friend Pietro Arduino, renowned professor of agricultural science at the University of Padua when Gualandris was studying medicine there as a young man and the Marchioness was spending time at the baths

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of Abano, not far from the city. Arduino was one of her main agricultural consultants for the management of her estate in Casatico, not far from Mantua, and for experiments on cereal and vine cultivation, aimed at remedying the debt situation left by her husband, who died in 1763, and enhancing the productivity of her property. Gualandris too became a source of precious opinions for the Marchioness, thanks to the naturalistic knowledge that he had acquired through his studies at the Padua Agricultural Garden, his activity at the Agricultural Academy of Padua, a scientific journey through Europe in 1775 and 1776, and research and teaching in the Mantuan institutions.42 The Marchioness had also met Professor Gómez Ortega when he was in Bologna to study medicine between late 1757 and early 1762. She resumed relations with him thanks to the presence of the Spanish Jesuit Juan Andrés and Gualandris in Mantua, who acted as intermediaries. For example, Gómez Ortega provided them with seeds on two occasions between the end of 1784 and the beginning of 1785 to be used in the lands of Casatico.43 In May 1788, the Marchioness agreed to conduct the worm feeding experiments. She wrote to the secretary of the Academy and not only declared herself willing to use her own lands to try new techniques of sericulture, but also wrote that she had prepared herself carefully by collecting information on similar attempts. She personally visited farms in Toscolano, on Lake Garda, where the new method had already been tested by crushing dry mulberry leaves, storing the powder in special containers, and moistening it before feeding the silkworms, which liked it. She also asked some acquaintances to conduct experiments on her behalf. With strong dynamism then, Cristiani Castiglioni activated a personal network to prepare the ground for the new experiments.44 In June of the same year, another member of the Agricultural Colony, Giuseppe Nuvoloni of Viadana (not to be confused with Giuseppe Nuvolone Pergamo of Turin), was involved in the same experiments. In this case, however, with respect to Cristiani Castiglioni, we can see a very different approach to the project of the Agricultural Colony and to the resolution of the problems presented by the experiment. Nuvoloni agreed to conduct it in his own lands, but reminded the Academy that he would give precedence to his “domestic affairs”, i.e., the management of his own assets. Secondly, however important the demands of the Colony were, he would try to satisfy its “wish” and “urgency” without promising

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anything. Furthermore, in the early stages of the experiment, his methodology was a bit uncertain. For instance, even though it seems that the Colony’s instructions were to start from silkworm eggs in the experiment, Nuvoloni had begun by using silkworms that had already hatched, which had refused the dry leaves and died.45 Nuvoloni’s profile was therefore that of a landowner who conducted agricultural experiments more as a noble and cultivated pastime rather than a dedicated pursuit, which also explains his happenstance approach to the case. The Marchioness’s approach was more methodical, building a strong framework, recording failures, and reviewing solutions adopted by other silkworm breeders. The silkworm feeding experiments give us an example of the strategies adopted by the Colony to organize agricultural research through the use of its associates’ lands. However, the experiments in the spring and the summer of 1788 appear to have ended in a stalemate: no general or individual results were discussed in any of the meetings in the following months.46 It can be considered one of the numerous chapters on mulberry growing that marked the history of the Agricultural Colony in the second half of the eighteenth century. Another was the project for a technical school for silkworm breeding begun in or shortly before 1787, to be organized on the lands near Palazzo Te. It seems that this project too was later shelved, probably due to management difficulties.47 The Marchioness and Nuvoloni were not trained scientists, but they did have some technical knowledge that was applicable in certain cases. They were principally associated with the Colony as enlightened and entrepreneurial landowners whose main role was to provide land and resources for conducting experiments. They might even suggest new ideas, which in any case would have to be evaluated by experts. For example, most of the experiments, samples, and machines on which the Marchioness and her subordinates worked in the 1780s were analyzed by Gualandris, who described them to the other members of the Colony. He was constantly updated by the Marchioness on the experiments that were conducted on textile fibers at her estate in Casatico, not only on silk, but also on linen and wool.48 There was a great difference between the Agricultural Colony of Mantua and the Patriotic Society of Milan. Despite the management difficulties that we have already discussed, the former was still the “owner” of the lands at Villa La Favorita and Palazzo Te. The lands provided by members such as the Marchioness and Nuvoloni also played an important

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role, allowing for more varied and large-scale tests, but it was essential that the Colony could count on its own lands, specifically dedicated to agricultural experimentation. The Patriotic Society, on the other hand, lacked stable experimental testing grounds for more than half of its existence, having to resort to the Brera grounds and the lands of members around Milan. More distant experimental crops, such as barley cultivations in Valsassina, in the Alps, or olive-tree nurseries near Lake Como, were not as close at hand for the Society as those at La Favorita and Palazzo Te for the Mantua Colony. Only in 1790 was the Society assigned a garden for its experiments.49 As we have seen, the Agricultural Colony of Mantua also encountered many difficulties. However, the experiments on the lands near Palazzo Te and La Favorita and the involvement of some landowners testify to the commitment of that scientific institution to ennoble agricultural science and secure suitable spaces for experimentation. In the case of Mantua, we can highlight a further link between its agricultural institution and the local territory. In 1769 and 1770, the Academy sent a list of questions to the villages of the Mantua area to have a greater knowledge of the territory and its resources. This investigation provided the basis for the work of the general census of the Duchy of Mantua, which began in October 1771 under the supervision of a special council which included Joannon de Saint Laurent, director of the Agricultural Colony. The council drew up a list of 47 questions aimed at a thorough understanding of land ownership, natural resources, and agricultural production. The list was first issued in the second half of 1772 but the investigation continued until 1775 due to the lack of cooperation in some villages. In 1784 and 1785, the Academy initiated a new investigation; the Agricultural Colony issued a short list of nine questions focused on agriculture and drew up a chorographic map of the Mantua area. In the summer of 1786, the agricultural inspector Gualandris conducted other inspections in the northwestern countryside of the Duchy, studying the area and interviewing farmers and peasants.50 This overlapping and duplication of surveys of land and agricultural productivity was above all a symptom of poor management of the results of the surveys themselves. Many details were gathered on rural society and economy, but they were little used by the Habsburg authorities or by the Agricultural Colony to improve agriculture, animal breeding, and manufacturing. They probably did not fully recognize the potential of

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this data and did not know how to process it as a starting point for new projects.51 Other important places of experimentation were the agricultural gardens of some universities in northern Italy, namely Padua, Pavia, and Bologna. They were different from the gardens of societies and academies first of all because they were also dedicated to teaching; furthermore, in terms of experimentation they constituted a point of reference for the entire State in which they were located. The first university agricultural garden in Italy was created in the mid-1760s at the University of Padua, which represented the highest level of teaching and research for the entire Republic of Venice. Under Napoleonic rule the universities of the Italian Republic and later of the Kingdom of Italy were called “national”: they were few—first only Pavia and Bologna, then also Padua with the annexation of the Veneto region at the end of 1805—and were the highest scientific and cultural authorities for a territory encompassing 89,600 km2 and 6.7 million inhabitants in 1810.52 Professors and assistants spent much of their working lives in these agricultural gardens and students gathered there to witness and practice the application of processes explained in class or read in textbooks. The importance of these spaces was such that they were also established in many licei (a liceo at that time was somewhere between a high school and a small college). However, while the university agricultural and botanical gardens were two separate entities, belonging to two distinct chairs, in the high schools all was combined into a single space harboring plants of interest in agriculture and manufacturing together with other species of medical, pharmaceutical, or simply botanical interest.53 At the University of Padua, in the 1760s the authorities of the Republic of Venice deemed it necessary that the new chair held by Pietro Arduino should have a space independent from the sixteenth-century botanical garden. They recognized that agricultural science, while owing a lot to botany and above all to the study of plant physiology, needed autonomy, dedicated personnel, and specialized facilities to progress.54 In Bologna under Napoleonic rule, the University purchased the gardens della Viola and of the suppressed retreat house of Saint Ignatius in 1803. In addition to the Academy of Fine Arts in the former religious building, the university Botanical Garden was transferred to these lands and the new Agricultural Garden was established next to it. Although adjacent, the two spaces and their respective buildings used for experimentation were autonomous.55

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In Pavia, however, it proved very difficult to create an agricultural garden from scratch independent from the botanical garden established in 1773.56 The principal difficulty was finding an area that was both suitable for hosting agricultural experiments and close enough to the town center to allow easy access by students and staff. Let us analyze the birth of the Pavia Agricultural Garden step by step. Bayle Barelle was appointed professor in April 1804 and probably began teaching in the autumn of that year. In September 1804, with the new academic year approaching, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Finance, and the University were looking with some urgency for the best site to start work on an agricultural garden. A solution also had to be found regarding lodging for Bayle Barelle and his wife and daughters.57 Something near the future garden would have been perfect, as the University of Pavia had arranged for Domenico Nocca, professor of botany, and the University of Bologna for Filippo Re, professor of agricultural science, and Giosuè Scannagatta, professor of botany. Up to then, it had been the Minister of Finance who arranged a monthly “compensation for expenses” for Bayle Barelle so that he could rent temporary accommodations on his own.58 No immediate solution to the two problems appeared on the horizon.59 The first idea was to install the agricultural garden near the botanical garden, as had been done in Bologna, but this proposal was discarded.60 The authorities then turned with greater hope to the ortaglia of the former friary of San Pietro in Ciel d’Oro and the adjacent buildings. In addition to a small plot of land for the garden, there would have been enough space to house Bayle Barelle and store the gardening tools. Unfortunately, the area was already partially occupied by the Ministry of War for an artillery school and a foundry. The other two ministries deferred to the War Ministry and this option was abandoned as well.61 Bayle Barelle had very clear ideas of what his garden should contain even before knowing where it would be sited. In mid-June 1804, before moving to Pavia, he sent a wish list of plants to the Ministry of the Interior through the university rector. He specified that only a small amount of space was to be reserved for exotic plants because “the mania for such endeavors was always an obstacle to the improvement of our agriculture”. The garden was to be organized into ten main areas: cereal cultivation, a meadow divided into artificial and natural, a woods divided into seedbed and nursery, an orchard, a vegetable garden, flowerbeds for fiber species, dye species, selected exotic plants, and sterile soil, and finally a shelter

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for manure. Bayle Barelle also asked for a portion of land for viticulture and espalier fruit trees, if there was space. The professor gave detailed information on the individual species and on the nurserymen from whom they could be bought. For example, one of the fiber plants was perennial flax, provided by Dugas Duvillard jr. in Chaumont-sur-Loire. Oil plants such as radish and peanut, particularly coveted in agrarian institutions throughout Europe, could be obtained directly from the Jardin des Plantes in Paris or the nurseries in the same city. Similarly, for fruit trees, the principal supplier was André Thouin, the main botanist of the Paris Botanical Garden.62 Bayle Barelle also proposed specific plots of land for the new garden. In November 1804, he suggested the land of the former Calchi Taeggi boarding school, which had moved back to Milan after Joseph II unsuccessfully tried to transfer it to the buildings of the suppressed Santa Clara convent in Pavia. Negotiations were initiated with the boarding school, but a year later they were still embroiled in difficulties and had to be abandoned. Another option was the vegetable gardens around the former Santa Mostiola convent, but this too was discarded due to the small size of the area, the presence of an excessively cold aquifer, the lack of drainage outside the area, and shade from high neighboring towers for most of the day. Bayle Barelle is also considered the vegetable garden of the Pio Luogo Pertusati and those of other religious community houses scattered around Pavia. However, none of them met the professor’s requirements for quality of soil, land area, availability of water, insolation, and proximity to the town center (Figs. 4.1 and 4.2).63 In November 1805, almost two years after Bayle Barelle’s appointment as professor and one year after the initiation of the agricultural program, a promising site for the Pavia agricultural garden was found at the former friary of the church of San Giacomo, outside the town walls. The annexed building had housed up to fifteen friars, so there was plenty of space to house the professor and his family, the gardener, and the storehouses, with rooms left over. Again, the proposal reached the Milan offices directly from Bayle Barelle and the University administration, which in those months had been continuing the search for a suitable area.64 The State property administration arranged for the area to be transferred to the University between March 1806 and July 1807 and the Ministry of the Interior authorized the start of adaptation work in early April, based on a project by an architect appointed by the authorities.65

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Fig. 4.1 Map of the land of the former convent of Santa Clara considered for the establishment of the new Pavia Agricultural Garden; undated sketch (Source Archivio di Stato di Milano, Studi parte moderna, 995 [authorization 1879 of 13.04.2022])

The authorities then commissioned the engineer Carlo Giuseppe Dalloro to carry out a survey of the grounds and buildings. He reported the presence of fruit and timber trees planted in rows, groves, or singly, as well as a well-designed irrigation system, although it needed maintenance.66 The

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Fig. 4.2 Map of the land of the former convent of Santa Mostiola considered for the establishment of the new Pavia Agricultural Garden; undated sketch (Source Archivio di Stato di Milano, Studi parte moderna, 995 [authorization 1879 of 13.04.2022])

area was recorded as measuring approximately 3.8 hectares, although this was a subject of debate for decades to come (Fig. 4.3).67 Much work still needed to be done to make the Agricultural Garden operational and to organize it according to the needs of teaching and research. At the end of March 1806, Bayle Barelle drew up a detailed

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Fig. 4.3 Pavia Agricultural Garden, map drawn by Giuseppe Bayle Barelle (May 31, 1810) after 1808 drawing by engineer Antonio Moreschi (Source Archivio di Stato di Milano, Autografi, 111 [authorization 1879 of 13.04.2022])

plan in which he compared the teaching subjects required by the National University Curricular Plans (Piani di studi e di disciplina per le università nazionali) of October 31, 1803, with the real possibilities offered by the garden in its current condition. He planned to give some classes outside the garden if necessary. For instance, he planned to take his students to the countryside to visit the rice fields; the Agricultural Garden was not allowed to have either paddies or water meadows, both prohibited near towns by public health policy.68 The Pavia Agricultural Garden underwent further changes. In the summer of 1806, Bayle Barelle requested the annexation of a wing of the former friary, which was still State property. There was a particularly dilapidated part that could be demolished to free up room to create a sort of farmyard “for shelling and drying the products” and land could be reclaimed from low-lying marshy areas. In June and July 1807, the wing was annexed to the garden although it is not clear whether the adaptation work was entirely faithful to the guidelines dictated by Bayle Barelle.69

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Another issue was the management of irrigation and the right to draw water from a nearby canal. Bayle Barelle and Francesco Cattaneo, bursar of the University of Pavia, worked over the years to draw up the contracts for the person assigned to manage the hydraulic system. In the summer months, 6 hours of water were rented to this person out of the 23 needed to irrigate the garden for an annual cost of 120 Milanese lire (92 Italian lire), considered very low by the University. In exchange, the contractortenant would have taken care of the maintenance and purging of the channels at his own expense, repairing canal siphons, culverts, bridges, and banks. For example, when the contract expired in early 1807, a new three-year contract was drawn up. The project was awarded to a man from an adjacent farm, who was the only one to present himself at the public bidding competition.70 Bayle Barelle supervised the Pavia Agricultural Garden not only as an expert and learned man, but also as the head of a model farm proper, as he underlined in debates with other agriculturists.71 This explains his precision and energy in fulfilling his duties, together with the administrative board of the University, and managing all the technical aspects concerning the Garden, such as construction works or water management contracts. When Bayle Barelle died in August 1811 and Giovanni Biroli from Novara was hired to take his place starting in November, the management of the Pavia Garden as a dual institution—scientific-educational center and model farm—appeared to continue along the general lines of the system established between 1806 and 1811. Biroli immediately got in touch with André Thouin to ask for seeds of economically useful plants, specifying that he wanted forage, textile, dye, and oil plants. At the same time, he was interested in the more practical aspects related to his position, such as income and expenses, the rebuilding of the enclosure wall, the installation of a new entrance door to the Garden, the maintenance of the new orangery, and the expansion of the maintenance staff.72 In addition, the Garden obtained income from the authorized sale of its products, which Biroli recorded in the first half of 1813 as consisting of hay, wheat, legumes, various types of vegetables, and probably firewood. In the same period, the Garden received income for the rental of several rooms.73 Beyond the importance of the amount of income, the variety shows that the Pavia Agricultural Garden had become the dynamic farm/estate envisaged by Bayle Barelle.

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However, Bayle Barelle and Biroli differed in management style. For example, Biroli asked Thouin for seeds of uncommon trees and bushes, suggesting a greater interest in non-native plants than Bayle Barelle.74 In addition, during his three-year term, Biroli shuttled between his hometown Novara and Pavia, often delegating teaching, research, and maintenance to assistants and gardeners.75 Hence, between August 1811 and the end of 1814 the Pavia Agricultural Garden was no longer under the direct supervision of a single person. Although Biroli was much more specifically versed in agricultural science than Bayle Barelle, he did not put his expertise fully at the service of the Pavia institution, either in strengthening native crops or in integrating non-native ones. Biroli’s chair was a sort of a hinge between the Napoleonic Era and the Restoration, as we will see in Chapter 5.

4.2

Cereal Growing

Cereals were one of the main focuses of agricultural science in the late eighteenth century and the Napoleonic Era. They represented some 90% of family food expenses from the late Middle Ages until the midnineteenth century, with lower percentage only in some regions, such as England and Holland in the eighteenth century, where alternatives such as the potato constituted a significant portion of the local diet. Cereals were mainly consumed locally due to the high transport costs that persisted into the 1840s.76 From 1500 to 1750, wheat, rye, barley, and oats witnessed a decrease in yield (measured as product:seed ratio) throughout Europe. The European population grew quickly in the eighteenth century from 125 to 195 million. Food was often not enough and famines were not uncommon in various parts of Europe into the 1770s, causing a situation of chronic malnutrition, which people perceived as a normal part of their lives. However, demand for food led to an expansion of cultivated land and greater attention to agriculture, with cereal growing as a core practice. Both rural society and governments invested in this effort, seeking to ensure a surplus as a reserve against famines. Cereals such as maize and rice were also rediscovered. In the seventeenth century, maize cultivation began to develop in a belt stretching from northern Spain through Provence and the Po Valley and on to Slovenia and Hungary. It was an established crop in the eighteenth century and a subject of study by

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experts, especially for its high productivity, which made it an important food resource for farmers and peasants. The downside of a diet very largely based on maize was the spread of pellagra, a nutritional disease caused by a deficiency of niacin. Pellagra was a major problem in northern Italian peasant society until the early twentieth century. As regards rice, it had already been present in some areas of Spain and southern Italy since the Middle Ages. It was introduced in the Po Valley in the sixteenth century and was progressively improved and expanded thereafter given its good yield and increasing demand from the European market. At the same time, it was stigmatized by authorities and experts for public health issues deriving from the presence of stagnant water. While somewhat diminished in fervor with respect to the previous centuries, this continued to be a heated issue into the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.77 Debates, studies, and reforms often turned to cereal growing in different parts of Europe. For example, Queen Maria I of Portugal founded the Academy of Sciences (Academia das Ciências ) in Lisbon in 1779. This institution—like many others in Europe discussed in this and other chapters—was also dedicated to the enhancement of agriculture through the application of science. It was particularly interested in the debate on cereal growing, given that in Portugal they were often grown in poor soils and in bad synergy with other resources, such as the equally important viticulture and animal husbandry. This defect led to expensive imports of wheat.78 Almost fifteen years later, in late 1793 revolutionary France, Henri Grégoire presented a project to improve agricultural experimentation and education to his colleagues at the National Convention of which he was member. He reminded them how French agricultural production in recent years had dwindled to the point of necessitating the importation of large quantities of wheat since May 1792. He added—perhaps a bit theatrically but nevertheless effectively—that if only half that amount had been used to boost agriculture, the money would have remained in France and national production would have benefited for years.79 Obviously, the active network of agricultural experts and institutions in northern Italy was aware of the issue of cereal growing, practicing various experiments aimed at perfecting the stages of cultivation and attempting to introduce non-native varieties. As discussed previously, some experiments were conducted in various lands in the Duchy of Milan by the Patriotic Society and the agricultural inspector Eraclio Landi on an alleged variety of barley from Siberia and an alleged variety of durum wheat from

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Tuscany. Furthermore, we have seen how much attention the Agricultural Colony of Mantua devoted to cereal growing in the experimental fields near Villa La Favorita, comparing the effects of different types of fertilization and tilling on yield.80 Cereal growing was also a central focus in the agricultural gardens of the universities of Pavia, Bologna, and Padua during the Napoleonic Era. They did not conduct field-scale studies or experiments but focused on small-scale experimentation which, if promising, could later be transposed to regular fields. One example was Professor Bayle Barelle’s work at the Pavia Agricultural Garden to improve durum wheat cultivation, later transferred to the Pavia farmlands in collaboration with local landowners and farmers.81 During Bayle Barelle’s tenure from 1804 to 1811 and especially after the opening of the Agricultural Garden, the University of Pavia concentrated on the diseases of some cereals and on hybridization experiments. As regards the former, Bayle Barelle actively engaged his students in experiments in cereal phytopathology. One experiment involved inoculating ears of wheat with loose smut by transferring “black powder” from infected specimens. He wanted to test whether the disease could be transmitted via physical contact, similar to the transmission of smallpox and the plague in animals and humans.82 He also performed extensive studies of a disease known as golpe in Italian (common bunt), typically affecting wheat, but investigating its effects on maize. He incorrectly concluded, based on his experience, that it was not of fungal origin, a mistake he also made for black rust on wheat, which he incorrectly explained as caused by “excessive nutrition” combined with “excessive heat”. Through articles— published in the most important Italian agricultural journals of the time, such as the Biblioteca di campagna (Country Digest) and the Annali dell’agricoltura—and books, he disagreed with his colleagues who argued that golpe and black rust were caused by “microscopic funguses”.83 In terms of possible remedies, Bayle Barelle taught proper application of lime as a remedy for bunt, as prescribed by the government to all agricultural science professors.84 Enlisting the help of a young physician and lecturer in agricultural science, Carlo Bellardi, Bayle Barelle coordinated experiments on cereal hybridization in the Pavia Agricultural Garden. Bellardi published a report of these experiments in an 1809 issue of the Annali dell’agricoltura, discussing the hybridization of Polish wheat with other species and varieties of wheat.85 André Thouin of the Paris Botanical Garden, one of the

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preeminent agriculturists in Napoleonic Europe, was positively impressed by those experiments and asked Bayle Barelle for seeds and ears of the new hybrids (which would probably not be considered hybrids in light of today’s biological knowledge).86 Polish wheat was already the object of the attention of northern Italian agriculturists for its advantageous product, so the experiments in the Pavia Agricultural Garden appeared to deviate from the general trend. A few years prior to the work in Pavia, the Agricultural Society of Turin had studied this species and promoted its cultivation in Piedmontese fields.87 Its advantages were again praised in the Versuch einer wissenschaftlichen Anleitung zum Studium der Landwirthschaftslehre by Leopold Trautmann in 1815 (later translated into Italian and annotated by professors Luigi Configliachi of the University of Padua and Giuseppe Moretti of the University of Pavia and published as Elementi di economia rurale).88 Bellardi’s article was mentioned more than a decade after it was published in the Transactions of the Horticultural Society of London, which shows that Bayle Barelle and Bellardi’s experiments continued to arouse significant interest in Europe.89 What was the status of cereal-growing experimentation in Bologna and Padua? The Bologna Garden was well endowed with cereals for teaching and experimentation: in 1812, it had maize, rye, oats, barley, rice, proso millet, and foxtail millet. There were also some pseudo cereals, such as the buckwheat and Tartary buckwheat.90 At the University of Bologna and in the Emilia countryside, the undisputed authority on agricultural science was Filippo Re, appointed professor in 1803. From 1805 to 1812, he was in charge of the development of the new agricultural garden, which posed similar organizational hurdles to those encountered by Bayle Barelle in Pavia. Re’s focus was agricultural practices in the Italian departments, highlighting a pragmatism aimed at addressing and resolving well-defined agricultural problems, both in the Emilia area and beyond.91 He was also interested in agricultural technologies and collected tools and machinery from different parts of the country. He had provided the Bologna Agricultural Garden with chests full of dirt and models of agricultural machinery, which he used in demonstrations for his students.92 Re addressed cereal growing in his writings, which included criticism of Bayle Barelle’s hybridization experiments in Pavia.93 He encouraged the circulation of scientific, technical, and agricultural management, challenging traditional systems through his teachings and research activities,

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his role in the Agricultural Society of the Department of the Reno, the management of the Annali, and his support for statistical initiatives.94 Established in 1760s, the Padua Agricultural Garden predated those in Pavia and Bologna, which were created in the early nineteenth century. In 1805, Luigi Arduino assumed the chair of agricultural science and became director of the garden. Arduino was known in the Napoleonic Era mainly for his experiments with surrogates (notably sorghum as a source of sugar). This was a pressing issue, especially after Napoleon’s Continental Blockade went into effect in late 1806. However, Arduino also devoted himself to the study of cereals in the Padua Agricultural Garden, continuing some studies begun by his late father Pietro, who had founded the Garden. Luigi was interested in the cultivation of maize, barley, and finger millet, providing technical instructions for crop improvement and acclimatization (e.g., non-native finger millet) in his writings.95 In 1807, the catalog of the Padua Agricultural Garden listed many varieties of maize, some of which came from North America. While rice was absent, there was no shortage of Tritica. It was not so much Luigi Arduino who devoted himself to these studies as his young relative Giovanni Mazzucato during his stint as a lecturer and assistant in Padua before being transferred in 1808 by the Napoleonic authorities to teach botany and agricultural science at the Liceo of Udine, in the Department of Passariano. In 1807, a booklet by Mazzucato titled Sopra alcune specie di frumenti (On Some Species of Wheat) was published and dedicated to the General Director of Public Education of the Kingdom of Italy, physician Pietro Moscati. Duly advertised in the catalog of the Padua Garden, Mazzucato’s booklet drew on research that Pietro Arduino had begun years earlier.96 Therefore, the agriculturists of Padua continued their studies in the furrow dug during the scientific and cultural reforms of the former Republic of Venice, renewing and adapting them to the needs of the new Kingdom of Italy. It was a different dynamic from the one that united the agricultural gardens of Pavia and Bologna. In these two universities, the professors and directors found themselves faced with an empty canvas from which to develop a project from scratch and shape a research center according to their personal concept of agricultural science, facilitated in this by the fluidity of the discipline. In Padua, on the other hand, there was a risk that the legacy of Pietro Arduino would prove to be cumbersome for Luigi Arduino and Giovanni Mazzucato, and that the Garden would not adapt to the new dynamism of Napoleonic Europe, prolonging

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the years of stagnation of the Austrian interlude between the treaties of Campoformio and Pressburg (1797–1805).97 However, this was not the case: we have received proof of this from the examples of studies on cereal cultivation, and we will have the opportunity to see it again shortly in the context of surrogates.

4.3

Oil and Sugar

Like cereals, oil and sugar are commodities that give us a wide variety of examples for organization of experiments and places outfitted to such activity. These two products were particularly important objects of study in European agricultural science and technical experimentation in the late eighteenth century and in the Napoleonic Era. Oil was used as a fuel, for the manufacture of soap, for the processing of wool, and for culinary purposes, while the trade and consumption of cane sugar increased rapidly in Europe in the eighteenth century.98 In northern Italy during the Napoleonic Era, experts and institutions were very active in experimentation on oil and sugar plants, and also on honey production. They interacted with other Italian areas and with foreign institutions, aware that they were part of a bigger system: Frenchified Europe. Nonetheless, there was also a strong continuity with Old-Regime strands of experimentation. Let us start with two examples relating to oil production: peanut and radish. Some of the most pioneering experiments in peanut cultivation and oil extraction were sponsored by the Economic Society of Valencia, Spain, which mobilized local experimenters, agriculturists, and farmers for this purpose in the final years of the eighteenth century.99 The Duchy of Milan—while feeling the need to find an alternative to the importation of expensive olives and oil—did not invest in peanut cultivation on a large scale. Nonetheless, the Patriotic Society showed some interest in this herbaceous plant for its oil-producing potentials already in 1780. It imported seeds from the University of Montpellier, France, and distributed them to its landowner members, but also to the Brera and Pavia Botanical Gardens. These preliminary experiments must not have been satisfying enough to justify a further investment by the Society and the Habsburg authorities.100 Instead, the government opted for olive acclimatization in the Lake Como area, which proved to be quite successful, as we have discussed in Chapter 3, highlighting the central

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role of the agricultural inspector Eraclio Landi and the Patriotic Society in the venture. Later, interesting studies on the peanut and its oil were conducted in the Pavia Agricultural Garden under Bayle Barelle’s supervision. While he was living in Milan before becoming a professor, he had asked the Brera Botanical Garden for seeds and studied the peanut in an amateur capacity. Bayle Barelle referred to this peanut as the “African variety”, with dark leaves and long pods. Shortly after becoming a professor in Pavia, he received seeds from André Thouin of an “Indian” variety with lighter leaves and smaller pods. When the Pavia Agricultural Garden and some farmers’ fields near the town of Lodi became available, Bayle Barelle immediately sowed both varieties, comparing their morphological and physiological aspects but principally assessing their ease of cultivation and quality of product. He concluded that the Indian variety was preferable, having been acclimatized to northern Italy for about thirty years and producing, on average, a greater quantity of seeds than the African variety and thus more oil. Bayle Barelle promptly described the results of his research in an article for the Annali dell’agricoltura, leaving some technical questions open related to oil extraction, such as improvements in the design of oil mills.101 He did not provide details in this regard, but in a letter dated 1811 and published in the Giornale di Fisica, Chimica e Storia Naturale (Journal of Physics, Chemistry, and Natural History) he described another project of his: a pedal-operated peanut shelling machine.102 In 1807, Bayle Barelle had told Thouin about the success he was beginning to have with his experiments, informing him that the peanut grown in the Pavia Garden “gave me seeds as big as a common bean”, plausibly referring to the Indian variety.103 Bayle Barelle’s interest in peanut research was reflected in a final exam topic he chose for engineering students in 1809. We may suppose that he strongly believed that future engineers should be knowledgeable of the potential benefits to the national economy offered by peanuts.104 Despite Habsburg Lombardy’s interest in olive growing and Napoleonic Lombardy’s interest in peanuts, there were many points of continuity between Old-Regime agronomy and early nineteenth-century research and experimentation. One of the criteria that led Bayle Barelle to prefer the Indian variety was the fact that it had been acclimatized to northern Italy some three decades earlier. He also pointed out that it was the most popular variety in Europe. Having collected seeds during

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a scientific trip to the Valencian area in the late 1790s, veterinarian and agronomist François-Hilaire Gilbert sent them to Henri-Alexandre Tessier, agricultural consultant for the Ministry of the Interior in Paris. Furthermore, Lucien Bonaparte, French ambassador in Madrid for about a year in 1800–1801 and Napoleon’s younger brother, had sent some seeds to the prefect of the Landes in southwestern France.105 Although the time frame and geographical areas are smaller than in the case of cotton studied by Joseph Horan, there is also clear continuity in the cultivation of peanuts between experimentation during the Old Regime and the new mass approach of the Napoleonic Era.106 In Piedmont, the scientific community focused more decisively on peanut cultivation and oil. Important experiments were conducted by the Agricultural Society of Turin in its experimental garden. Noting the favorable response of the peanuts, it encouraged large-scale planting, with some of the lands belonging to the Agricultural Society itself. Peanut cultivation spread through Piedmont and the plant was considered to be perfectly naturalized by the end of the first decade of the nineteenth century. Landowners harvested thousands of pounds of peanut seeds in that period and some considered the extracted peanut oil to be better than olive oil. However, the main goal was to avoid the high cost of transporting olives and olive oil from Liguria or from distant Lake Garda.107 We have no confirmation that the variety used in the Agricultural Society of Turin’s experiments was the same one studied by Bayle Barelle (the “Indian” variety), but it appears likely given its relatively fast acclimatization across large areas of Piedmont. The relatively high interest in peanut cultivation in Piedmont with respect to Lombardy may be explained by the fact that large-scale acclimatization of the olive tree was very difficult in Piedmont. Small groves did exist in the hills near Turin, where the climate was relatively favorable, and there were also olive mills, but they could not meet the needs of the entire region. Herbaceous plants such as peanuts, on the other hand, found the soil and climate of Piedmont quite suitable.108 We might imagine that the preference for peanuts had something to do with the fact that they are resown each year and production thus can quickly recover from adverse events, unlike olive trees. And David Gentilcore’s recent observation on the appeal of edible tubers such as potatoes in some areas in the eighteenth century because they grew underground and would thus, in theory, be more difficult for an army to claim or

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destroy, also applies to peanuts.109 We may assume that the choice of oil plants for experimentation mainly followed the logic of quick crop restoration. For instance, in the late eighteenth and the early nineteenth centuries, the Accademia dei Georgofili in Florence experimented on the castor oil plant, field mustard, and sesame, which grew quickly. Olive groves, on the other hand, would take years to restore if damaged and played a minor role in the Georgofili experiments in those decades, even though they were already typical of Tuscan agricultural flora.110 Some years later, in Milan, Luigi Castiglioni openly expressed his concerns that the natural slow growing of olive trees could discourage landowners and growers from participating in the improvement in olive production in Lombardy planned by the restored Habsburg government.111 In a quite different environmental and agricultural context, important experiments in olive tree growing and, later, olive oil surrogates, were conducted in the Mantua area. The Academy of Mantua wished to develop its own olive tree planting project in the 1780s and studied the experiments carried out by Eraclio Landi and the Patriotic Society. The Academy took the acclimatization of Tuscan olive trees in the Lake Como area as a model for reestablishing olive growing and oil production in the Cavriana hills north of Mantua, near Lake Garda but still in the Duchy of Mantua (the lake was then part of the Republic of Venice). The project was led by Angelo Gualandris, agricultural inspector for the Duchy. Having surveyed the Cavriana hills in 1786, he was aware of the history of olive growing there until the 1730s and interested in reviving it. To learn more about the potentials of such a project, he visited hills near Verona that had environmental conditions similar to those in Cavriana and prosperous olive groves similar to those on Lake Garda. Later that year he published his Dialoghi agrarj tenuti in Cavriana (Agricultural Dialogues Held in Cavriana) using accessible language in order to appeal both to Lombard institutions and rural society.112 The Dialoghi referenced Landi’s experiments on Lake Como and included an appendix with the most recent edition of his Metodo chiaro e facile per formare vivaj di ulivi per uso della Lombardia austriaca (Clear and Easy Method for Olive Tree Nurseries for Use in Austrian Lombardy), first published in Milan in 1784 with support from the Patriotic Society.113 Gualandris died in December 1788 but the Patriotic Society continued to provide guidance in olive growing to the Academy of Mantua through Landi’s experiences in the Lake Como area and other

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works, such as studies by Jacopo Ambrogio Tartini, secretary of the Accademia dei Georgofili of Florence, in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.114 Unlike Lake Como, olive growing in the Mantua area produced no noteworthy results, at least in the short term. As a matter of fact, in 1795 Apulian agriculturist Cosimo Moschettini sent some of his studies on olive growing and oil production to the Academy of Mantua and to botanist Domenico Nocca, hoping that they could be useful for oliviculture in the Duchy of Milan and near Lake Garda (Republic of Venice), but not the Mantua area, “where, as you tell me, there are no olive trees”.115 However, Domenico Nocca appeared to gain a certain reputation as an expert (even though a minor one) on olive trees. For instance, some years later, a physician who lived near Genoa and had been Nocca’s student in Mantua or in Pavia asked for his advice on how to repel the olive fruit flies that infected olive trees in his area.116 In the Napoleonic Era, the Department of the Mincio was also focused on alternative sources of oil. Unlike Piedmont and the Pavia area, Mantua, the department seat, did not engage in significant peanut experiments, but its Academy performed research on the radish, reprising experiments conducted on various distant plots of land by the suppressed Patriotic Society of Milan. Marquis Luigi Fassati, director of the Academy’s agricultural activities at the beginning of the nineteenth century, organized radish cultivation experiments on his own lands. On March 8, 1802, he was obliged to report to his colleagues that the experiments had not been a success. As possible causes, he cited poor solar exposure of the plots or the possibility that the hired hands had not cared for them properly. In similar experiments in the Milan area years before, the Society had obtained quite different results.117 Despite the failure of the radish experiments, the relations between the Academy of Mantua and the defunct Society of Milan showed how knowledge acquired under the Old Regime could be grist for the dynamism of the Napoleonic Era in boosting agriculture and agricultural products. The situation was even more complex in the case of sugar production. First, the kingdom Plantae was not the only one involved in studies and experiments, but also the kingdom Animalia, represented by bees and honey production. Needless to say, the involvement of bees demanded an appropriate organization of spaces and personnel. Let us examine some cases from northern Italy. The Patriotic Society of Milan and the Academy of Mantua conducted research on beekeeping during the Old Regime.118 A prominent scholar

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in the effort was the Hungarian priest Gaetano Harasti, who worked with the Patriotic Society of Milan and was awarded prizes by the Agricultural Academy of Vicenza and the Accademia dei Georgofili of Florence.119 Harasti wrote essays describing his technical experiments on hive management, but most importantly worked to educate rural communities about the habits of bees and improved beekeeping practices.120 Interest in beekeeping also developed in other areas of Europe. Lusatian pastor Adam Gottlob Schirach applied his thorough knowledge of natural sciences to improving beekeeping practices, founding, circa 1766, the Upper Lusatian Bee-Keeping Society. A collection of his essays was translated from German into French and published in 1771 with the title Histoire naturelle de la reine des abeilles, avec l’art de former des essaims (Natural History of the Queen Bee and the Art of Creating Swarms); the Italian version was published in Brescia in 1774.121 In Spain during the final years under Charles III, the jurist Antonio Montero y Santa Colomba from Astorga, working in collaboration with existing economic societies, submitted a plan to the prime minister for the institution of agricultural schools. Among the subjects to be taught, he strongly recommended improved, less invasive beekeeping methods.122 At that time, harvesting honey and wax still often involved killing the bees and destroying the hive. The main aim of Schirach and Montero y Santa Colomba and others like them was to teach rural peoples how to design more functional hives that would allow conservation of the bee colonies. In the Napoleonic Era, the Academy of Sciences, Fine Letters, Agriculture and Arts of Brescia—renamed Ateneo after 1810—distinguished itself in this zootechnical field. In 1806, it developed a project with the Liceo of Brescia for a beekeeping course. The Academy and the Liceo obtained a set of beehives to use as a teaching tool, an object of entomological research, and a test apparatus to improve honey and wax production and collection methods. From September 1806 to July 1807 the number of bee colonies increased from 18 to 36, evidence that the experiment was quite successful.123 The development of sugar sources from the plant kingdom was also a key area of research, especially since the implementation of the Continental Blockade in late 1806 and the interruption of imports of cane sugar from the Caribbean. Taking a different stance than it had regarding oil plants, the Napoleonic government was more directly engaged in this effort, especially starting in 1810, when it commissioned agricultural societies and academies to develop ways to extract sugar from grapes,

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beets, and other autochthonous plants. In other Italian areas, the environment was potentially more favorable to sugarcane cultivation and so efforts were focused on finding the most suitable variety of this plant for acclimatization. However, in the Kingdom of Naples under Joachim Murat, experiments on sugarcanes from Tunisia were unsatisfactory and the attempts to obtain canes from Tahiti were unsuccessful.124 Northern Italy gives us a particular example of experimentation on sugarcane surrogates, including details on where and how the experiments were organized. Research was conducted in the Friuli region in northeastern Italy on two species in the Ebenaceae family, the date-plum (Diospyros lotus L.) and the American persimmon (Diospyros virginiana L.). The studies were led by the aforementioned Giovanni Mazzucato of Padua, a relative of the agronomists Pietro and Luigi Arduino. Mazzucato was professor of botany and agriculture at the prestigious Liceo of Udine. He was also a member of several Italian agricultural academies and societies. During his stay in Udine, Mazzucato studied local agricultural practices and catalogued autochthonous plant species.125 Mazzucato presented his observations of the potential of the date-plum and the American persimmon as sugar sources in 1810 in the Annali dell’agricoltura, describing them in detail based on his own direct observations and on the work of other botanists. He stated that the date-plum was already acclimatized in France, on the Barbary Coast, and in northern Italy, listing the Friulan countryside, the Berici Hills near Vicenza, and forests near Turin. In further studies he found it established in all hilly and wooded regions in France and northern Italy. He described methods for processing the fruit pulp into a sweet syrup. For the more exotic American persimmon, he cited botanists and agronomists who had been able to study the species and its uses, such as French scholars Duhamel du Monceau and Louis-Augustin Bosc d’Antic.126 Mazzucato described how to store date-plum seeds and shared his observations on proper seedbed preparation. The seeds should be separated from the pulp and dried in a well-ventilated environment. They should then be stored for the winter in boxes of moist sand, adding water as necessary. They could then be sown in March or early April in properly cleaned, tilled, and fertilized soil. The soil had to contain more sand than clay, with small percentages of limestone and humus and low moisture content. The seeds were placed in furrows and covered with two fingers of soil. Muzzucato also proposed sowing barley, oats, or rye together with the date-plums to protect the young saplings from the hot summer sun.

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Given that these cereals had shallow roots, they would not compete with the date-plums. When the cereals were harvested, the stalk was to be cut at a height of one foot above the ground, leaving it to decompose into humus, enriching the soil.127 After two years, when the saplings had become sufficiently robust, they were to be transplanted into soil with higher limestone content in a nursery, at intervals of about 3 feet. When they had reached a height of 4– 5 feet, the date-plums could be moved to their final location. Mazzucato criticized the practice of cutting the taproot when the tree was transplanted with the aim of promoting lateral root growth. He believed it destabilized the tree, reduced its ability to absorb nutrients from the soil, and exposed it to rot at the cut, and attempted to dissuade farmers and peasants from continuing this ancestral practice.128 Mazzucato also discussed techniques for extracting the sugar from the fruits. According to his observations, each tree produced an average of 60 pounds of fruits, which ripened in late November. In an 1806 experiment, he collected 20 pounds of fruits, added water, and crushed them to a liquid paste. He skimmed off the seeds and peels and let the purified paste sit for 24 hours. He then used a dense mesh fabric to strain out the pulp in at least three pressings and let the liquid sit for another 24 hours. The sugar water was then brought to a boil over a low fire and clarified with egg whites, eggshells, lime, calcium carbonate, and charcoal. The liquid slowly boiled down into a very sweet syrup. From the original 20 pounds of fruit, the professor obtained 2 pints of excellent syrup. He transferred it to a glass jar and let it sit for 8 months where it would be protected from freezing. At that point, the syrup had begun to crystalize. He filtered it to separate the reddish, high-quality sugar crystals for refining. He admitted that the amount of sugar was quite small, but pointed out that the syrup could be a substitute for honey and that the fruits could be used to produce spirits and vinegar.129 The many experiments we have discussed on cereals and oil and sugar plants underscore the importance of practical studies in appropriate facilities—botanical gardens, agricultural gardens, laboratories, and experimental fields—for the development of agricultural science at the turn of the nineteenth century. The developing discipline produced significant qualitative and quantitative outcomes, contributing to the local and national economy. It thus became a regularly practiced science,

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where experts and institutions engaged in theoretical debate and scientific research to demonstrate the effectiveness of their work for promoting economic prosperity.130 Moreover, many of those experiments conducted in the eighteenth and the early nineteenth centuries paved the way for further experimentation after the end of Napoleon’s regime. We have already discussed this continuity in Chapter 3 in the case of olive growing on Lake Como, with the Habsburg institutions in 1819–1820 still looking at improvement strategies developed both in the late eighteenth century and during the Napoleonic Era. Another example is peanut oil as fuel or condiment, with experiments on growing peanuts and extracting their oil still being conducted in the Po Valley in the 1830s and 1840s.131 As discussed in this chapter, northern Italy provides a particularly rich case study, both in the late Old Regime and in the Napoleonic Era, with examples ranging from the Agricultural Society of Turin to the Patriotic Society of Milan, the University of Pavia to the Agricultural Colony of Mantua, and the Ateneo of Brescia to the University of Padua and the Liceo of Udine, among others. As we shall discuss in Chapter 5, alongside theoretical debate, knowledge networks, experimentation, and interactions with State policies, there is another area where agricultural science developed: teaching. The following chapter examines to what extent northern Italy offered original and fruitful models in the realm of education.

Notes 1. G. Galasso, Il Regno di Napoli: il Mezzogiorno borbonico e napoleonico (1734–1815), Turin, UTET, 2007, pp. 794–801, 1006–1011; R. Lentini, Dal commercio alla finanza: i negozianti-banchieri inglesi nella Sicilia occidentale tra XVIII e XIX secolo, “Mediterranea: Ricerche storiche”, I (2004), no. 2, pp. 105–122. On the Continental Blockade see the multifaceted studies in J. Joor, K.B. Aaslestad (eds.), Revisiting Napoleon’s Continental System Local, Regional and European Experiences, Basingstoke and New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. For a broader analysis of the global economic context during Napoleon’s rule see P.M. Solar, The Long-Term Effects of the French and Napoleonic Wars on the Global Economy, in The Crucible of Revolutionary and Napoleonic Warfare and European Transitions to Modern Economic Growth, ed. P.K. O’Brien, Leiden, Brill, 2022, pp. 250–280.

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2. E. Sessa, Le tenute reali dei Borbone in Sicilia, in La Casina Cinese nel Regio Parco della Favorita di Palermo, ed. G. Davì, E. Mauro, Palermo, CRicd, 2015, pp. 135–162; G. Barbara, T. La Mantia, J. Rühl, La Conca d’Oro: trasformazione di un paesaggio agrario e riflessi sulla sostenibilità, in Il paesaggio agricolo della Conca d’Oro di Palermo, ed. M. Leone, F. Lo Piccolo, F. Schilleci, Florence, Alinea, 2009, pp. 69–95, specifically pp. 82–84; T. La Mantia, La coltivazione del nespolo del Giappone (Eriobotrya japonica Lindl.) in Sicilia: da un lontano passato a un incerto futuro, “Il naturalista siciliano”, XL (2016), no. 2, pp. 201–216. For some information on the Boccadifalco Botanical Garden through the nineteenth century and its director, botanist Giovanni Gussone from Campania, see M. Alippi Cappelletti, Gussone Giovanni, in DBI, vol. LXI (2004). 3. For instance, Balsamo dedicated to Belmonte a letter-essay on cereal diseases: P. Balsamo, Sopra la ruggine e il cattivo ricolto dei grani del corrente anno 1804 in Sicilia, Palermo, Reale Stamperia, 1804. On Balsamo’s training through Europe and his role in Sicilian agricultural science, please refer to: M.L. Fagnani, From Botany to Agriculture: The Scientific Network Linking Great Britain, Spain, and Italy in the Late Eighteenth Century, “Agricultural History Review”, LXIX (2021), no. 2, pp. 213–235, in particular pp. 219–221; G. Giarrizzo, Paolo Balsamo economista, “Rivista Storica Italiana”, LXXVIII (1966), no. 1, pp. 5– 60. On the economic, political, and social background of Balsamo and Belmonte’s work, please refer to F. Sabetti, R. Candela, For a History of the Struggle to Constitute and Sustain Productive Orders: Lessons from Sicily, in Institutional Diversity in Self-Governing Societies: the Bloomington School and Beyond, ed. F. Sabetti, D. Castiglione, Lanham, Boulder, New York, and London, Lexington Books, 2017, pp. 187–212. 4. Biblioteca Civica Vincenzo Joppi, Udine, Fondo principale, ms. 508. See also Memorie ed osservazioni pubblicate dalla Società d’Agricoltura Pratica d’Udine e raccolte nell’anno MDCCLXXI , vol. I, Fratelli Gallici, 1772, pp. iv–xxv. 5. On Asquini’s ventures and entrepreneurship, please refer to the studies collected in L. Morassi (ed.), La Nuova Olanda: Fabio Asquini tra accademia e sperimentazione, Udine, Magnus, 1992. See also L. Morassi, Un nobile imprenditore nel Friuli del Settecento: mattoni e calcina alla “Nuova Olanda”, “Quaderni Storici”, LII (1983), no. 1, pp. 81–103. 6. AIL, Archivio manoscritti, 18, V, pp. 35–39. 7. P.L. Ghisleni, L’orto della Crocetta dell’Accademia di agricoltura di Torino, “Rivista di storia dell’agricoltura”, XXXVI (1996), no. 1, pp. 109–121. See also D. Giva, M. Spadoni, L’Accademia di Agricoltura di Torino e l’Associazione Agraria Subalpina, in Associazionismo economico e diffusione dell’economia politica nell’Italia dell’Ottocento:

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9.

10. 11.

12. 13.

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Dalle società economico-agrarie alle associazioni di economisti, vol. I, ed. M.M. Augello, M.E.L. Guidi, Milan, FrancoAngeli, 2000, pp. 63–84. Ghisleni, L’orto della Crocetta, p. 115; G. Torcellan, Giuseppe Nuvolone, agronomo piemontese, in G. Torcellan, Settecento veneto e altri scritti storici, Turin, Giappicchelli, 1969, pp. 361–389. Among his essays and booklets, we must recall: Osservazioni intorno alla coltivazione del canape nel Basso Monferrato, Turin, Briolo, 1788; Metodo pratico della coltivazione del colzat, preparazione del seme ed espressione dell’olio, Turin, Fea, 1794; Coltivazione della garanza ad istruzione della gente di campagna, Turin, Guaita, 1795; Saggio sopra la coltura del lino per istruzione alla gente di campagna, Turin, Fea, 1795. Almanach du Département du Pô pour l’an 1809, Turin, Morano, no year, p. 201; AARI, (1810), book VII, pp. 88–89. On the interest in the merino sheep by the members of the Agricultural Society of Turin and the Pastoral Society of Chivasso see: M. Riberi, I rapporti tra l’Accademia di Agricoltura di Torino e le istituzioni culturali piemontesi durante il XIX secolo, “Bollettino storicobibliografico subalpino”, CXV (2017), no. 2, pp. 361–388, specifically p. 364; L. Aimone, Le esposizioni industriali a Torino (1829–1898), in Innovazione e modernizzazione in Italia fra Otto e Novecento, ed. E. Decleva, C.G. Lacaita, A. Ventura, Milan, FrancoAngeli, 1995, pp. 497–528, in particular p. 498; A. Carera, La modernizzazione ambigua. Azioni e reazioni nel periodo francese (1796–1814), in L’Ottocento economico italiano, ed. S. Zaninelli, Bologna, Monduzzi, 1993, pp. 1–126, in particular p. 48; R. Romeo, Cavour e il suo tempo, I, Rome-Bari, Laterza, 1971, 2nd edition, pp. 47–53. I. Pederzani, I Dandolo: dall’Italia dei Lumi al Risorgimento, Milan, FrancoAngeli, 2014, pp. 125–134. The importance of the merino project for the Napoleonic authorities in northern Italy is demonstrated by the rich documentation in ASMi, Agricoltura p.m., 85–89, which refers to the breeders of merino sheep in the Kingdom of Italy, reporting the difficulties encountered and some successfully cases. For other experiments on animal husbandry in Napoleonic Europe see: L. Brassart, L’introduction des buffles italiens en France (1797 –1840): un opéra-buffle, in Le Royaume de Naples à l’heure française: revisiter l’histoire du decennio francese 1806–1815, ed. M. Traversier, I. Moullier, P.-M. Delpu, Villeneuve d’Ascq, Presses universitaires du Septentrion, 2018, pp. 223–244; L. Brassart, La ferme des animaux: l’invention d’une politique de l’animal utile sous le Consulat, “Annales historiques de la Révolution française”, CCCLXXVII (2014), no. 3, pp. 175–196. Carera, La modernizzazione ambigua, pp. 48–49. On the breeding experiments in the Mantua area see two articles published in the Annali

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15.

16.

17.

18. 19.

dell’Agricoltura: P. Coddè, A. Chinaglia, Dell’agricoltura del Dipartimento del Mincio, in AARI, (1809), book III, pp. 120–134, specifically pp. 132–133; Nota da apporsi all’articolo Dell’agricoltura del Dipartimento del Mincio ec. N.o 8 degli Annali di Agricoltura pag. 133 del sig. Domenico Bladelli, AARI, (1810), book V, pp. 196–199. MRAMn, pp. xxx–xxxii; ASMi, Studi p.m., 39, report by Gaetano Boari, prefect of the Department of the Mincio, Mantua, April 8 1803; ANV, As, C.a., 30, 2, Estratto dell’ordinanza di Maria Teresa del 28 giugno 1770 in merito alla dotazione dei terreni del Te e della Favorita alla Colonia agraria. For the first two decades of the Agricultural Colony see E. Camerlenghi, La Colonia Agraria dell’Accademia Reale di Scienze e Belle Lettere dalla fondazione alle “perlustrazioni” di Angelo Gualandris, in Dall’Accademia degli Invaghiti, nel 450° anniversario dell’istituzione, all’Accademia Nazionale Virgiliana di Scienze Lettere e Arti di Mantova, ed. P. Tosetti Grandi, A. Mortari, Mantua, Accademia Nazionale Virgiliana di Scienze Lettere e Arti, 2016, pp. 343–362. Camerlenghi, La Colonia Agraria, pp. 347-349. See also: ANV, As, C.a., 34, 1, report by engineer Giuseppe Mai, December 14, 1793, and draft letter by Girolamo Murari dalla Corte and Pasquale Coddè (respectively prefect and deputy-secretary of the Academy) to the Giunta di Governo, Mantua, September 10, 1794. ANV, As, C.a., 34, 6, report by Niccola Ippoliti, superintendent to La Favorita land: this document does not have a date, but it is subsequent to August 1798 as we can understand from its content (it is also archived among the 1799 documentation). A.M. Lorenzini, R. Navarrini (eds.), L’Archivio storico dell’Accademia Nazionale Virgiliana di Mantova: Inventario, Mantua, Accademia Nazionale Virgiliana di Scienze Lettere e Arti, 2013, pp. 389–390; D. Brianta, Il dibattito economico-agrario nelle accademie lombarde tra Sette e Ottocento, in Associazionismo economico, pp. 3–38, in particular pp. 13–20. ASMi, Studi p.a., 11, 2, a, letter by Joannon de Saint Laurent to Count of Firmian, Mantua, February 4, 1771. Ibid. The lira (pl. lire) is used as currency here and later in this chapter. It should be kept in mind that this is a sort of umbrella term encompassing a number of specific currencies: the lira of Mantua, the lira of Milan, the Imperial lira, or the Italian lira. Not all sources specify the type of lira, so the given amounts serve mainly to give an idea of proportion, rather than absolute value, in funds, funding requests, expenses, and earnings. The reader will find information on the correspondences among the various currencies and the relevant legislation over the years in A. Martini, Manuale di metrologia ossia misure, pesi e monete in uso attualmente e anticamente presso tutti i popoli, Turin, Loescher, 1883.

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20. ASMi, Studi p.a., 11, 2, a, annex A to the letter of February 4, Occorrenze per provvedere li fondi stati clementissimamente assegnati da S.M. alla Colonia agraria (copy). 21. Coddè, Chinaglia, Dell’agricoltura del Dipartimento del Mincio. 22. ANV, As, C.a., 31, 1: notes by the Agricultural Colony to superintendent Giuseppe Bonazzi, March 20 and 27, 1786; Nota della semina di piante utili all’economia fatta li 24 aprile 1786, no date; Avvertenze intorno agli sperimenti agrarj nel terreno della Favorita, December 22, 1786; Avvertenza per direzione al custode della Favorita, no date; C.a., 32, 1, note by the Agricultural Colony to superintendent Giacomo Filiasi, March 3, 1788; C.a., 32, 2, note by the Agricultural Colony to superintendent Francesco d’Arco, March 3, 1789. 23. Ibid. 24. Ibid. 25. Ibid. 26. For example, on April 26, 1788, superintendent Filiasi bought some black-eyed peas from one Giovanni Vesta, probably a farmer, likely to have seeding experiments conducted at Villa La Favorita: ANV, As, C.a., 32, 1, dossier Contabilità. 27. BCMHN, MS 1971, 988, letter by Angelo Gualandris to the experts of the Paris Botanical Garden, Mantua, March 17, 1784. 28. ARJB, DIV. I, 20, 2, 27, letter by Angelo Gualandris to Casimiro Gómez Ortega, Mantua, February 3, 1785. 29. Ibid. 30. About Gualandris’s travels through Europe and his contacts with experts from different countries see: Fagnani, From Botany to Agriculture, pp. 221–224; F. Baraldi, Gli studi geologici di Angelo Gualandris nelle opere pubblicate e nei documenti inediti conservati nell’Archivio storico dell’Accademia Nazionale Virgiliana di Mantova, in Angelo Gualandris (1750–1788): Uno scienziato illuminista nella società mantovana di fine Settecento, ed. N. Azzi, F. Baraldi, E. CamerlenghiMantua, Accademia Nazionale Virgiliana di Scienze Lettere e Arti, 2018, pp. 9–77, in particular pp. 13–15 and 20–21; L. Brunori (ed.), Epistolario de Juan Andrés y Morell (1740–1817), vol. I, Valencia, Generalitat Valenciana, 2006, pp. 457–460, letter by Juan Andrés to Cavanilles, Mantua, November 1, 1786. A letter by Ferber to Gualandris on geological and mineralogical subjects (Mitau, December, 24, 1778) was partially published in “Nuovo Giornale d’Italia”, February 6, 1779, no. 29, pp. 225–226. On Ferber’s travel in Calabria and his interest in local agriculture see A. Piromalli, La letteratura calabrese, vol. I, Cosenza, Pellegrini, 1996, 3rd edition, p. 252. 31. D. Ferrari, Palazzo Te nei documenti dell’Archivio di Stato di Mantova, in “Bollettino d’arte”, (1994), special issue: L’Istituto Centrale del Restauro

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32. 33. 34. 35.

36.

37. 38. 39. 40.

41. 42.

per Palazzo Te, ed. E. Guiducci, L. Francescone, E.D. Valente, pp. 167– 182; E. Marani, C. Perina, Mantova: Le arti, vol. II, book I, Mantua, Istituto Carlo d’Arco per la Storia di Mantova, 1961, pp. 197–202, 428– 457. E. Marani, C. Perina, Mantova: Le arti, vol. III, book I, Mantua, Istituto Carlo d’Arco per la Storia di Mantova, 1965, p. 254. ANV, As, C.a., 32, 1, dossier Documentazione relativa al Te. Ibid. ANV, As, C.a., 31, 1, dossier Documentazione relativa al Te. Bisagni was a member of the Colony until his death in 1790: ANV, As, C.a., 30, 15, 230, list of the associates to the Agricultural Colony. For some details on Bisagni’s engineering expertise in land reclamation plans in the Duchy of Mantua see F. Baraldi, Il progetto dell’ingegnere camerale Giuseppe Bisagni per il prosciugamento del lago Paiolo di Mantova alla fine del XVIII secolo, “Civiltà Mantovana”, LIII (2018), no. 146, pp. 97–121. ANV, As, C.a., 32, 1: note by Giambattista of Colloredo to his cousin Carlo Ottavio, Mantua, April 12, 1788; list of associates of the Agricultural Colony, April 1788. ANV, As, C.a., 32, 1, note by the Agricultural Colony to superintendent Francesco d’Arco, March 3, 1789. C.A.L. Bellardi, Mezzo facile ed economico per nodrire i bachi da seta in mancanza della foglia recente de’ mori, Turin, Briolo, 1787. BNB, AF XI 34, 80 verso, meeting of August 9, 1787. ANV, As, C.a., 32, 1, letter by Carlo Amoretti to secretary Matteo Borsa, Milan, April 20 1788 (for a copy of the letter see also BNB AF XI 38, 32 verso). The Agricultural Colony probably had a booklet or a pamphlet published on how to conduct the experiment: ANV, As, C.a., 36, Adunanze della R. Colonia agraria per l’anno accademico 1788 (photocopy of the original). Point 6 of the record of the meeting of April 14, 1788, reads that a written incitement (incitamento) on this experiment was approved by the Colony. ANV, As, C.a., 30, 2, probably secretary Pellegrino Salandri to Pietro Arduino, Mantua, August 1, 1770. ANV, As: C.a., 32, 1, letter by the Marchioness to secretary Matteo Borsa, Casatico, May 20, 1788; L.a., 8, letter by Matteo Borsa to the Marchioness, Mantua, May 1787. On the correspondence between the Marchioness and Angelo Gualandris, with a focus on their scientifical and technical interest see N. Azzi, Datemi vostre nuove eletrizzanti: Lettere dal carteggio di Angelo Gualandris e Maria Teresa Cristiani Castiglioni (1768–1788), in Angelo Gualandris (1750–1788), pp. 79–157. See also V. Manfrè, Grazia e Pallade. La marchesa Maria Teresa Castiglioni nata Cristiani: appunti per una biografia, “Postumia”, XXXII (2021), no. 1, pp. 83–123.

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43. ARJB, DIV. I, 20, 2, 27, letter by Gualandris to Gómez Ortega, Mantua, February 3, 1785. Among other things, Gualandris thanks Gómez Ortega on behalf of the Marchioness for some seeds the Spaniard has sent to her; Gómez Ortega scribbles on the edge of the letter that on February 20 he sent to Gualandris and the Marchioness two parcels of seeds through Juan Andrés. On Gómez Ortega’s scientific training in Italy see A. González Bueno, Gómez Ortega, Cavanilles, Zea, tres botánicos de la Ilustración: la ciencia al servicio del poder, Madrid, Nivola, 2002, pp. 24–27. 44. ANV, As, C.a., 32, 1, letter by the Marchioness to Borsa, Casatico, May 20, 1788. 45. ANV, As, C.a., 32, 1, letter by Giuseppe Nuvoloni, Viadana, June 10, 1788. 46. ANV, As, C.a., 36, Adunanze della Reale Colonia agraria per l’anno accademico 1789–90 (photocopy of the original). 47. ANV, As, C.a., 32, 2, 131, report of an annual report written by Matteo Borsa to the political intendant of Mantua on the experiments conducted by the Agricultural Colony, p. 4. 48. ANV, As, L.a., 8, Borsa to the Marchioness, Mantua, May 1787. See also Azzi, Datemi vostre nuove eletrizzanti, pp. 127–129. 49. A. Visconti, Il trasferimento delle piante nella Lombardia austriaca negli ultimi decenni della dominazione asburgica, “Altre modernità” (2013), nos. 10–11, pp. 39–51; A. Visconti, Il giardino botanico della Società Patriotica di Milano (1776–1796), “Museologia scientifica”, XIV (1998), no. 1, pp. 263–269. 50. For the documentation produced by these investigations see ANV, As, C.a., 30, 1–2 and 16–17. Moreover refer to E. Camerlenghi, Le perlustrazioni fatte nel Mantovano e i progetti politici agrari, in Angelo Gualandris (1750–1788), pp. 159–174. Late-eighteenth-century investigations of rural areas could be considered preludes of the golden age of such endeavors: the nineteenth century. In this regard refer to N. Vivier, L’âge d’or des grandes enquêtes agricoles: le XIXe siècle, “Annales du Midi”, CXXV (2013), no. 284, pp. 495–510. 51. C. Vivanti, Le campagne del Mantovano nell’età delle riforme, Milan, Feltrinelli, 1959, pp. 214–215; C. Mozzarelli, Da Ducato a Dipartimento franco-cisalpino, in Mantova e il suo territorio, ed. G. Rumi, G. Mezzanotte, A. Cova, Milan, Cariplo, 1999, pp. 11–35, in particular pp. 18–22; E. Camerlenghi, Sui 47 quesiti del Censo mantovano (1771– 1775). Storia e attualità, in Atti e memorie dell’Accademia Nazionale Virgiliana di Scienze Lettere e Arti, vol. LXXXI, Mantua, Accademia Nazionale Virgiliana di Scienze Lettere e Arti, 2013, pp. 47–69. 52. For the important role of botanical and agricultural gardens in the national universities see the entries Botanica and Agraria in Piani di

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53.

54.

55.

56.

57.

58.

59. 60.

61.

studj e di disciplina per le università nazionali, Milan, Veladini, [1803]. For the geographical and demographical context of the Italian Republic and the Kingdom of Italy refer to A. Grab, Napoleon and the Transformation of Europe, Basingstoke and New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2003, pp. 159–160. D. Brianta, I luoghi del sapere agronomico: Accademie, società di agricoltura e di arti meccaniche, orti agrari, atenei (1802–1814), in Istituzioni e cultura in età napoleonica, ed. E. Brambilla, C. Capra, A. Scotti , Milan, FrancoAngeli, 2008, pp. 62–156, especially pp. 124–125. A recent analysis of the nineteenth-century history of the Padua Botanical Garden and its role in the scientific, cultural, and political network of the city is at the core of A. Dröscher, Plants and Politics in Padua During the Age of Revolution, 1820–1848, Cham, Palgrave Macmillan, 2021. M.L. Boriani, L. Baroni, L’orto agrario di Bologna, “Rivista di storia dell’agricoltura”, XXXVI (1996), no. 1, pp. 123–182, in particular pp. 127–130, 135–137. On the creation of the Pavia Botanical Garden in the context of the Habsburg reforms see especially A. Visconti, Nuovi strumenti per lo studio e l’insegnamento della botanica nella Lombardia dell’assolutismo asburgico: gli orti di Pavia e di Milano, “Storia in Lombardia”, (2013), nos. 2–3, pp. 28–44. When he died in August 1811, Giuseppe Bayle Barelle was survived by his wife, Angiola Gussoni, and at least three daughters. See ASMi, Studi p.m., 955, dossier Bayle Barelle, documentation from 1811 to 1813 on a grant for the widow and the orphans. ASMi, Studi p.m., 995, Locale e mobili 3, draft and final copy of letter from the Minister of the Interior to Vice President Melzi, Milan, September 19, 1804. Ibid. ASMi, Studi p.m., 995, Provvedimenti generali, draft of letter from the Minister of the Interior to the university rector, Milan, June 25, 1804. The proposal is not mentioned again in subsequent letters, which leads us to conclude that the site was not deemed suitable for a new garden. Please refer to the main documentation from the wealth of correspondence between the Ministries of the Interior, Finance, and War, the Secretary of State, and Vice President Melzi: ASMi, Studi p.m., 995, Locale e mobili 3, Minister of Finance to the Minister of the Interior, Milan, September 5, 1804; drafts of letters from the Minister of the Interior to the Minister of War, Milan, September 12 and 25, 1804; drafts of letters from the Minister of the Interior to the Minister of Finance, Milan, September 15 and 25, 1804; Secretary of State to the Minister of the Interior, Milan, September 21, 1804; Secretary of State

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62. 63.

64.

65.

66.

67.

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to the Minister of the Interior, Milan, October 6, 1804; Minister of the Interior to Vice President Melzi, Milan, October 4, 1804. ASMi, Autografi, 111, letter from Giuseppe Bayle Barelle to the Minister of the Interior, Milan, June 14, 1804. The proposals may be reconstructed based on the extensive documentation in: ASMi, Studi p.m., 995, Locale e mobili 3, the Minister of the Interior to the Prefect of Olona, Milan, November 9, 1804; the Minister of Finance to the Minister of the Interior, February 25, 1805; report of the Director of the Government Property Office to the Director of Public Education, Milan, August 9, 1805; draft letter of the Minister of the Interior to the viceroy, Milan, September 20, 1805; the Director of Public Education to the Minister of the Interior, Milan, September 16, 1805; the Secretary of State to the Minister of the Interior, Milan, September 22 or 23, 1805; authorization of the viceroy of the Minister of the Interior to negotiate with the administration of the Calchi Taeggi boarding school, Milan, September 21, 1805; the Prefect of Olona to the Minister of the Interior, Milan, January 19, 1805; the administration of the Calchi Taeggi boarding school to the Prefecture of Olona, Milan, January 17, 1805 an enclosures. See also ASMi, Autografi, 111, two letters from Bayle Barelle to the Minister of the Interior, Pavia, October 18 (date attributed by archivists) and November 1, 1804. ASMi, Studi p.m., 995, Locale e mobili 3, draft letter from the Director of Public Education to the Director of the Government Property Office, Milan, November 15, 1805; draft letter from the Director of Public Education to Rector Brunacci, Milan, December 12, 1805; draft letter from the Director of Public Education to the Director of the Government Property Office, Milan, December 12, 1805; Director of the Government Property Office to the Director of Public Education, Milan, December 16, 1805; the university rector to the Director of Public Education, Pavia, January 8, 1806. ASMi, Studi p.m., 995, Locale e mobili 3, Director of the Government Property Office to the Director of Public Education announcing that within three days the University will gain full possession of the San Giacomo Garden, Milan, March 9, 1806; draft letter from the Director of Public Education to the rector, Milan, April 9, 1806; Office of the Director of Public Education to the architect Gilardoni, Milan, April 13, 1806. ASMi, Studi p.m., 995, Locale e mobili 3, Descrizione del circondario e porzione di locale del convento di San Giacomo presso Pavia, Carlo Giuseppe Dalloro and the rector, Pavia, March 18, 1806. For example, see D. Brianta, L’orto agrario dell’Università di Pavia, “Rivista di storia dell’agricoltura”, XXXVI (1996), no. 1, pp. 183–208, which documents (p. 187) 58 Milanese pertiche (around 3.8 hectares).

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68. 69.

70.

71.

72.

73.

74.

See also ASMi, Studi p.m., 995, Fondi, letter by the rector to the Director of Public Education, Pavia, April 20, 1810. ASMi, Autografi, 111, letter by Bayle Barelle to the Director of Public Education, Pavia, May 31, 1810 specifies that the area is 38.44 pertiche “of 1,000 square meters”, the equivalent of approximately 49 Pavese pertiche (which amount to approximately 3.8 hectares). In 1831, an area of 47 Milanese pertiche (around 3.1 hectares) was publicly registered: P. Sangiorgio, F. Longhena, Cenni storici sulle due università di Pavia e di Milano e notizie intorno ai più celebri medici, chirurghi e speziali di Milano, Milan, Visaj, 1831, p. 607. ASMi, Studi p.m., 995, Locale e mobili 3, Essendo della regolarità che non si intraprenda operazione veruna…, Pavia, March 31, 1806. ASPv, U. Rettorato, 186: a dossier with a wealth of documentation on adaptation work and management of the San Giacomo Garden under Bayle Barelle’s stewardship. It contains an itemized description with 38 items referring to the garden and annexed structure, Pavia, July 8, 1807. ASMi, Studi p.m., 995, Locale e mobili 4, Bayle Barelle to the rector, Pavia, September 8, 1806, a copy of the letter was forwarded by the rector to the Office of Public Education, Pavia, May 2, 1807; the Director of the Government Property Office to the Director of Public Education, Milan, June 18, 1807. ASMi, Studi p.m., 995, Fondi, proposal to modify the contract drawn up by Bayle Barelle, Pavia, January 7, 1807, then forwarded by the rector to the Office of Public Education, Pavia, January 9, 1807; the rector to the Office of Public Education, Pavia, February 5, 1807; copy of the contract signed by Carlo Tenca, university notary, Pavia, April 1, 1807; the rector to the Director of Public Education, Pavia, April 20, 1810. P.G. Zanetti, L’orto agrario di Padova e l’agricoltura nuova, “Rivista di storia dell’agricoltura”, XXXVI (1996), no. 1, pp. 5–67, in particular pp. 25–27. BMHN, Ms THO 367/1, letters by Giovanni Biroli to André Thouin, Pavia, November 3 and December 2, 1811. ASPv, U. Rettorato: 187, 1, letter by Giovanni Biroli to the rector, Pavia, June 1 and August 31, 1812; 187, 2, report signed by the university bursar and foreman (capomastro) Agostino Castelli, Pavia, November 9, 1812; letters from Giovanni Biroli to the rector, Pavia, February 15 and April 20, 1813. ASPv, U. Rettorato 187, 2, Riassunto degli introiti e delle spese sostenute dal signor professore Biroli per l’orto agrario della r. Università di Pavia nel primo e secondo bimestre 1813, Divisione di Computisteria generale del Ministero dell’Interno, June 13, 1813. BMHN, Ms THO 367/1, letter by Biroli to Thouin, Pavia, November 3, 1811.

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75. ASPv, U. Rettorato: 178, 1, order from the Director of the Public Education, Milan, January 2, 1814; 187, 2, letters by Biroli to the rectorate, Pavia, June 20, 1814, and Turin, December 15, 1814; 205, 2, draft note, Pavia, August 21, 1811. See also S. Monferrini, Una fonte perenne di luce animatrice: la Novara di Biroli fra educazione, scienza e cultura, in Palazzi del sapere: Giovanni Biroli e la Novara napoleonica, ed. S. Bartoli, Novara, Interlinea, 2009, pp. 15–101, in particular pp. 71, 101, and notes. 76. M. Montanari, La fame e l’abbondanza: storia dell’alimentazione in Europa, Rome-Bari, Laterza, 1993 (the book has also been published in English as The Culture of Food, Oxford, Blackwell, 1996), pp. 189– 190; P.M. Jones, Agricultural Enlightenment: Knowledge, Technology and Nature, 1750–1840, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2016, pp. 91–92. 77. A. Franklin-Lyons, Shortage and Famine in the Late Medieval Crown of Aragon, University Park, The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2022, pp. 19–21; G. Alfani, C. Ó Gráda (eds.), Famine in European History, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2017; M. Di Tullio, Tra mercato e alimentazione locale: la risicoltura nella Lombardia del Cinquecento, in Quando manca il pane: origini e cause della scarsità delle risorse alimentari in età moderna e contemporanea, Bologna, il Mulino, 2013, pp. 129–143; M. Di Tullio, Tra ecologia ed economia: uomo e acqua nella pianura lombarda d’età moderna, in Storia economica e ambiente italiano (ca. 1400–1850), Milan, FrancoAngeli, 2012, pp. 283–299; R. Finzi, “ Sazia assai ma dà poco fiato”. Il mais nell’economia e nella vita rurale italiane: secoli XVI–XX , Bologna, CLUEB, 2009; P. Malanima, PreModern European Economy: One Thousand Years (10th–19th Centuries), Leiden-Boston, Brill, 2009, pp. 136–141; M. van Tielhof, The “Mother of All Trades”: The Baltic Grain Trade in Amsterdam from the Late Sixteenth Century to the Early Nineteenth Century, Leiden, Brill, 2002, pp. 50–62; Montanari, La fame e l’abbondanza, pp. 161–170; P. Chaunu, La civilisation de l’Europe des Lumières, Paris, Arthaud, 1971, p. 363. 78. L. Freire Costa, P. Lains, S. Münch Miranda, An Economic History of Portugal, 1143–2010, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2016, pp. 182–183; J. Brigola, Domenico Vandelli: um naturalista italiano a serviço de Portugal e do Brasil, in O gabinete de curiosidades de Domenico Vandelli, Rio de Janeiro, Dantes Editora, 2008, pp. 41–52; J.H. Saraiva, Historia concisa de Portugal, Lisbon, Europa-America, 1979, 5th edition, pp. 256–257. See also P. Fontes da Costa, H. Leitão, Portuguese Imperial Science, 1450–1800, a Historiographic Review, in Science in the Spanish and Portuguese Empires, 1500–1800, ed. D. Bleichmar, P. De Vos, K.

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79.

80.

81. 82. 83.

84. 56.

86. 87.

88. 89.

Huffine, K. Sheehan, Stanford, Stanford University Press, 2009, pp. 35– 55. H. Grégoire, Nouveaux développements sur l’amélioration de l’agriculture, par l’établissement de maisons d’économie rurale, Paris, Imprimerie National, no year, p. 5. About Grégoire’s contribution to reforms and debates on the diffusion of technical education, please refer to: B. Plötner, De l’abbé Grégoire à la Réunion de l’Ouest, deux approches républicaines de la vulgarisation des savoirs, in Le partage des savoirs, XVIII e -XIX e siècles, ed. L. Andries, Lyon, Presses universitaires de Lyon, 2003, pp. 127–140; E.C. Spary, Utopia’s Garden: French Natural History from Old Regime to Revolution, Chicago and London, The University of Chicago Press, 2000, pp. 91–94. Visconti, Il trasferimento delle piante, pp. 42–44. For the experiments of the Agricultural Colony of Mantua in the field near Villa La Favorita, see the first section of this chapter. G. Bayle Barelle, Monografia agronomica dei cereali: del formento, Milan, Silvestri, 1809, pp. 29–32. Bayle Barelle, Monografia agronomica, pp. 140–141. G. Bayle Barelle, Della golpe del gran turco (Zea mays L.) Osservazioni ed esperienze, “Biblioteca di campagna”, (1806), book 9, pp. 161–181; F. Configliachi, Lettera del sig. Felice Configliachi al sig. Giuseppe Bayle Barelle, professore d’agricoltura nell’Università di Pavia, AARI, (1810), book 6, pp. 3–4; G. Bayle Barelle, Risposta alla suddetta lettera, AARI, (1810), book 6, pp. 5–14; G. Bayle Barelle, Agraria ragionata ossia principi di agricoltura pratica, di pastorizia e di economia rurale, Pavia, Bolzani, 1811, pp. 89–93. Bayle Barelle, Monografia agronomica, p. 143. C. Bellardi, Saggio botanico-georgico intorno all’ibridismo delle piante e tre nuove razze di formento ottenute mediante artificiale spuria fecondazione, AARI, (1809), book 3, pp. 161–184; Bayle Barelle, Monografia agronomica, table 1, table 2, and p. 118. BCMHN, MS 1971, 152, letters by Bayle Barelle to André Thouin, Pavia, November 29, 1807, and July 20, 1808. Almanach du Département du Pô, pp. 201–202; MSATo, vol. VII, Turin, Stamperia Nazionale, [1802], pp. 81–85; L. Mitterpacher, Elementi di agricoltura, vol. I, ed. C.L. Riccardi, Turin, Prato, 1797, pp. 77–78. L. Trautmann, Elementi di economia rurale, vol. II, Pavia, Bizzoni, 1821, pp. 184–185. J. Sabine, Account of a newly produced hybrid Passiflora (read, November 7, 1820), “Transactions of the Horticultural Society of London”, vol. IV, London, Bulmer & Co., 1822, pp. 258–268, note on p. 261.

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90. F. Re, Catalogo delle piante coltivate nell’orto agrario della R. Università di Bologna nell’anno 1812, AARI, (1812), book XIV, pp. 118–152, specifically pp. 118–119. 91. On Filippo Re’s contacts with the University of Pavia, but also the differences and similarities between the two agricultural gardens, see: M.L. Fagnani, From “Pure Botany” to “Economic Botany”—Changing Ideas by Exchanging Plants: Spain and Italy in the Late Eighteenth and the Early Nineteenth Century, “History of European Ideas”, XLVIII (2022), no. 4, pp. 402–420, in particular pp. 408–411; M.L. Fagnani, Italian “Economic Botanists” and State-Science Cooperation (Late EighteenthEarly Nineteenth Century), “Storia economica”, XXIII (2020), no. 2, pp. 357–382. Refer also to the rich bibliography in the two articles. 92. Boriani, Baroni, L’orto agrario di Bologna, p. 143 and the first appendix. 93. F. Re, Nota sopra una specie di frumento che si coltiva nei contorni di Reggio detto farro, AARI (1809), book 1, pp. 93–94. 94. A. Caracciolo, La storia economica, in Storia d’Italia, vol. III, ed. R. Romano, C. Vivanti, Turin, Einaudi, 1973, pp. 509–693, specifically p. 600 and its bibliography; G. Bonini, R. Pazzagli, Re Filippo, in DBI, vol. LXXXVI, 2016. 95. A. Bassani, Gli studi agroindustriali di Luigi Arduino: lo zucchero d’olco cafro e l’estratto tintorio del solano di Guinea, “Quaderni per la Storia dell’Università di Padova”, XXXVIII (2005), pp. 33–128; Zanetti, L’orto agrario di Padova, pp. 23–25. 96. Catalogo primo delle piante che si coltivano nel r. orto di agricoltura di Padova nonché quelle che vi crescono spontanee, Padua, Penada, 1807, pp. 36–37 and 40. See also, G. Mazzucato, Sopra alcune specie di frumenti: memoria botanico-georgica, Padua, Stamperia Nuova, 1807. 97. M.C. Ghetti, Struttura e organizzazione dell’Università di Padova dal 1798 al 1817 , “Quaderni per la storia dell’Università di Padova”, XVII (1984), pp. 135–182, in particular pp. 139–140. 98. On the importance of olive oil in early modern Europe and its many uses, a recent essay by Lavinia Maddaluno focusing on central Italy gives a very good example: L. Maddaluno, Materialising Political Economy: Olive Oil, Patronage and Science in Eighteenth-Century Rome, “Diciottesimo secolo”, V (2020), pp. 97–115. On the growth of sugar consumption in eighteenth-century Europe and its economic and social implications, please refer to: L. Gragg, Englishmen Transplanted: the English Colonization of Barbados, 1627 –1660, Oxford and New York, Oxford University Press, 2003, pp. 185–187; B.W. Highman, The Sugar Revolution, “The Economic History Review”, LIII (2000), no. 2, pp. 213–236, especially pp. 229–231; C. Shammas, Changes in English and Anglo-American Consumption from 1550 to 1800, in Consumption and the World of Goods, ed. J. Brewer, R. Porter, New York, Routledge, 1993, pp. 177–205;

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99.

100. 101. 102.

103. 104. 105.

106.

R.A. Austen, W.D. Smith, Private Tooth Decay as Public Economic Virtue: The Slave-Sugar Triangle, Consumerism, and European Industrialization, in The Atlantic Slave Trade: Effects on Economies, Societies, and Peoples in Africa, the Americas, and Europe, ed. J.E. Inikori, S.L. Engerman, Durham, NC, Duke University Press, 1992, pp. 183–203; S.W. Mintz, Sweetness and Power: the Place of Sugar in Modern History, New York, Viking Penguin, 1985. This network in the Valencia area is described in the article Del cacahuate o maní de América, “Semanario de agricultura y artes dirigido a los párrocos”, May 9, 1799, no. 123, pp. 289–294, and in the Informe que dan a la Real Sociedad Económica sus socios D. Tomás Domingo de Otero y D. Joaquin de la Croix sobre la planta llamada maní o cacahuate en cumplimiento de la comisión que se les dió en 11 de febrero del año 1800, in Junta pública de la Real Sociedad Económica de Amigos del País de Valencia celebrada el día 9 de diciembre de 1800, Valencia, Benito Monfort, 1801, pp. 114–145. BNB, AF XI 33, 25 verso, 38 verso, and 39 recto. G. Bayle Barelle, Sulla coltivazione dell’Arachis hypogaea indiana ed africana, AARI, (1809), book 2, pp. 40–47. G. Bayle Barelle, Lettera sopra la coltivazione economica di alcune specie di Arachis nella nostra campagna, GFCS IV (1811), no. 1, pp. 31–37, in particular pp. 36–37. BCMHN, MS 1971, 152, letter by Bayle Barelle to André Thouin, Pavia, November 29, 1807, 1 verso. ASPv, U. Matematica, 152, list of May 1, 1809. Bayle Barelle, Sulla coltivazione dell’Arachis hypogaea, pp. 45–46. For a description of Gilbert’s studies and experiments in agricultural science and veterinary medicine, together with his mission in Spain, see A.-F. de Silvestre, Notice biographique sur F.-H. Gilbert, Mémoires publiés par la Société d’Agriculture du Département de la Seine, vol. IV, Paris, Huzard, year X, pp. 124–152 (for his interest in Spanish peanuts as oil plants see p. 149). On efforts at acclimatizing cotton growing in southern Europe see: J. Horan, King Cotton on the Middle Sea: Acclimatization Projects and the French Links to the Early Modern Mediterranean, “French History”, XXIX (2015), no. 1, pp. 93–108; J. Horan, Napoleonic Cotton Cultivation: A Case Study in Scientific Expertise and Agricultural Innovation in France and Italy, 1806–1814, in New Perspectives on the History of Life Sciences and Agriculture, ed. D. Phillips, S. Kingsland, Cham, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015, pp.73–91. On the role of cotton in global economy from a historical point of view see also: S. Beckert, Empire of Cotton: A Global History, New York, Knopf, 2014; G. Riello, Cotton: The Fabric

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108. 109. 110.

111. 112. 113.

114.

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that Made the Modern World, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2013, pp. 87–263. Almanach du Département du Pô, p. 201; AARI (1810), book VII, pp. 88–89. See also Ghisleni, L’orto della Crocetta, pp. 112–113. More in general, on the production and commerce of olive oil in Italy during the early modern and modern eras see A. Carassale, C. Littardi (eds.), Ars olearia, vol. II: Dall’oliveto al mercato in età moderna e contemporanea/From Olive Grove to Market in the Early Modern and Modern Ages, Guarene, CeSA, 2019. Ghisleni, L’orto della Crocetta, pp. 113–114. D. Gentilcore, Italy and the Potato, 1550–2000, London and New York, Continuum, 2012, pp. 42–44. P.L. Pisani, P. Nanni, Gli orti agrari di Firenze, “Rivista di storia dell’agricoltura”, XXXVI (1996), no. 1, pp. 69–107, in particular pp. 83–87. In his 1765–1766 voyage in Italy, Jérôme Lalande witnessed the importance of olive growing in Tuscany and calculated that around 100,000 olive trees were planted there during the period of reforms. In this regard, please refer to E. Sereni, History of the Italian Agricultural Landscape, Princeton and Chichester, Princeton University Press, 1997, p. 261. AIL, Archivio storico, section 1, IV, 7, 3, report by Luigi Castiglioni to the Delegazione Provinciale, Milan, December 1, 1819. A. Gualandris, Dialoghi agrarj tenuti in Cavriana l’anno 1786, Mantua, Pazzoni, 1788, pp. 267–286. Camerlenghi, Le perlustrazioni fatte nel Mantovano, p. 164; F. Della Peruta, Cultura e organizzazione del sapere nella Lombardia dell’Ottocento: l’Istituto Lombardo di Scienze e Lettere dalla fondazione all’unità d’Italia, in L’Istituto Lombardo Accademia di Scienze e Lettere, vol I, ed. A. Robbiati Bianchi, Milan, Istituto Lombardo – Arti Grafiche Motta, 2007, pp. 1–492, specifically pp. 242–243. ANV, As, C.a., 32, 2, letter by Carlo Amoretti to secretary Matteo Borsa, Milan, January 5 and February 24, 1789. Tartini also studied the spread of Tartary buckwheat in Tuscany, as reported in the Gazzetta toscana, February 5, 1785, no. 6, p. 22, and some leather tanning processes, as recorded in J.A. Tartini, Memoria sulla migliore maniera di conciare i cuoi e le pelli, in ASPMi, vol. III, Milan, monastero di Sant’Ambrogio Maggiore, 1793, pp. 240–263. BUPv, Autografi, 4, letter by Cosimo Moschettini to Domenico Nocca, Martano (Apulia), August 10, 1795. BUPv, Autografi, 4, letter by Giuseppe Sartorio to Domenico Nocca, Pieve near Genoa, without date. However, Sartorio wrote about “my department”, a term referring either to the 1797–1805 Ligurian

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117.

118.

119.

120.

121.

122. 123.

Republic, which was divided into departments, or to the Department of Genoa as part of the French Empire from 1805 to 1814. ANV, As: C.a., 36, record of the sessions, March 8, 1802; C.a., 35, 1, letter from Carlo Amoretti, Milan, May 5, 1780. ASMi, Agricoltura p.a., 44, dossier labeled “Rafano oleifero” with documentation on experiments supervised by the Patriotic Society in the early 1790s. See also ASPMi, vol. II, Milan, monastero di Sant’Ambrogio Maggiore, 1789, pp. lxxix–lxxx. ANV, As: C.a., 32, 1, letter by Carlo Amoretti to Matteo Borsa, Milan, April 20, 1788; C.a., 36, 2, the prefect of the Academy of Mantua to the Agricultural Society of Modena, Mantua, June 16, 1806. See also C. Amoretti, Educazione delle api per la Lombardia, Milan, Galeazzi, 1788. M. Simonetto, I lumi nelle campagne. Accademie e agricoltura nella Repubblica di Venezia 1768–1797 , Treviso, Fondazione Benetton Studi Ricerche – Canova, 2001, pp. 148–149. G. Harasti, Catechismo sulla più utile educazione delle api nel Granducato di Toscana, Florence, Cambiagi, 1785; G. Harasti, Osservazioni sulle api lette nella sessione del 27 dicembre 1787 , ASPMi, vol. II, pp. 284–289. In the same volume, see comments on Harasti’s experiments and studies: pp. cxxxiv–cxxxviii. A.G. Schirach, Histoire naturelle de la reine des abeilles, avec l’art de former des essaims, trans. into French by Blassière, La Haye, Staatman, 1771; A.G. Schirach, Storia naturale della regina delle api, coll’arte di formare gli sciami, Brescia, Rizzardi, 1764. On Schirach’s studies and experiments on beekeeping and his role in the network of institutions dedicated to this field, see R.G. Mazzolini, Adam Gottlob Schirach’s experiments on bees, in The Light of Nature: Essays in the History and Philosophy of Science presented to A.C. Crombie, ed. J. North, J.J. Roche, Dordrecht, Martinus Nijhoff, 1985, pp. 67–82. See also the biographical note written by Friedrich Pollack for the Institut für Sächsische Geschichte und Volkskunde, downloadable at the link https://saebi.isgv. de/biografie/Adam_Gottlob_Schirach_(1724-1773) (April 14, 2022). AHN, Estado, legajo 2932, exp. 18, project by Antonio Montero y Santa Colomba, July 1, 1786. Archivio di Stato di Brescia, Ateneo di Brescia, 196, dossier Antonio Barbaleni, letters and reports 1805–1809; Commentarj dell’Accademia di Scienze, Lettere, Agricoltura ed Arti del Dipartimento del Mella, Brescia, Bettoni, 1808, pp. 137–140. For the context of scientific and technical reforms in the city of Brescia, main center of the Department of the Mella, and its institutions, please refer to: S. Onger, Una provincia operosa: Aspetti dell’economia bresciana tra XVIII e XX secolo, Milan, FrancoAngeli, 2011, pp. 76–77; S. Onger (ed.), L’Ateneo di Brescia, 1802–2002, Brescia, Geroldi, 2004; Brianta, I luoghi del sapere

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125.

126.

127. 128. 129.

130.

131.

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agronomico, pp. 62–65; E. Pagano, Il Liceo napoleonico di Brescia, “HECL – History of Education & Children’s Literature”, IX (2014), no. 1, pp. 451–466. For instance, see Istruzione sul modo di fare lo zucchero d’uva compilata da una commissione dei membri dell’Istituto Nazionale di Francia, tradotta in italiano, Milan, Stamperia Reale, 1810, but also ANV, As, C.a., 36, 3, printed notice sent by the Minister of the Interior to the prefects, Milan, October 10, 1810. For the situation in the Kingdom of Naples see D. Ciccolella, “Un genere pressoché necessario”. Consumo, politica e industria dello zucchero nel Regno di Napoli in età rivoluzionaria e napoleonica, “Storia economica”, VII (2004), nos. 2–3, pp. 263–314. C. Bianchini, Giovanni Mazzucato, in Dizionario Biografico Friulano, ed. G. Nazzi, Udine, Clape Culturâl Acuilee, 2007, 4th edition, pp. 512– 513. G. Mazzucato, Sullo zucchero ed altri prodotti economici dei Diospyros lotus e virginiana, AARI, (1810), book V, pp. 39–75. See also G. Bosi, M. Herchenbach, F. Buldrini, R. Rinaldi, M. Bandini Mazzanti, On the trail of date-plum ( Diospyros lotus L.) in Italy and its first archaeobotanical evidence, “Economic Botany”, LXXI (2017), no. 2, pp. 133–146. Mazzucato, Sullo zucchero ed altri prodotti economici, pp. 48–51. Mazzucato, Sullo zucchero ed altri prodotti economici, pp. 52–55. Mazzucato, Sullo zucchero ed altri prodotti economici, pp. 67–69. Mazzucato did not specify whether the pound (libbra) was that of Udine, or if it was grossa (about 477 grams) or sottile (a little bit more than 301 grams). On the importance of materiality and spaces in the development of sciences and engineering in the early modern period and the nineteenth century, and on their complementarity with the building of knowledge networks see: K. Stapelbroek, J. Marjanen (eds.), The Rise of Economic Societies in the Eighteenth Century: Patriotic Reform in Europe and North America, Basingstoke and New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2012; U. Klein, E.C. Spary (eds.), Materials and Expertise in Early Modern Europe: Between Market and Laboratory, Chicago and London, The University of Chicago Press, 2010; U. Klein, W. Lefèvre, Materials in Eighteenth-Century Science: A Historical Ontology, Cambridge (MA) and London, The MIT Press, 2007; C. Smith, J. Agar (eds.), Making Space for Science: Territorial Themes in the Shaping of Knowledge, Basingstoke-London-New York, Macmillan – St. Martin’s Press, 1998. For example see: AIL, Archivio storico, section 1, IV, 7, 1, letter by Monsignor Luigi Stanislao Alloy to the Institute of Sciences, Fine Letters

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and Arts of Milan regarding some peanut cultivation experiments in Groppello d’Adda, September 13, 1834; G.A. Longoni, Osservazioni ed istruzioni pratiche intorno alla coltivazione ed utilità dell’arachide ipogea, Monza, Corbetta, 1836; Della conversione dell’olio d’arachide in etere, “Annali di chimica applicata alla medicina”, III (1846), no. 2, pp. 125– 127 (an article describing chemical experiments on peanut oil conducted by Professor Antonio Perego from Brescia).

CHAPTER 5

Didactics

This chapter analyzes the teaching of agricultural science in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. To prepare both technicians and scientists on a par with European trends, Italian regions instituted either theoretical or practical agricultural classes already in the eighteenth century. Later, Napoleon created a solid network for secondary and university education in regions of northern and central Italy. The first section of the chapter focuses on the training of professors and assistants. The second section studies the chair of agricultural science at the University of Pavia as an ideal example of agricultural teaching. The third section evaluates the legacy of the eighteenth century and the Napoleonic Era and how it influenced the development of nineteenth-century human capital. The chapter also gives study perspectives for veterinary education as a complement to agricultural education.

5.1 Training Paths of Professional Agriculturists Agricultural science education and human capital development were key issues both in eighteenth-century Italy and under Napoleonic rule. After

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. L. Fagnani, The Development of Agricultural Science in Northern Italy in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Century, Italian and Italian American Studies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-20657-3_5

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the chair in agricultural science at the University of Padua had demonstrated its value, governments, and experts in other Italian areas organized to provide courses in this discipline to various recipients.1 In Sicily the Bourbon authorities promoted an agricultural science program at the Academy of Studies in Palermo. They financed a long journey by clergyman Paolo Balsamo through Italy and Europe from 1787 to 1791 so that he could observe agricultural practices, develop a specialization in agricultural science, and teach it at the Academy at a time when formal education in this discipline was quite limited both in Italy and Europe.2 In Salerno, an important city in the Kingdom of Naples, friar Nicola Onorati “Columella” led classes in agriculture at the Royal Schools from 1788 to 1798. He also held the chair of agriculture and veterinary medicine at the University of Naples under Joachim Murat’s rule and later under restored Bourbon rule. Onorati authored scientific works and textbooks on rural topics and maintained contacts with agriculturists all over Italy, such as agriculturalist and geologist Alberto Fortis from Padua.3 The Patriotic Society of Milan was very impressed with his agricultural texts and appointed him corresponding member.4 In 1781, the Patriotic Society of Milan considered the option of providing technical lessons in agriculture and rural economy, but years passed before they were instituted, and then only briefly, interrupted by the arrival of the French troops in 1796. The students were young clergymen, young landowners, and a few engineers and surveyors. The courses thus failed to gain wide appeal or have much effect on Lombard agriculture. The University of Pavia initiated a course in civil and economic principles in 1782 that included some theoretical lessons on rural economy, but it could hardly be considered agricultural science proper.5 In 1801, the Ministry of the Interior of the Cisalpine Republic and the authorities of the Department of the Mincio discussed plans for an agrarian school to be established near the town of Castiglione delle Stiviere, as proposed by Lorenzo Pellegretti, friar and former superior (Padre Guardiano) of the nearby supressed Franciscan friary of Santa Maria. The idea was shelved because the authorities felt that the teaching and research in botany and agricultural science already carried out at the Gymnasium and the Academy of Mantua were sufficient. The Mantuan authorities also felt that Pellegretti was not sufficiently accomplished as an agriculturist, believing he had only conducted a few minor experiments on tobacco at the friary.6 Actually, Pellegretti had also won a Patriotic Society

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dissertation contest with a study of urine-based fertilization, as well as studying diseases of cereal crops and conducting plant acclimatization and grafting experiments at the former friary of Santa Maria.7 Unfortunately, this was not enough to merit him renown as an agricultural expert.8 Pellegretti attributed agricultural backwardness principally to peasant hostility to the introduction of new techniques, also arguing that parish priests were not the best vehicle for agricultural knowledge. He also believed that many clergymen were as anti-modernity as the peasants were, or had neither the time nor the competence to delve into unfamiliar matters.9 He had proposed to the authorities the establishment of an agrarian school near Castiglione delle Stiviere for local youth, believing younger minds to be more open and less prejudiced toward modernity than the older generations. He stated his willingness to run the school, offering both theoretical and practical lessons, the latter on the grounds of the former friary, and provided a list of the subjects he was planning to teach. The program generally addressed forage vegetables, cereals, fruit crops (particularly vines and mulberries), timber arboriculture, citrus, and exotic plants (both acclimatized and in greenhouses), and the characteristics, fertilization, and tilling of soils. The program also had a specific focus on local agriculture, its limits, and possible improvement.10 Northern Italy would not reach a turning point in agricultural education until the implementation of policies by the Italian Republic. Previous attempts, such as lessons by the Patriotic Society and the University of Pavia and Pellegretti’s idea of school for young people, had not been particularly fruitful, although they did establish a theoretical and methodological foundation on which the Napoleonic authorities built a more solid educational network. The Napoleonic Era ushered in growing demand for economic development and an expanded business arena in all of Napoleonic Europe. It began taxation on family wealth and the sale of monastic lands to fuel the imperial war machine.11 This boosted the need to improve farm productivity. Thus all additional farming knowledge became a valuable tool in the hands of the new political elite.12 Universities were among the teaching institutes that opened chairs of agricultural teaching to satisfy this demand. The National University Curricular Plans (Piani di studi e di disciplina per le università nazionali) of October 31, 1803 introduced chairs of agricultural science at the universities of Pavia and Bologna, each to be endowed with a scientific garden for teaching and research activities.13 The chairs were established in each university’s Physics and Mathematics

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Department. Agricultural science courses were compulsory for third-year engineering and architecture students in the four-year program. They were not requisites for the two-year course for land surveyors until the following academic year, when the government decided that agricultural science was necessary for them too.14 The first step was to assign a professor to each chair. He would not only hold lessons but also conduct studies and experiments that could benefit national agriculture and the processing of plant products; fewer resources were dedicated to animal husbandry. But this immediately posed a problem. Were there “professional agriculturists” in Italy in 1803, i.e., experts with a specific university education and teaching and research experience? As we have seen for similar contexts in previous chapters, the most direct answer is no, but clarifications are in order. First, the concept of agriculture as a science was still very fragile. Until then, agricultural studies had essentially constituted a line of research combining natural sciences, exact sciences, technical knowledge, economics, and social studies in various ways. An area with uncertain boundaries that was taken up again in the National University Curricular Plans of 1803, which provided a definition of agricultural science comprising elements of botany, geology, chemistry, physics, mechanics, hydraulics, meteorology, enology, and zootechnics. The social issues to which the eighteenth-century agriculturists devoted themselves began to recede into the background. These included, for example, the well-being of rural people and the importance of moral rectitude and proper hygiene. While these were certainly relevant issues, it would have been difficult to incorporate them into a single professorship that already encompassed a broad variety of topics. In Old-Regime Italy, there were very few agricultural classes in universities or equivalent institutions. The study of agriculture was often combined with other technical and often theoretical disciplines under a general title such as rural economy or similar. This was the case at the University of Pavia, as mentioned at the beginning of this chapter. The University of Naples is another example, where the great economist Antonio Genovesi held the chair of Mechanics and Commerce (Meccanica e Commercio) while also stressing the importance of agriculture in the national economy.15 One of the rare exceptions was Padua, where teaching and the garden were still in the hands of the Arduino family at the beginning of the nineteenth century (in 1803 they were still outside

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the jurisdiction of the Italian Republic). There was, therefore, no specifically defined class of professional agriculturists at the university level. Given this lack of “certified” faculty, what qualifications were sought for these two national-level chairs by the authorities in Milan, which was capital of the Italian Republic and later of the Kingdom of Italy? In 1802, sixty-year-old Giosuè Scannagatta was chosen to lead agricultural science and Filippo Re botany at the University of Bologna. Scannagatta was from Varenna on Lake Como and had trained in Padua under Giovanni Marsili. He boasted a career in the management of botanical gardens that had its roots in the years of Maria Theresa. He had been gardener of the Pavia botanical garden, which he worked to enrich and expand by going as far as Strasbourg to exchange seeds with the botanist Jacques Spielmann. Later in Milan, Scannagatta initiated a collaboration with the Patriotic Society and with Professor Fulgenzio Vitman at the Gymnasium of Brera, and served as a consultant and supplier of plant species for the Brera Botanical Garden. In 1801, the government of the Cisalpine Republic had appointed him Vitman’s teaching assistant, a role he held for only a short time until the Bolognese appointment.16 As for Re’s career in the 1780s and 1790s, he graduated in mathematics, became professor of agriculture at the Liceo of Reggio, conducted experiments on his family’s land, and associated with the agricultural class of the Academy of Sciences and Fine Letters of Mantua. Furthermore, he had contacts with Antonio José Cavanilles, director of the Madrid Botanical Garden from 1801 to 1804. In the early 1800s Re informed his Spanish colleague of his interest in the Anales de ciencias naturales (Annals of Natural Sciences), of which Cavanilles was an editor. Re also sent Cavanilles the second volume of his Elementi di agricoltura (Elements of Agriculture), printed in Parma in 1798 with later editions printed in Venice (1802, 1806).17 Upon examining the scholars’ curricula vitae, the authorities had little choice but to invert the assignment of chairs at the University of Bologna when they implemented the new Plans in 1803.18 However, despite his impressive career, competence in agricultural experimentation, and knowledge of scientific literature, Re himself was not officially trained in agricultural science. He had arrived at the University of Bologna as an experienced botanist with a focus on agriculture (see Chapter 3). His appointment to the chair of agricultural science marked his consecration as a professional in this emerging field, a role then strengthened by his work to develop the Bologna Agricultural Garden starting in 1805, the

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direction of the Agricultural Society of the Department of the Reno in 1807, his contributions to specialized journals, the editing of the Annali dell’Agricoltura starting in 1809, and requests for advice he received from the government.19 Even more interesting is the case of Pavia, where the Plans of 1803 found nearly virgin territory as far as agricultural science was concerned. At the University of Padua (from 1806 aligned with the universities of Pavia and Bologna), the course and the agricultural garden dated back to the 1760s and lectures on agriculture for engineers and land surveyors were part of the curriculum at the University of Bologna since 1778. In Pavia, agricultural studies were barely perceptible in the old botany lessons, lost among the various “economic uses” of plants.20 The case studies in the following pages will illustrate the similarities and differences between the training of professional agriculturists in the Italian Republic and the Kingdom of Italy against the scientific, technological, and cultural backdrop of Europe. While the legislation and the initiatives supported by the Napoleonic government offered a fertile environment for the development of agricultural science, the advancement of research, the circulation of updates, and progress in teaching plans, the men who found themselves filling the “niches” in the scientificagricultural ecosystem had to adapt their specialist knowledge gained in other types of curricula to the new context. The public education reform law no. 75 of September 4, 1802, the Decree no. 117 of November 13, 1802, which instituted the teaching of agriculture in the licei (upper secondary schools which varied in status over time roughly from small colleges to university-prep schools), and the Plans of October 31, 1803 were the first concrete manifestations of the importance of agriculture and agricultural science as disciplines in Italian Napoleonic policy. Despite these policy innovations, however, agricultural teaching did not progress in a linear fashion in this period. In accordance with the general directives of the framework law of September, the decree of November 13, 1802 specified agriculture and the elements of natural history as the sixth chair for departmental licei. Agriculture would be associated with botany with a decree of March 14, 1807, and subsequent appointments.21 In a clear demonstration of the complex and sometimes controversial development of agricultural science as an autonomous discipline, the agriculture-botany dyad would survive until a decree of November 15, 1811, which sought to finally standardize secondary education and eliminated the chair of agriculture and botany

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from the licei. Among the remaining disciplines, “elements of the natural sciences” (i.e., physics combined with chemistry and elementary natural history) was probably the one that addressed agricultural topics.22 It is not surprising that some botanists and agriculturists looked with skepticism at this new collective chair. For instance, Ciro Pollini, professor of botany and agriculture at the Liceo of Verona, commented to Domenico Nocca, professor of botany at the University of Pavia, that the new teaching seemed to be an “encyclopedia” to him, implying that it was only a general and superficial survey, sacrificing depth to quantity.23 In universities, the Plans of 1803 combined agricultural science with mathematics and physical sciences, presenting a rather detailed list of topics to be addressed in class.24 As we said before, the focus was not only crop enhancement but also involved various other disciplines: geology, chemistry, physics, mechanics, hydraulics, meteorology, oenology, and animal husbandry. This gave agricultural science a very practical, concrete character, responsive to the thousand facets of the rural economy, but at the same time still undecided and with an oscillating structure. On the one hand, the attempt was to embrace the various sectors of rural production and, on the other, to draw on more consolidated sciences, such as botany—only recently recognized as an autonomous discipline— closely related to agriculture by knowledge of the plant world, as well as natural history (geology and zoology), chemistry, applied mathematics, and physics. As we have already seen, the Plans specified that agricultural science was compulsory for engineers and architects, who had to attend lessons during their penultimate (third) year.25 Botany, on the other hand, was compulsory for physicians and surgeons in the second year and for pharmacists in both the second and third years, but many medical students in Pavia spontaneously attended agricultural science lessons too, attracted by the immediate affinity with traditional botany. As far as natural history was concerned, it was included in the second year for engineers and architects, and in the third year for physicians. General chemistry was included in the second year of medicine and surgery, in the second and third years of pharmacy. Pharmaceutical chemistry, on the other hand, was taught in the fourth year of medicine, the fifth year of surgery, and the second and third years of pharmacy.26 The Plans certainly had a very strong impact on the curricula of both universities in the Italian Republic (Pavia and Bologna) but only Pavia presented itself as nearly virgin land as regards the teaching of agricultural

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science, as we mentioned. In Pavia, it was also necessary to wait until the spring of 1804, and thus probably academic year 1804–1805, to have the first professor devoted exclusively to agricultural science.27 His name was Giuseppe Bayle Barelle. Born in Milan in 1770, he was the son of a Swiss bookseller and printer who managed the Habsburg plenipotentiary minister’s library and sold French, Italian, Latin, and English books in his shop near the cathedral of Milan. There is not much information on Giuseppe Bayle Barelle’s education and scientific training, except that he enrolled as a student in the General Seminary in the Department of Theology of the University of Pavia in November 1788, leaving the city in 1791 without completing his studies. Although we have little information on his activities in the late years of the Duchy of Milan, in the summer of 1797, as soon as the Cisalpine Republic was formed, he served as archivist for the provisional administrative commission of the Milan National Guard. In the spring of 1802, he was secretary of the Hydraulic Commission and in January 1804 he obtained a post as a clerk at the Magistrato di revisione. He held this last position for just a few months; in mid-April he was appointed professor of agricultural science.28 Bayle Barelle’s true interests are amply documented in the years preceding his appointment as professor. In the spring of 1802, he sent to the Vice President of the Italian Republic some thoughts about Italian public education and a legislative plan for organizing it, in which he proposed agricultural teaching starting in primary school.29 Furthermore, in his marriage certificate of February 1799, he is registered as a botanist, although his only documented occupations around that date were archivist in 1797 and secretary of the Hydraulic Commission in 1802.30 Perhaps he had gained his botanical knowledge reading the books sold by his father. In his shop there were works of botany (including Linnaeus’s classic Philosophia botanica), agriculture, chemistry, physics, zoology, geology, mathematics, hydraulics, and even physiocracy. Nonetheless, Bayle Barelle junior later showed great knowledge also of scientific works that had not been present in his father’s bookshop when he was young, so the origin of his knowledge remains obscure. Moreover, when he was studying theology in Pavia, the University already had a variegated botanical garden. Botany was a discipline linked to the training of medical students and not to seminarians. However, the traveler and botanist Luigi Castiglioni sat in on botany lessons during his studies in

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law in the late 1770s and early 1780s; and Domenico Nocca, future professor of botany who graduated in theology from the same university in 1786, had always been a student in subjects such as natural history and botany according to the university records. In a similar way, Bayle Barelle may have visited the botanical garden and attended Professor Valentino Brusati’s lessons. Moreover, even before his appointment as professor of agricultural science, Bayle Barelle was in contact with Domenico Nocca himself and could boast a certain level of familiarity with him when he began teaching in April 1804. Bayle Barelle’s visits to the Brera Botanical Garden in Milan may have been a question of personal interest: for his experiments on peanut as an oil plant, he obtained some seeds from the aforementioned Professor Vitman.31 Regarding the purposes and management of the ideal agricultural garden, Bayle Barelle entered into conflict with Luigi Arduino, who “inherited” in 1805 the chair at the University of Padua and the direction of its garden from his father Pietro. While Bayle Barelle valued utilitarianism, economic potential, and self-sufficient management in agricultural gardens, Luigi Arduino had a more experimental conception oriented toward longer-term improvement in agriculture.32 This does not mean that Bayle Barelle lacked ideas for experimentation in the Pavia Agricultural Garden. In addition to the cultivation of the peanut as an oil plant, he studied plant parasites and how to eradicate them, cereal farming, and the strengths and weaknesses of the various cultivation methods, often initiating discussions with colleagues and other scholars.33 Among his numerous experiments, he tested the dye potentials of the woad. Judging by the information gathered by the General Direction of Public Education of the Kingdom of Italy, his ongoing research was promising positive results when Bayle Barelle died of a fever.34 To conclude, from his appointment in 1804 to his death in 1811, Bayle Barelle went from being an amateur botanist with no teaching experience to being a competent professor and scholar of agricultural science, with many published monographs and articles.35 His training was similar to that of some other naturalists who obtained public appointments without rigorous scientific training, gaining their expertise on the job. Among the many cases, emblematic is the career of the clergyman Carlo Amoretti, secretary of the Patriotic Society of Milan and one of the main correspondents of the Academy of Mantua, both founded by Maria Theresa. Polygraph, professor of dogmatic theology and later of canon law, translator, for some time also a private tutor, only after the age of thirty

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did he begin to deepen his scientific studies. As a prominent member of the Patriotic Society, he expanded his knowledge of agriculture and economics, eventually being appointed councilor regarding mining issues for the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy.36 His path may be similar to Bayle Barelle’s, who, together with his students and assistants, was the first one to use the instruments and spaces for agricultural science offered by Napoleonic cultural and scientific policy. Another pool from which other potential agricultural science professors could be drawn was medicine. At the end of 1813, Filippo Re published in “his” Annali dell’agricoltura some notes on “the relationship between agricultural science and medicine”. On that occasion he focused on surgery, comparing human and animal bodies to the trunk, branches, and roots of trees, on which the farmer and the gardener are sometimes forced to act by amputating, cutting, and closing to heal the plant exactly as a surgeon would have done with a human or animal.37 There has long been a strong link between the elements of agricultural science and medicine. Physicians, surgeons, and pharmacists were necessarily versed in botany, chemistry, and natural history. Scholars and landowners were studying plants both for their medicinal properties and for their use in agriculture at the beginning of the early modern period, drawing on the traditions of the Classical age while embracing the geographical expansion of the world and progress in the different branches of science.38 In keeping with this deep-reaching connection, the National University Curricular Plans of 1803 put subjects such as botany and chemistry in the curricula for medicine, surgery, and pharmacy. We can add that the Decree no. 338 of November 15, 1808 included botany and agriculture among the subjects on the entrance exam for the programs in medicine, surgery, and pharmacy, as well as those for physics and mathematics.39 Some agriculturists later active in the Restoration came from the Napoleonic School of Medicine and at least three of them were Bayle Barelle’s students and assistants. One of them, Carlo Bignami, was from the town of Codogno in southern Lombardy. He graduated in 1805 from the University of Pavia and was approved to practice medicine in 1806.40 Nonetheless, in March 1807 he was appointed lecturer of agricultural science at his alma mater by the General Office of Public Education thanks to the favorable opinions of the rector of the university, and of Bayle Barelle, whose lessons Bignami had attended on his own initiative

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in 1805 and 1806, and of the professors of pharmaceutical chemistry, general physics, and general chemistry.41 Bignami did not stay long in Pavia. The scientific knowledge he gained in the medicine program and working with Bayle Barelle qualified him to teach botany and agricultural science at the Liceo of Zara in Dalmatia.42 Those were the years when Vincenzo Dandolo was General Superintendent (Provveditore Generale) of Dalmatia, a region directly annexed to the Kingdom of Italy as a province from 1805 to 1809. Dandolo tried to strengthen rural education by founding technical schools and the Liceo of Zara with its courses on botany and agriculture. He also introduced new crops and merino sheep breeding to the region. The Milanese authorities endorsed his efforts in planning reclamation works, among other initiatives. As professor of botany and agriculture, Bignami was likely supposed to be an important part of those reforms. However, Dandolo’s efforts were soon to be jeopardized by the French governors-general who ruled the area after the 1809 annexation of Dalmatia to the French Empire as part of the Illyrian Provinces.43 Carlo Bellardi succeeded Bignami at the University of Pavia. He had graduated in medicine at the beginning of 1806.44 Two years later, in February 1808, he was appointed lecturer of agricultural science after explaining to the General Office of Public Education that he had always dedicated himself to the subject since the creation of the Pavia chair, with considerable support from his knowledge of physics and natural history.45 Bellardi held the role of lecturer at least until the first half of 1811, when he was sent to teach agricultural science and botany at the Liceo of Belluno, in the Department of the Piave (in today’s region of Veneto).46 The three-year period as Bayle Barelle’s assistant allowed Bellardi to deepen his relationship with the professor, learn more about the plant species cultivated in the Agricultural Garden, and contribute to the experiments conducted there. The result of this acquaintance was the first catalog of the Pavia Garden, published in 1809.47 Applying a classification system mixing scientific criteria and practical use, it divided the various species into six categories: cereals, legumes, oil-bearing plants, vegetables, plants “that are used for the arts”, and plants “for livestock feed”. It did not at that time include “fruit-bearing and timber” trees, still in scarce quantities in the garden, even though the existing specimens would continue to be grafted, as specified by Bellardi in the introduction.48 Bellardi’s catalog exhibited a certain Bayle-Barellian pragmatism,

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pairing the scientific and common names of the plants and adding footnotes on their possible use as foods, dyes, or other practical applications. The purpose of the catalog was to strengthen concrete, utilitarian links between botany and agriculture. Bellardi readily admitted that it was an initiative promoted by Bayle Barelle and inspired by certain elements in his thinking.49 Bellardi also published an article on plant hybridization and “three new breeds of wheat obtained by artificial spurious fertilization” in an 1809 issue of the Annali dell’agricoltura, encouraging Italian botanists and agriculturists to emerge from what he saw as a long slumber following the last interesting work on the subject—Johannes Haartman’s Plantae Hybridae, a thesis discussed under Linnaeus in 1751—and resume hybridization experiments. The article contained references to “my illustrious mentor” Bayle Barelle, to his Monografia agronomica dei cereali (Agronomic Monograph on Cereals) published in 1809, and to the hybridization experiments that the professor had been conducting in the Pavia Garden on Polish wheat, assisted by Bellardi.50 A public letter from Bayle Barelle to Bellardi also appeared that year in the Annali dell’agricoltura: “On the changes that cultivation produces in vegetable crops”. The main purpose was to answer the question posed by Bellardi as to whether cultivation techniques could significantly alter the characteristics of a species.51 These articles testify to close collaboration and constant exchange between the two men bordering on the sort of student-disciple relationship that Bayle Barelle had not been able to find with any mentor during his training as an agricultural scientist, despite his contacts with Vitman and Nocca. The third lecturer was also a physician from the Pavia area, Giuseppe Bergamaschi. He graduated in medicine in mid-1805 with Bignami and was authorized to practice it in April 1806.52 Five years later, in June 1811, he was appointed successor to Bellardi as lecturer in agricultural science, with the support of Bayle Barelle and the rector of the university. Bergamaschi had probably already informally served as lecturer in agricultural science, as we can assume from his supporters’ comments.53 After Bayle Barelle’s death in August 1811, Bergamaschi was entrusted with the supervision of the garden, which was without a director proper until the appointment in October of Giovanni Biroli as professor.54 Bergamaschi’s relations with Biroli were not entirely constructive. While the professor did entrust him with the management of the garden during the holidays of 1812, he later favored the gardener Gerolamo

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Germani.55 Bergamaschi was also gradually edged out of his teaching post. In January 1814, Giuseppe Moretti, a more experienced liceo professor and future top botanist and agriculturist of the University of Pavia, was asked to take over some of Biroli’s lessons.56 By the middle of the year, Biroli had ousted Bergamaschi from both his research and teaching roles. Bergamaschi thus did not play an important role in agricultural science during the Napoleonic Era, but this did not prevent him from continuing to work in related fields and collaborating with Giuseppe Moretti during the Restoration. After the negative experience with Biroli, Bergamaschi redirected his attention to disciplines pertinent to his medical background, but approached them in a creative and syncretic manner. In April 1820 he was appointed assistant of botany at the University of Pavia and within a few years developed an interest in mycology while also contributing to Moretti’s mapping of the flora of the Pavia area with travels and specimen collections also in the Oltrepò area and the Ligurian Apennines. He also pursued his medical interests, with essays on myelitis of the spinal cord, tetanus, and myocarditis. He was also familiar with Valtellina and the Bergamo area from his practice as a doctor and continued to do research, combining scientific knowledge with careful territorial surveys, addressing topics such as livestock diseases.57 While medical subjects proved to have a decisive influence on the definition of agricultural science in the Napoleonic Era, in the middle of the previous century it had also inspired many intellectuals to elaborate socioeconomic theories related to agricultural production, trade, and the vitality of civil society nourished by an internal circulatory system much like that of the human body. Prominent among them were François Quesnay of France and James Hutton of Scotland. The former, a doctor and surgeon, took inspiration from his anatomical knowledge of the mechanism of blood circulation to study the circulation of money and goods within his physiocratic theory, in which agricultural development had a pivotal role. The latter made a name for himself among his contemporaries mainly as a geologist, but he also had a degree in medicine after defending a thesis on blood circulation and devoted himself both to studies of rural economy and to agricultural practices on family lands. His likening of the essential processes and organization of labor in modern society to the circulation of bodily fluids contributed to a physiological model of society shared widely among Scottish thinkers in the late eighteenth century.58

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5.2 The Organization of University Agricultural Courses In Sect. 4.1, we made many references to agricultural gardens associated with university chairs. These were fundamental spaces for teaching and research, where professors and their helpers spent a great deal of their working hours and where students could observe and apply the knowledge they had gained in the classroom and from books. Their value as an educational tool led to their establishment at many licei. Due to the association between the chair of agriculture and the chair of botany at these institutions, these gardens intermixed plants of agricultural and manufacturing use with medicinal plants and others that were simply interesting for their exotic nature.59 At universities, on the contrary, agricultural science and botany were kept distinct not only as chairs but also in terms of facilities. We have discussed the importance of such distinction in the epistemological evolution of Italian agricultural science in Chapter 4, a distinction which emancipated agricultural science from botany in the preeminent scientific institutions in the Italian Republic and the Kingdom of Italy: the national universities. We have also addressed the difficulties encountered at the University of Pavia in creating an agricultural garden from scratch between 1804 and 1806 and Giuseppe Bayle Barelle’s efforts to organize it in an optimal manner. On their part, the University of Padua already had a specific chair with a garden since the 1760s and the University of Bologna could at least rely on a professor, Filippo Re, who had thorough experience in the application of natural sciences to agriculture. In addition to the scientific experimentation discussed in the previous chapter, the course in agricultural science at the University of Pavia also gives us a good example of the development of teaching strategies. There was no agricultural garden yet at the start of academic year 1804–1805. But Bayle Barelle wanted the best possible educational resources. He asked the Ministry of the Interior to provide him with at least the material he needed for classroom work, which we can assume was conducted temporarily in the central building of the University or in the buildings of the Botanical Garden. He needed instruments for chemical experiments on soil samples, which included a box with reagents, scientific glassware, and a precision scale. Bayle Barelle also requested scale models of plows, harrows, and a new rice threshing machine, picture frames with glass for his drawings of cereal diseases, and double-glass frames to hold

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parasitic insect specimens and illustrate their developmental stages. Later, the professor asked for a barometer, a thermometer, and a hygrometer to assess the most suitable environmental conditions for sowing, and a glucometer to measure the sugar content of grape must, adding further costs to the sums that had probably already been spent following his requests in June: bell jars “to demonstrate the absorption and exhalation of elastic fluids”, an alcohol meter, and a small press to crush the oil seeds. Other requests for materials included spades, scythes, a grafting saw, and two knives. He also added a request for a sum of money for “other unforeseeable small expenses” to his 1804 estimate. Later, in 1806, he requested a Lester harrow to add to his tool complement for use in garden work and demonstrations to students.60 The textbooks listed in 1806 were Re’s aforementioned Elementi di agricoltura and Bayle Barelle’s Tavole analitico-elementari di botanica (Analytical-Elementary Tables of Botany).61 In addition, Bayle Barelle requested periodicals and new texts on rural architecture for the course library. He explicitly requested the journals La feuille du cultivateur, published in Paris from 1790 to 1805, and Bibliothèque physicoéconomique, instructive et amusante, edited from 1782 to the end of the 1790s by the agriculturist Antoine Parmentier and the naturalist and explorer Charles-Sigisbert Sonnini. After a brief interruption, Sonnini relaunched the periodical on his own in 1802.62 It is quite surprising that there were no specific demands for the Annales de l’agriculture française or the Mémoires of the Agricultural Society of Paris, which were the mainstays of the new French-inspired agricultural culture. In March 1806, with the agricultural garden still a work in progress, Bayle Barelle drew up a detailed comparison of the subject matter required by the Plans of 1803 with what could actually be taught based on the state of the garden and the educational materials available.63 For example, in discussing the fertility of different types of soil, the professor wanted to follow the theoretical framework proposed by Antoine-Alexis Cadet de Vaux and would give practical demonstrations to students using chemical reagents.64 However, the soil of the garden had a high flint content and, for teaching purposes, it was better to obtain other types as well. Calcareous soils would be obtained from demolition work that was underway in the garden, while clayey soil would have had to be brought from a nearby source.65 Bayle Barelle planned to use the studies of soil fertilization by Piedmontese chemist Giovanni Antonio Giobert in classroom lessons on

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manures, while for practical exercises he planned to use a stock of manure to be kept in the garden.66 This could not be kept without protection against the weather; a special hole was needed, sheltered all around by plants. The manure could initially be purchased, but the long-term plan would be to acquire a cow that would live in the garden and be fed with grasses from the artificial pasture.67 As for rice cultivation, Bayle Barelle planned to explain in the classroom the principles and methods for diverting the necessary water, using drawings and diagrams. Practical demonstrations were more complicated because the garden lacked “a permanent source of water to grow rice” and it was prohibited by law, for reasons of public health, to site rice fields or water meadows too close to inhabited centers. He, therefore, planned to lead his students into the nearby countryside, to study actual rice fields. He also focused on dry rice cultivation, requesting seeds of special varieties from the Ministry of the Interior.68 The staff of the Pavia Garden was quite interested in such rice varieties; in 1809 Bellardi announced in his catalog that twelve dry-cultivation varieties would be available within a year. Both Bayle Barelle and Bellardi identified the source of this variety of rice as the Isle de France (Mauritius).69 As for other elements of the curriculum, Bayle Barelle apparently had already given some practical lessons on grafting in 1805, although it is not clear which trees or bushes he had used for his demonstrations, since the Pavia Agricultural Garden was not yet available at that time. He was planning to carry out new demonstrations in August 1806, wishing to add new methods for the benefit of the students and the garden itself. Hence, prior to that date, before the arrival of summer, radical maintenance of the plants in poor condition was necessary and the most interesting ones had to be transported to the garden nursery, still to be organized. Tools were needed for grafting and pruning, but also material for the espalier supports.70 In the field of plant pathology, Bayle Barelle had his students perform experiments on species cultivated in the Agricultural Garden to give them first-hand experience with certain diseases. For example, they inoculated several ears of wheat with loose smut in the form of “black powder” taken from other infected specimens. The objective was to verify transmission by contact, seeing a similarity with smallpox and the plague in humans and livestock.71 There were also lessons on possible remedies to plant diseases: Bayle Barelle showed his students the proper use of liming to

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prevent bunt according to instructions handed down to all agricultural science professors by the government.72 Cereal hybridization was another topic in Bayle Barelle’s teaching. Given the importance of this branch of experimentation at the Pavia Agricultural Garden, students were expected to have some knowledge in this area for the exams in the spring of 1808 and the spring of 1810. In the former case he asked to his students to describe the known species of wheat, and in 1810 he tested them on “artificial methods” for obtaining more productive cereals.73 These topics were explained in greater detail and with clear engravings in his monographic work on wheat, the aforementioned Monografia agronomica dei cereali published in 1809 (Figs 5.1 and 5.2).74 When Biroli took over the teaching post, he immediately contacted André Thouin of the Paris Botanical Garden for seeds of “economic plants”, such as forage, textile, dye, and oil plants, but also procured specific teaching materials. For instance, he asked his French colleague if he could provide him with models of agricultural machinery like those in his large collection. He also hoped to obtain optimal plant specimens— dried, chemically preserved, or even wax reproductions—to explain plant physiology and pathology to his students.75 One of Biroli’s pet topics was cereal storage with a particular focus on poor barn and warehouse design. An exam question in 1813 addressed the possible effects on wheat sprouts of poor warehouse seed storage conditions.76 Biroli had discussed the rational management of farm facilities in his Trattato di agricoltura (Treatise on Agriculture), published in four volumes between 1809 and 1812.77 The second volume focused on the importance of setting up a proper space to keep the freshly reaped wheat for three or four days. It had to be clean, exposed to the sun, and properly whitewashed to enhance light and heat reflection. The wheat had to be turned often and covered with tarps in the evening to protect it against nighttime humidity. Once properly dried in this manner, it could be stored in the barn without running the risk of rotting or fermenting.78 The barn had to be designed according to precise criteria to assure good ventilation. Biroli said it was not enough to have windows only on the north or north-west sides. He followed the Traité de la conservation des grains by technician, naturalist and agriculturist Duhamel du Monceau (1753), which recommended having windows on the opposite sides to allow constant air exchange. There was a caveat: the windows should be outfitted with shutters to prevent entry of the humid sirocco

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Fig. 5.1 Ears and seeds of various wheat species (Source G. Bayle Barelle, Monografia agronomia dei cereali: del formento, Milan, Silvestri, 1809, plates I and II [copy from Biblioteca Universitaria di Pavia—MiC])

and the scorching rays of the sun. Bayle Barelle had also addressed ideal barn design in his 1809 Monografia, underlining the difficulty of drying cereals in northern climates, advocating the presence of windows with shutters, and, like Biroli, directing the reader to Duhamel’s treatise.79

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Fig. 5.2 Ears and seeds of various wheat species (Source G. Bayle Barelle, Monografia agronomia dei cereali: del formento, Milan, Silvestri, 1809, plates I and II [copy from Biblioteca Universitaria di Pavia—MiC])

Both Bayle Barelle and Biroli commented on fan technology to efficiently prevent air from stagnating and moisture from accumulating. Bayle Barelle built his own contribution on his analysis of the eighteenthcentury designs by Duhamel and by scientist and inventor Stephen Hales, and on the grain kiln devised by mathematician and engineer Bartolomeo

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Intieri and described in his Della perfetta conservazione del grano (On the Perfect Storage of Wheat) in 1754. More recent work on the subject was also available, such as the type of barn designed by the Swiss Philipp Emanuel von Fellenberg, founder of a network of highly renowned agricultural schools in the early nineteenth century, that also inspired agriculturist Vincenzo Dandolo for his model estate near Varese.80 Biroli had also gained experience during his explorations of the Italian Department of the Agogna and the French Department of the Sesia (both in today’s eastern Piedmont). In the second volume of his Trattato di agricoltura, he mentioned a visit to the town of Ivrea where he had seen a barn ventilated by a clever pipe system, which augmented what was otherwise a feeble flow of air coming from outside.81 Among the doctoral defenses of June 1812, there was one concerning the importance of constructing vaulted ceilings—therefore in stone or brick—both for livestock stalls and barns.82 The second volume of Biroli’s treatise advocated walls made of well-made bricks to protect wheat from humidity. The vaulted ceiling was a leitmotif in the fourth volume also relating to rooms such as the cellar, the chicken coop, or the room with the oven, where it replaced the wooden truss structure. In addition to ensuring healthy air, the main objective of brick masonry was to protect the farm from possible fires.83 This was a measure still discussed in the second half of the nineteenth century. For example, the Jacini Enquiry— a national survey coordinated by agriculturist, economist, and politician Stefano Jacini from 1877 to 1886 on the state of Italian agriculture, animal husbandry, and the condition of rural society—recorded a certain spread of fires in barns and stables in different areas.84 In 1814, Biroli’s students had to answer questions on the cultivation of rice, which was grown in many varieties in the Pavia Agricultural Garden.85 Biroli had written a treatise dedicated to this topic, published in 1807 and again in 1825, in which he discussed the botany, morphology, cultivation, and phytopathology of rice. The treatise mentioned some experiments recently conducted by botanist Giovanni Battista Balbis under the auspices of the Agricultural Society of Turin, but the main emphasis was a socioeconomic analysis of the cultivation of rice and other wetland plants.86 Biroli underscored the high productivity of rice growing and its central role in alleviating hunger. He also refuted the thesis whereby the air near these wetland crops was itself the agent that brought plague to nearby inhabited areas. After having consulted the Health Commission of the

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Department of the Agogna, Biroli could demonstrate populations were actually increasing in some municipalities near the rice fields, which he saw as constituting proof that the humid environment of the rice fields did not directly harm the health of the local inhabitants.87 Biroli’s tenure from late 1811 to late 1814 was not as uniform and continuous as Bayle Barelle’s. During his three-year appointment, he shuttled between Novara (his hometown) and Pavia, often delegating teaching, research, and management to assistants and gardeners.88 Although Biroli had a much more specialized curriculum as a professional agriculturist than Bayle Barelle, he did not put it into the full service of the Pavia Garden, regardless of whether he wanted to promote indigenous crops or integrate non-native ones. In Pavia, his chair was above all a transition between the Napoleonic-Era chair and Moretti’s professorship during the Restoration. The case of Bayle Barelle is exceptional first of all because it is not possible to identify a continuous and well-structured scientific path before his appointment in 1804, but also because his agricultural training at that date was complete only from a theoretical point of view. He gained dexterity in the more practical aspects during his years of teaching, nearly in step with the progress of his assistants Bignami, Bellardi, and Bergamaschi. However, these three young lecturers had a much more refined scientific education, albeit in medicine. The theoretical and practical lessons in botany provided by their university curriculum, complemented by their personal interest in the uses of plants by rural society, served as a natural bridge to agricultural science. Bayle Barelle may have shared this trait, inspired by the idea of the clergyman as transmitter of sound agricultural practices, involved in the social and economic progress of the State. Many other European States looked to this model with interest, both in the Old Regime and the post-Revolution decades.89

5.3

Looking at the European Restoration

At this point, it is useful to look more deeply into Giovanni Biroli’s profile. He can be considered the first professional agriculturist with specialized training and experience to hold the chair in Pavia. Bayle Barelle shaped himself along the way and lacked complete university studies specifically dedicated to botany, chemistry, or associated sciences. Bignami, Bellardi, and Bergamaschi, on the contrary, gained their experience as agriculturists only in the university environment, although

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the specialization was still in its nascent phase. Nonetheless, the Pavia university community contributed to Biroli’s scientific background in two different periods—1792–1793 and 1811–1814—although they must be considered marginal with respect to the core of his training. Born in 1772 in Novara (in today’s eastern Piedmont), Biroli studied medicine at the University of Turin between the late 1780s and 1795.90 One of the dominant traits in Biroli’s medical education was the presence of botany lessons starting from the third year of the five-year program.91 Botany was represented in Turin by some of the most important Italian scientists, such as Carlo Allioni, in charge of the university botanical garden, and Giovanni Pietro Maria Dana, professor of botany and materia medica. Two other very important men in Biroli’s education were Carlo Antonio Lodovico Bellardi and Giovanni Battista Balbis, two botanists in an internationally recognized Turinese scientific pantheon.92 An important detail in Biroli’s education appears to be overlooked. In 1792, the University of Turin was temporarily closed for reasons of public order: the ideals of the French Revolution were already being embraced in some small political circles and by students, alarming the Savoy authorities. With the University closed, Biroli had to find a way to fill the gap in his studies. He enrolled at the University of Pavia for the academic year 1792–1793, returning to Turin immediately afterward.93 Giovanni Battista Balbis also left Turin due to this temporary closure. Unlike Biroli, however, he had already graduated several years earlier and thus treated himself to a long journey through the Italian territories, until September 1793, with the aim of increasing his botanical knowledge. Pavia was one of the places where he stayed. In 1794, Balbis had to leave Turin again: this time to look for sanctuary in France against the Savoy reaction, because he was a sympathizer of the revolutionary ideals. Later, he returned at Turin as physician to the Napoleonic troops and continued his career as botanist at the local university.94 We may hypothesize that the association between Biroli and Balbis originated at the very beginning of that academic year 1792–1793, in the lively scientific environment and the rich Botanical Garden of Pavia, the product of earlier Theresian-Josephine reforms. This eventuality would involve a much more pronounced role of the Pavese botanical tradition in the building of Biroli’s future as agriculturist, an influence that would predate his contacts with Napoleonic Pavia as appointed professor.

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However, Biroli’s medical training in Turin ended in March 1795 with the dissertation De Zinzibere vulgari officinarum, analyzing the medicinal properties of ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) and developing an updated bibliography.95 The thesis was halfway between medicine and botany and affirmed the interests that would dominate Biroli’s scientific career. In the following years as a physician in the town of Gambolò, he deepened his knowledge of the rural world of Lomellina and eastern Piedmont, focusing primarily on the economic and food potential of local plants. At the same time, his role as co-director of the garden of the Agricultural Society of the Department of the Agogna in Novara allowed him to gain broad knowledge in agricultural science, into which he incorporated his long-standing interests in botany. His first botanical-agricultural work followed: Flora economica del Dipartimento dell’Agogna (Economic Flora of the Department of the Agogna), published in 1805 with a dedication to Balbis, who in the meantime had been appointed director of the Turin Botanical Garden.96 It was a text that focused on the practical uses (as dyes, forage, etc.) of about 170 local plant species, which turned out to be quite useful after the Continental Blockade was imposed in late 1806 and the need arose to find indigenous substitutes for imported species.97 In 1807, in addition to co-editing the Giornale d’agricoltura (Journal of Agriculture) with Bayle Barelle, Biroli was appointed professor of agriculture and botany at the Liceo of Novara. He published his Flora Aconiensis (Flora of the Agogna, in Latin) in 1808. Biroli also embarked on a project to write a textbook, Elementi di botanica sul sistema del Cavanilles (Elements of Botany from Cavanilles’s System). In 1809 another milestone of his editorial production in the field of agricultural science was printed, the Georgica del Dipartimento dell’Agogna belonging to the larger project of an “Italian Georgic” coordinated by Filippo Re.98 A few days after being appointed professor of agricultural science at the University of Pavia in October 1811, Biroli turned to André Thouin of the Paris Botanical Garden to ask for seeds of “economic plants”, as discussed in Sect. 4.2. His profile as professional agriculturist included numerous studies on the uses of economically useful plants, such as the aforementioned volumes in the Trattato di agricoltura, the Catalogus Plantarum Horti Botanici Novariensis ad annum 1810 (Catalog of the Plants from Novara Botanical Garden for the Year 1810, in Latin) and

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articles on many agricultural subjects, from rice growing to the cultivation of celery in the Novara area and the use of peanuts as a substitute for oil and cocoa.99 When he arrived at the Pavia Agricultural Garden as professor, Biroli was, therefore, very different from the late Bayle Barelle.100 He could boast solid experience in teaching, research, and management of an environment suitable for agricultural experimentation. He had absorbed the botanical teachings from the Turin tradition complemented by the hypothesized year in Pavia and his knowledge of the Agogna species. After the end of the Napoleonic Era, Biroli left Pavia, again under Habsburg rule: he had taught there just for three academic years, from 1811–1812 to 1813–1814, acting as a link between Napoleonic and Restoration agricultural science. He was called back to the University of Turin under restored Savoy rule to teach botany and direct that garden, replacing his politically compromised friend and mentor Balbis. However, a few years later he returned to Novara to work as physician, dying at the beginning of 1825.101 Biroli’s studies of medicine, botany, and edible wild plants combined with the wish to contribute to national economy that had motivated him since his entry into the Agricultural Society of Novara and the writing of Flora economica. Biroli did not construct his scientific background at the University of Pavia, like Bayle Barelle, but in Turin. However, if indeed he was a sort of visiting student at the University of Pavia in academic year 1792–1793, the experience allowed him to complement his botanical training not only in the Allioni tradition, but also that practiced in Pavia, based on the garden developed few years earlier by Giovanni Antonio Scopoli: the cream of the crop, botanically speaking. When Biroli moved to Turin at the end of 1814, the chair of agricultural science in Pavia went to Giuseppe Moretti, who held it until 1835 as professor of rural economy. The chair was initially in the new Law and Politics Department but later moved to Philosophy Studies. Classes of rural economy were mandatory for law students who envisaged a career in the rural sphere, and for engineers, architects, and land surveyors.102 Moretti, born in 1782, could not be an agricultural scientist based on his university education since he was a student before the Plans of 1803. Instead, he studied pharmacy and his knowledge of botany and chemistry—however well he had learned them in the Pavia classrooms and perhaps at the Gymnasium of Brera—was subordinate to that

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specific training.103 During the Napoleonic Era, he was lecturer in pharmaceutical chemistry at the University of Pavia, later he taught chemistry and natural history at the Liceo of Udine and the Liceo of Vicenza; in the latter town, he was also a professor of agriculture and botany, subjects that he then taught at the Liceo of Porta Nuova in Milan while directing the laboratorio di polveri e nitri (laboratory of [gun]powders and explosives).104 Moretti’s publications prior to 1815 focused above all on chemical subjects and the mineral world, and not so much on agriculture. However, he never stopped conducting chemical, botanical, and pharmaceutical studies and experiments on many plant species—for example, bearberry, autumn crocus, wood avens, and the genus Cinchona L.— often collaborating with another young scientist trained at the universities of Bologna and Pavia and later affiliated with the University of Padua: the physician and chemist Girolamo Melandri, from Romagna.105 Nonetheless, during his time in Udine, Moretti also studied “Guatemala indigo”— presumably of the genus Indigofera L.—and the action of nitric acid on such species, obtaining a new explosive acid and, with further chemical passages, salts with the same properties.106 When Moretti was appointed professor at the University of Pavia, one can imagine that his agricultural knowledge was not as solid as Biroli’s had been in 1811. However, he could claim benefits from the botany courses he attended at the university, from the various scientific subjects—including agriculture—studied in Udine, Vicenza, and Milan, and perhaps also the beneficial influence of Giovanni Mazzucato, an important botanist and agriculturist in the Udine area who was related to the Arduino family.107 Although his training and first employments were not characterized by a specialization in agricultural science, Moretti contributed significantly to the discipline as professor at the University of Pavia. Given his in-depth knowledge of the kingdom Plantae and the availability of the well-endowed Pavia Agricultural Garden, his lessons and research focused more on the uses of plants than on animal husbandry, although he did not neglect the latter, taking an interest in the care, feeding, and use of livestock. He also produced scientific and educational books on agricultural science, editing Elementi di economia rurale with Professor Luigi Configliachi of the University of Padua. Published in 1821, it was a translation of a German treatise by Leopold Trautmann, professor at the University of Vienna. From 1826 to 1844, Moretti also edited the monographs of the series Biblioteca Agraria, of which he was founder.108

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When agricultural science was reorganized after Napoleon, we may say that Moretti demonstrated all the qualities of a professional agriculturist. Although he had not directly benefited from the specialist training offered by the Plans of 1803 due to his birth year, in his career as professor and scientist he had already brought his knowledge of botany and chemistry into play, using the great mobility and the new spaces of experimentation made available under Napoleon. The Napoleonic Era may thus be seen as a scientific and cultural workshop for the future nineteenth-century agronomy. It was a virtual test bench that drew its epistemological and formative dynamics from the Enlightenment, incorporated them into a new normative framework, provided new research tools, and favored the development of an active, updated scientific community that could begin to consider a dimension extending beyond the geopolitical fragmentation of the Old Regime. The Napoleonic Era brought forth innovative proposals for defining agricultural science, but they were not entirely free of contradictions, venturesome forays, and other issues, as is made clear in this chapter. The policies in the decades following the fall of Napoleon were not conducive to a linear development of the projects envisioned in the first years of the century. A decisive factor was the beginning of the process of Italian unification in the mid-nineteenth century, when stock was taken of the heritage of the previous decades, and programs of research and education were developed uniformly and comprehensively at various levels.109 Teaching related to the rural sphere had another disciplinary branch: veterinary medicine. Here too we may find continuity between OldRegime educational institutions and their Napoleonic counterparts, which went on to become pillars in the development of nineteenth-century human capital, but this was not always the case. The arrival of the French marked the end of some institutions or a difficult carryover into the nineteenth century. Let us examine an instance of each of these cases. In the Republic of Venice, the Senate decreed and regulated in 1773 and 1774 a veterinary school called Collegio Zooiatrico in Padua, where the chair of agricultural science with its garden had existed under Pietro Arduino’s guidance since the 1760s. The lessons began on October 1, 1774, and students aged sixteen to twenty-four were admitted. The entire course lasted four years and combined the most rigorous theoretical study with a detailed practical approach. In the first three years, the students studied anatomy and physiology of bovines, sheep, horses, and other animals, as well as chemistry and botany. The fourth year was devoted

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to veterinary practice on cattle. The Collegio had a facility to provide both veterinary care for sick animals and direct practical experience for students. Moreover, if the professor had to relocate to the countryside to manage an epizootic outbreak, he could bring selected students with him for training in the field. At the end of the course, the students had to pass an exam to obtain a diploma and authorization to practice veterinary medicine in the Republic. The Collegio immediately drew in students from a wide area, with three students from the Duchy of Modena and Reggio and four from the Kingdom of Naples, sent by their respective governments, enrolling in the first academic year.110 The first professor of veterinary medicine at the Collegio was Giuseppe Orus from Parma. He had studied at the veterinary school of Alfort, near Paris, under the direction of the pioneering veterinarian Claude Bourgelat. Orus had been sent to France by the authorities of the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza with the goal of opening a veterinary school in Parma after he returned. The political and scientific framework was characterized by the reforms enacted in the late 1760s and early 1770s, the same context in which Giambattista Guatteri was sent to Padua to learn natural sciences and later create and direct the Parma Botanical Garden, as discussed in Chapter 2. Bourgelat instead recommended Orus to the Venetian authorities.111 The Republic of Venice had been planning to establish a veterinary school under urging from some members of the very active Society of Practical Agriculture of Udine. The wealthy businessman and agriculturist Antonio Zanon and chief medical examiner Giovanni Fortunato Bianchini were among the learned men who recommended that Venice finance studies for brilliant young men at the French veterinary schools of Alfort and Lyon with the goal of then creating high-quality veterinary institutes once they had returned to the Republic. Zanon and Bianchini also pointed out that many European societies were interested in the teaching and dissemination of veterinary medicine, collaborating with other scientific institutions and governments. They referred to the Haarlem Society of Sciences, the Bern Economic Society, and the Royal Agricultural Society of Paris, although we could also mention the Medicine Society (Société de Médicine) of Paris, which carried out studies on bovine epizootics and was renowned throughout Europe.112 The schools of Alfort and Lyon were the two main models of veterinary medicine for many countries. This was not only true for the Republic of Venice, but also for Piedmont and, as we will discuss, for Habsburg

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Lombardy.113 The Kingdom of Spain also looked to the French schools when it decided to properly train the director and deputy director of the future veterinary school of Madrid, which opened in October 1793 with teaching and research focused on both horses for the army and farm livestock. The director was Segismundo Malats from Barcelona. He had begun his career as a military veterinary surgeon. After serving a few years in that role, in 1784 the Spanish Crown funded five years of study at the most important veterinary schools in Europe, first Alfort, then in Germany, Denmark, and Great Britain to provide him with a solid, international education.114 The deputy director was Hipólito Estévez. We know relatively little of his origins, but his training and professional background were similar to Malats. Estévez too started as military veterinary surgeon, then the Crown sent him to study in France and other countries. Spanish authorities invested a lot in training veterinarians—Malats, Estévez, and others as well, such as Bernardo Rodríguez, who also trained in Alfort115 —leveraging an extensive network of Spanish diplomats in European capitals to ensure access to the best veterinary schools.116 In Habsburg Lombardy, the Supreme Economic Council expressed in 1769 its intention to finance veterinary training abroad of some promising young men. The idea was to train professionals who could care for animals in both military and agricultural settings. From 1772 to 1775, three young men from Mantua—two training as surgeons at the local hospital— were sent to further their education first at the veterinary school of Lyon and later in Florence, where they studied anatomical ceroplastics under Felice Fontana, scientist and director of the Royal Museum of Physics and Natural History.117 This training strategy brought positive results and other Lombard students—mainly from Milan and Lodi—were sent to the French schools and to Brussels. Claude Bourgelat and his successor as director of the Alfort school, Philibert Chabert, were “corresponding” foreign members of the Academy of Mantua for years, and Chabert also mentored Lombard veterinary students.118 This laid the groundwork for plans for an autonomous veterinary training and research institute in Habsburg Lombardy. In the 1770s, the idea was to locate the institution near Mantua, probably because of the scientific stature gained by the town thanks to its Academy and Agricultural Colony. In 1782, however, the authorities decided to move the project to the former lazaretto in Milan. Difficulties were encountered and it took some ten years to complete the institution. A School in

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“veterinaria minore”—training a special category of farriers to perform simple surgical operations and treat the most common diseases in horses, cattle, and sheep—was opened in 1791 by decree signed in 1789 by Marsilio Landriani, councilor for the government, professor of experimental physics at the Gymnasium of Brera, and, not coincidentally, head of the Patriotic Society. The School was dedicated—at least on paper—to the “cattle necessary for prosperity in agriculture and trade”.119 What happened to the Padua and Milan veterinary schools in the Napoleonic Era and what was their role in the development of nineteenthcentury human capital in Italy? Regarding veterinary medicine, Law no. 75 of September 4, 1802 instituted a special school in Modena, which actually continued, in part, the school of veterinary medicine established in 1791 at the University of Modena by order of Ercole III d’Este, Duke of Modena and Reggio. The reformed school was active from mid-1804 to 1807 in the Department of the Panaro. The peculiar choice of location might suggest a military interest, Modena being the site of one of the two military schools of the Italian Republic/Kingdom of Italy (the other was in Pavia, a third one had been decreed in Bologna but never actually created).120 However, this was not the case. For example, the experts at the veterinary school in Modena were also interested in animals bred for economic purposes, such as pigs.121 In Milan, after a period of reorganization and refurbishment from 1805 to 1807, the Veterinary School formerly occupying the old lazaretto reopened in early 1808 in a more suitable location not far from the old one (the former convent of Santa Francesca Romana), becoming the only official veterinary school in the Kingdom. Each department was required to send one student between the ages of seventeen and twenty-five to the Veterinary School. The students were lodged in a collegio at the expense of the Ministry of the Interior. In 1811 the length of the course was extended from three to four years, offering lessons and practical exercises in anatomy, pathology, hygienic prophylaxis, pharmacy, and botany. The School had a large interest in the rural sphere and accommodated both war horses and bovines and sheep in its stables, both for educational purposes and as a public service. It was obliged to care for the livestock of certified poor peasants at no charge, while in the other cases feed and care were charged to the owners. With the Restoration and the return of the Habsburg-Lorraine rulers to Lombardy, the Veterinary School of Milan remained nearly unaltered in its organization until 1834, when the authorities converted it into the Imperial Royal Veterinary Institute

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(Imperial Regio Istituto Veterinario) annexed to the School of Medicine and Surgery of the University of Pavia, granting the professors, assistants, and students of the former equal status to their counterparts at the latter. In the 1850s, the Austrian administration restored autonomy to the Institute. After Italian unification, the new government confirmed its status as a university-level institution with a few other veterinary schools, such as those in Turin and Naples. Throughout the nineteenth century, the School/Institute of Milan continued to train veterinarians and researchers who contributed to the advancement of veterinary science and animal husbandry as economic assets.122 On the other hand, upon annexation of the Venetian lands to the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy, the Collegio of Padua, created by the Republic of Venice, was closed. The authorities allowed Vincenzo Gaetano Malacarne, last professor of the Collegio, to continue teaching until the Veterinary School opened in Milan in 1808. He then resided in the building of the former Collegio as keeper of teaching materials and curator of the zootomic collection, to which he added more specimens. With the Restoration, in 1815 the Austrian administration created a chair of theoretical and practical veterinary medicine in the University of Padua Medical School and assigned it to Girolamo Molin from the Friuli region. However, faculty suffered many changes in tenure and organization and the chair was eliminated in 1873 under the new Italian government. In the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia under Habsburg rule, the main veterinary school was the Imperial Royal Institute of Milan. There was another important school in Vienna that attracted students. The authorities did not deem it necessary to have a third school in Padua. In the 1870s, the recently unified Italy already had five well-organized and fully functioning veterinary schools in the north: Milan, Turin, Parma, Modena, and Bologna. Again, according to the authorities, it was not necessary to start a sixth school, even in an important scientific milieu such as the University of Padua.123 The teaching of agricultural science proper and veterinary medicine was a fundamental component of developments in the Napoleonic Era in most of Italy. In those years, restoration of elements of the late-eighteenthcentury science and stronger exchanges with other European countries were paramount. However, there is one final comment to state. While secondary, technical, and university education played a prominent role in the development of agricultural science and related disciplines, the same cannot be said for primary education. Elementary

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education—except perhaps that provided to adults—devoted little space to agricultural topics in the late eighteenth century and the Napoleonic Era. Many governments and intellectuals in Italy tended to see it as the purview of parish priests, who used educational booklets and pamphlets written by experts to provide simple and clear instruction to the rural population. The support of local agricultural institutions was also envisaged in some cases, as seen in many parts of Italy such as the Mantua area, Tuscany, and Friuli. Nonetheless, they all entrusted a key role to country priests in managing the actual teaching.124 By the end of the eighteenth century, “a certain familiarity with the alphabet and the rules of calculation, the foundations of good morals, and a small store of technical knowledge applicable to agriculture or mechanical work were now considered appropriate on the whole for children of the general population”, as Marina Roggero pointed out. As regards Italy under Napoleonic rule, she correctly added that “concrete measures were taken to establish […] an elementary education system characterized by more effective teaching”.125 However, in the Italian Republic and the Kingdom of Italy—both actively engaged in promoting agricultural teaching in licei and universities—agriculture in elementary education was not the subject of a systematic program of reform. For example, in the Department of Passariano in Friuli, it was still in the hands of parish priests, who were sent to the garden of the Liceo of Udine to learn something of botany and agriculture so they could teach it, in turn, to the rural population.126 Furthermore, the Instructions for Elementary Schools (Istruzioni per le scuole elementari) of February 15, 1812 was the only regulatory text for that level of education after the well-known framework-law of 1802, and it contained no provisions for teaching agricultural topics in any class.127 A more structured agricultural elementary education network progressively developed during the nineteenth century, receiving due recognition with Italian Unity starting in the 1860s. At that point, legislators, local authorities, and intellectuals collaborated—not without some contested issues and obstacles—to establish courses and facilities that would allow the development of human capital in the agricultural sector starting at an early age in all areas of Italy, embracing both theory and practice.128

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Notes 1. On the creation and development of the Padua Agricultural Garden from the 1760s into the first half of the nineteenth century, please refer to: A. Dröscher, Plants and Politics in Padua during the Age of Revolution, 1820–1848, Cham, Palgrave Macmillan, 2021, pp. 219–227; P.G. Zanetti, L’orto agrario di Padova e l’agricoltura nuova, “Rivista di storia dell’agricoltura”, XXXVI (1996), no. 1, pp. 5–67, in particular pp. 11– 17; G. Fumi, Pietro Arduino (nota introduttiva), in Scritti teorici e tecnici di agricoltura, vol. II, ed. S. Zaninelli, Milan, Il Polifilo, 1989, pp. 109–118. 2. M.L. Fagnani, From botany to agriculture: the scientific network linking Great Britain, Spain and Italy in the late eighteenth century, “Agricultural History Review”, LXIX (2021), no. 2, pp. 213–235, especially pp. 219–220; G. Giarrizzo, Paolo Balsamo economista, “Rivista Storica Italiana”, LXXVIII (1966), no. 1, pp. 5–60. 3. R. De Lorenzo, Onorati Gaetano Nicola, in DBI, vol. LXXIX (2013); A. Santini, La formazione dell’agricoltura moderna e delle istituzioni tecnicoscientifiche prima della fondazione della Scuola, in La Scuola Agraria di Portici e la modernizzazione dell’agricoltura, 1872–2012, ed. A. Santini, S. Mazzoleni, F. de Stefano, Naples, Doppiavoce, 2015, pp. 1–32, in particular pp. 22–23; R. De Lorenzo, Società economiche e istruzione agraria nell’Ottocento meridionale, Milan, FrancoAngeli, 1998, pp. 93– 97, especially pp. 159–197; L. Postiglione, L’orto agrario di Salerno, “Rivista di storia dell’agricoltura”, XXXVI (1996), no. 1, pp. 209–230, specifically pp. 209–210. 4. BNB, AF XI 40, 76 verso, 80 verso, 81 recto, and 111 recto, copies of three letters by secretary Carlo Amoretti to Onorati, September 17, 1792, December 10, 1792, and December 30, 1793. 5. BNB AF XI 33, 82 recto, August 30, 1781. See also: L. Maddaluno, De Facto policies and iIntellectual Agendas of an Eighteenth-century Milanese Agricultural Academy: physiocratic Resonances in the Società Patriotica, in The Economic Turn: Recasting Political Economy in Enlightenment Europe, ed. S.A. Reinert, S. Kaplan, London, Anthem Press, 2019, pp. 395–438, in particular pp. 399–400; D. Brianta, I luoghi del sapere agronomico: Accademie, società di agricoltura e di arti meccaniche, orti agrari, atenei (1802–1814), in Istituzioni e cultura in età napoleonica, ed. E. Brambilla, C. Capra, A. Scotti , Milan, FrancoAngeli, 2008, pp. 62–156, specifically p. 67. M. Romani, L’agricoltura in Lombardia dal periodo delle riforme al 1859: struttura, organizzazione sociale e tecnica, Milan, Vita e Pensiero, 1957, pp. 144–145. 6. ASMi, Studi p.m., 381, letter by commissario Marchetti to the Minister of the Interior, Mantua, Brumaire 12, year X (November 3, 1801).

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7. Transunto della dissertazione presentata alla Società Patriotica per la soluzione del quesito che chiede il metodo d’accrescere gl’ingrassi ec. dal p. Lorenzo Pellegretti min. oss., in ASPMi, vol. II, Milan, monastero di Sant’Ambrogio Maggiore, 1789, pp. 200–204. 8. Pellegretti was appointed corresponding member of the Academy of Mantua in 1806 for his poetic and literary credits. He translated Virgilio, specifically an eclogue and part of the Georgics. Please refer to: ANV, As, L.a., 11, letter by Lorenzo Pellegretti to secretary Idelfonso Valdastri, Ostiglia, May 1, 1806; E. Faccioli (ed.), Mantova: Le lettere, vol. I, Mantua, Istituto Carlo d’Arco per la Storia di Mantova, 1959, pp. 210– 218. See also P. Pellegretti, Storia del celebre santuario ed immagine miracolosa detta La Madonna delle Grazie che si venera nella campagna di Curtatone, Mantua, Agazzi, 1858, pp. 92–98. 9. ASMi, Studi p.m., 381, Oggetto e piano di una scuola agronomica teoricopratica proposta al governo da tenersi nel locale di Santa Maria e fondo annesso, situati nel territorio di Castiglione delle Stiviere, by Lorenzo Pellegretti, Brumaire 1, year X (October 23, 1801). 10. Ibid. 11. On the sale of monastic lands in Napoleonic Europe (at least, in the catholic territories) and its relation to other economic strategies to fund the imperium, such as the sale of former crown properties and new land taxation, please refer to: J.A. Davis, Naples and Napoleon: Southern Italy and the European Revolutions 1780–1860, Oxford-New York, Oxford University Press, 2006, pp. 176–182; D. Beales, Prosperity and Plunder: European Catholic Monasteries in the Age of Revolution, 1650–1815, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2003, pp. 231–290; S. Woolf, Napoleon’s Integration of Europe, London-New York, Routledge, 1991, pp. 196–206. 12. A. Mikaberidze, The Napoleonic Wars: a Global History, Oxford-New York, Oxford University Press, 2020, pp. 233–234; J. Sperber, Revolutionary Europe 1780–1850, Abingdon-New York, Routledge, 2017, 2nd edition, 151–153; C. Zaghi, L’Italia di Napoleone dalla Cisalpina al Regno, Turin, UTET, 1986, pp. 572–589. 13. Piani di studj e di disciplina per le università nazionali, Milan, Veladini, [1803]. 14. BLREP, (1804), book II, p. 815; BLRI, (1806), book II, p. 789. 15. M.L. Perna, Genovesi Antonio, in DBI, vol. LIII, 2000; F. Venturi, Antonio Genovesi (nota introduttiva), in Illuministi Italiani, vol. V, ed. F. Venturi, Milan-Naples, Ricciardi, 1962, pp. 3–46. 16. A. Visconti, Nuovi strumenti per lo studio e l’insegnamento della botanica nella Lombardia dell’assolutismo asburgico: gli orti di Pavia e di Milano, “Storia in Lombardia”, (2013), nos. 2–3, pp. 28–44, in particular pp. 33–39; A. Visconti, La fondazione dell’orto botanico di Brera e gli

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17.

18.

19. 20.

21. 22. 23. 24. 25.

26. 27.

anni della direzione dell’abate vallombrosano Fulgenzio Vitman (1728– 1806), “Atti della Società Italiana di Scienze Naturali e del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano”, CLIII (2012), no. 1, pp. 27–48, especially pp. 31–35; A. Ferraresi, Linnaeus in Lombardy, in Linnaeus in Italy: The Spread of a Revolution in Science, ed. M. Beretta, A. Tosi, Sagamore Beach, Science History Publications, 2007, pp. 147–167, specifically pp. 156–157; M.L. Boriani, L. Baroni, L’orto agrario di Bologna, “Rivista di storia dell’agricoltura”, XXXVI (1996), no. 1, pp. 123–182, specifically pp. 135, 145, 153. M.L. Fagnani, From “pure botany” to “Economic Botany” —Changing Ideas by Exchanging Plants: Spain and Italy in the Late Eighteenth and the Early Nineteenth Century, “History of European Ideas”, XLVIII (2022), no. 4, pp. 402–420, specifically pp. 410–411. G. Fumi, Filippo Re (nota introduttiva), in Scritti teorici e tecnici di agricoltura, vol. II, ed. S. Zaninelli, Milan, Il Polifilo, 1989, pp. 385– 403, in particular p. 390. G. Bonini, R. Pazzagli, Re Filippo, in DBI, vol. LXXXVI, 2016. See the Piano scientifico per l’Università di Pavia, published in 1773, in Statuti e ordinamenti della Università di Pavia dall’anno 1361 all’anno 1859 raccolti e pubblicati nell’XI centenario dell’Ateneo, Pavia, Tipografia Cooperativa, 1925, pp. 228–250, specifically p. 247 (a handwritten copy of the Piano is kept in ASPv, U. Lettere, 108). BLREP, (1807), book I, pp. 145–156. BLREP, (1811), book II, pp. 1112–1124, specifically p. 1116. BUPv, Autografi, 4, letter by Ciro Pollini to Domenico Nocca, Verona, [December] 31, 1813. Piani di studj e di disciplina, entry XI: Agraria of the section “Piano degli studi”, no page number. BLREP, (1804), book II, pp. 813–815: the decree of September 18 instituted agricultural science courses as requisites in the second-year curriculum for land surveyors, unless they had studied the subject at the liceo or ginnasio (p. 815). See also ASPv, U. Matematica, 151, note from the professors in the Department of Physics and Mathematics to the Office of Public Education, July 20, 1814: among certain critical points, the professors expressed their approval of the addition of agricultural science courses to the curriculum for land surveyors. Piani di studj e di disciplina, article VIII of the section “Piano di disciplina”, no page number. ASMi, Studi p.m., 208, memo from the Minister of the Interior of April 20, 1804, regarding Bayle Barelle’s appointment by decree of April 16. Also, in general, the wealth of documentation in ASMi, Studi p.m., 995, and ASMi, Autografi, 111. See also ASPv, U. Registri, 805, course

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28.

29.

30. 31.

32. 33.

34.

35.

36.

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prospectus 1803–1804: the agricultural science chair is provided but no professor has yet been named to it. M.L. Fagnani, L’agraria “italiana” prima e dopo Napoleone: percorsi formativi di una scienza, “Società e Storia”, (2020), no. 169, pp. 457– 491, especially pp. 463–464. ASMi, Studi p.m., 381, Massime intorno l’educazione pubblica e consecutivo progetto di legge per l’organizzazione della stessa nella Repub.ca Italiana written by Bayle Barelle, April 13, 1802. In this project, Bayle Barelle probably restated and elaborated what was already in the air in the corridors of the ministries in view of the Law no. 75 of September 4, 1802, regarding public education. Archivio Storico Civico di Milano, Famiglie, 106, marriage certificate of Pluviôse 17, year VII (February 5, 1799). Sulla coltivazione dell’Arachis hypogaea indiana ed africana. E squarcio di lettera del sig. Bayle-Barelle prof. di agraria nella R. U. di Pavia diretta al compilatore, AARI, (1809), book II, pp. 40–47, specifically p. 45. For a more in-depth discussion of Bayle Barelle’s scientific training, see Fagnani, L’agraria ‘italiana’ prima e dopo Napoleone, pp. 465–466. Zanetti, L’orto agrario di Padova, pp. 25–27. Some examples: F. Configliachi, Lettera del sig. Felice Configliachi al sig. Giuseppe Bayle Barelle, professore d’agricoltura nell’Università di Pavia, AARI, (1810), book 6, pp. 3–4; G. Bayle Barelle, Risposta alla suddetta lettera, AARI, (1810), book 6, pp. 5–14; G. Bayle Barelle, Saggio intorno agli insetti nocivi, ai vegetabili economici, agli animali utili all’agricoltura, ed ai prodotti dell’economia rurale, Milan, Marelli, 1809; G. Bayle Barelle, Del dovere, che hanno i proprietarj di dirigere co’ loro lumi le campestri faccende, e dei rapporti dell’agricoltura cogli altri rami dell’utile sapere, “Giornale d’agricoltura”, (1807), book 1, pp. 9–43. ASMi, Studi p.m., 955, dossier Bayle Barelle, Director of Public Education’s report regarding financial support for Bayle Barelle’s widow, November 19, 1811. See also D. Brianta, La cattedra di agraria a Pavia fra età francese e Restaurazione, in “Annali di storia pavese”, XX (1991), pp. 175–197, in particular p. 184. Here are some examples from Bayle Barelle’s studies, partially already analyzed in the previous chapters: G. Bayle Barelle, Agraria ragionata ossia principi di agricoltura pratica, di pastorizia e di economia-rurale, Pavia, Bolzani, 1811; G. Bayle Barelle. Saggio intorno la fabbricazione del cacio detto Parmigiano, Milan, Silvestri, 1808; G. Bayle Barelle, Monografia agronomica dei cereali: del formento, Milan, Silvestri, 1809; G. Bayle Barelle, Descrizione esatta dei funghi nocivi o sospetti con figure colorate, Milan, 1808. F. Arato, Carlo Amoretti e il giornalismo scientifico nella Milano di fine Settecento, “Annali della Fondazione Luigi Einaudi”, XXI (1987),

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37. 38.

39. 40. 41.

42. 43.

pp. 175–216; R. De Felice, Amoretti Carlo, in DBI, vol. III, 1961. An opposite case is the Arduino brothers, to whose solid and specialized scientific knowledge the Republic of Venice turned to strengthen its agricultural system. In this regard see E. Vaccari, L’attività agronomica di Pietro e Giovanni Arduino, in Scienze e tecniche agrarie nel Veneto dell’Ottocento, ed. Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti, Venice, Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti, 1992, pp. 129–167. For the reforms related to agricultural science in the late-eighteenth-century Republic of Venice, please refer to M. Simonetto, I lumi nelle campagne. Accademie e agricoltura nella Repubblica di Venezia 1768–1797 , Treviso, Fondazione Benetton Studi Ricerche—Canova, 2001. F. Re, Della relazione che passa fra la scienza agraria e la medicina, AARI, (1813), book XX, pp. 244–250. For instance, see M. Ambrosoli, The Wild and the Sown: Botany and Agriculture in Western Europe, 1350–1850, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1997, pp. 100–103. For the connection between chemistry and agricultural development see A. Clericuzio, Plant and soil chemistry in seventeenth-century England, “Early Science and Medicine”, XXIII (2018), no. 5, pp. 550–584, and for a perspective including part of the nineteenth century see P.M. Jones, Making Chemistry the ‘Science’ of Agriculture, c. 1760–1840, “History of Science”, LIV (2016), n. 2, pp. 169–194. BLRI, (1808), book II, pp. 922–926: 923–924. ASPv: U. Medicina, 375 and 533; U. Registri, 611 and 613. ASPv, U. Rettorato, 217, 1, Scarpa to the Director of Public Education, March 25, 1807, with Bayle Barelle’s opinion attached, March 3, 1807; ASMi, Studi p.m., 955, dossier Bignami, letters of reference signed by professors Giuseppe Bayle Barelle (December 18, 1806), Francesco Marabelli (January 27, 1807), Giambattista Savioli (January 29), and Luigi Valentino Brugnatelli (January 29). ASMi, Studi p.m., 955, dossier Bignami, physicist Giuseppe Chiappa’s candidacy to an agricultural science lectureship, October 16, 1807. A. Becherelli, La politica adriatica e le Province Illiriche, in L’imperatore dei francesi e l’Europa napoleonica, ed. G. Motta, Rome, Edizioni Nuova Cultura, 2014, pp. 185–194, in particular pp. 188–191; I. Pederzani, I Dandolo: dall’Italia dei Lumi al Risorgimento, Milan, FrancoAngeli, 2014, pp. 106–108; A. Ferraresi, La direzione generale di pubblica istruzione nel Regno d’Italia, in Istituzioni e cultura in età napoleonica, pp. 341–391, especially pp. 369–370; P. Preto, Dandolo Vincenzo, in DBI, vol. XXXII, 1986. For the social and cultural background against which Dandolo’s initiative took place, refer to F. Agostini (ed.), Veneto,

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44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50.

51. 52. 53.

54.

55. 56.

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Istria e Dalmazia tra Sette e Ottocento: aspetti economici, sociali ed ecclesiastici, Venice, Marsilio, 1999. For some examples of supporting decrees from Milan see BLRI, (1806), book III, pp. 914–917. ASPv: U. Medicina, 534; U. Registri, 611. ASMi, Studi p.m., 955, dossier Bellardi; ASPv, U. Rettorato, 217, 2, the university rector to the Director of Public Education, February 10, 1808. ASMi, Studi p.m., 955, dossier Bergamaschi, the university rector to the Director of Public Education, May 6, 1811. C. Bellardi, Catalogo primo de’ vegetali economici che si coltivano nel R. Orto Agrario dell’Università di Pavia, Pavia, without printer, [1809]. Ibid., p. 5. Ibid., p. 4. C. Bellardi, Saggio botanico-georgico intorno all’ibridismo delle piante e tre nuove razze di formento ottenute mediante artificiale spuria fecondazione, AARI, (1809), book 3, pp. 161–184. On Haartman’s studies on plant hybridization see C. Zirkle, The Beginnings of Plant Hybridization, Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1935, pp. 167–172. For its part, Bellardi’s contribution was mentioned in J. Sabine, Account of a newly produced hybrid Passiflora (read, November 7, 1820), “Transactions of the Horticultural Society of London”, vol. IV, London, Bulmer & Co., 1822, pp. 258–268, note on p. 261. G. Bayle Barelle, Dei cangiamenti che produce nei vegetabili la coltivazione, AARI, (1809), book III, pp. 245–256. ASPv: U. Medicina, 375 and 533; U. Registri, 611 and 613. ASPv, U. Rettorato, 217, 3, draft letter from the university rector to Giuseppe Bergamaschi, June 10, 1811. ASMi, Studi p.m., 955, dossier Bergamaschi, the university rector to the Director of Public Education, May 6, 1811, and draft of announcement of appointment to the former by the latter, June 3, 1811. BLRI, (1811), book II, p. 1094. See also: ASPv, U. Rettorato, 208, notice from the Director of Public Education, November 4, 1811; ASMi, Studi p.m., 955, dossier Biroli. Regarding the supervision of the Pavia Agricultural Garden when it was entrusted to Giuseppe Bergamaschi see: ASPv, U. Rettorato, 205, 2, draft of the entrustment of the garden to Bergamaschi, engineer Carlo Giuseppe Dalloro, and the university bursar by the rector, August 21, 1811; ASMi, Studi p.m., 955, dossier Barelle, the university rector to the Director of Public Education, August 21, 1811. ASPv, U. Rettorato, 187, various documents dating to the summer of 1812 and the entire year 1814. ASPv, U. Rettorato, 178, 1, order of the Director of Public Education, January 2, 1814.

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57. About his university appointment see ASMi, Studi p.m., 955, dossier Bergamaschi, letter by Antonio Scarpa, director of the Faculty of Medicine, to the councilor and chief medical examiner Joseph Kluky, April 5, 1822, and Kluky’s response renewing Bergamaschi’s appointment, April 7, 1822. For his scientific explorations and his studies in botany, mycology, medicine, and veterinary medicine, see the analysis in: Fagnani, L’agraria ‘italiana’ prima e dopo Napoleone, pp. 478– 479; N.M.G. Ardenghi, F. Polani, La flora della provincia di Pavia (Lombardia, Italia settentrionale). 1. L’Oltrepò pavese, in “Natural History Sciences”, III (2016), no. 2, pp. 51–79; C. Sartori Fanelli, Una relazione inedita statistica e naturalistica sulla Valtellina di Giuseppe Bergamaschi, medico e botanico pavese, in “Rassegna economica della Provincia di Sondrio”, (1955), no. 7, pp. 25–31. 58. P.M. Jones, Agricultural Enlightenment: Knowledge, Technology and Nature, 1750–1840, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2016, p. 118; V. Ruggiero, The Crimes of the Economy: a Criminological Analysis of Economic Thought, Abingdon-New York, Routledge, 2013; L.A. d’Abadal, The Physiocrats, in J.G., Backhaus (ed.), Handbook of the History of Economic Thought: Insides on the Founders of Modern Economics, New York, Springer, 2012, pp. 137–159, in particular pp. 138–139; S. Fiori, Scienze della natura e scienze della società nella Scozia del Settecento: il geologo James Hutton e i suoi contemporanei, in “Quaderni di storia dell’economia politica”, VI (1988), no. 2, pp. 51–72. 59. As observed in Brianta, I luoghi del sapere agronomico, pp. 124–125, analyzing the development of the agricultural gardens of the Liceo of Novara (Department of the Agogna) and the Liceo and boarding school of Urbino (Department of the Metauro). 60. ASMi: Autografi, 111, letters by Giuseppe Bayle Barelle to the Minister of the Interior, Milan, June 14, 1804, and Pavia, November 1, 1804; Studi p.m., 995, Locale e mobili 3, document starting with “Essendo della regolarità…”, Pavia, March 31, 1806; Studi p.m., 217, 1, Giuseppe Bayle Barelle’s good reference on Carlo Bignami mentioning some weak points of the Agricultural Garden, Pavia, March 3, 1807. For a description of the Lester model, see G. Lester, Descrizione colla figura dell’erpice (tradotta dall’inglese), in GFCS, I (1808), no. 1, pp. 503–504. 61. ASPv, U. Rettorato, 177, 2, list of preferred textbooks for the universities of the Kingdom of Italy, Milan, October 15, 1806. More up-to-date textbooks were also considered in the following years. For example, Agraria ragionata by Bayle Barelle, published in 1811 (the year of his death), was a teaching manual probably intended to replace the Tavole. 62. ASMi, Autografi, 111, letter from Giuseppe Bayle Barelle to the Minister of the Interior, Milan, June 14, 1804. For some information on the two

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63. 64.

65. 66.

67. 68. 69.

70. 71.

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periodicals and the main personalities who were part of those ventures see: S. Easterby-Smith, Cultivating Commerce: Cultures of Botany in Britain and France, 1760–1815, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2018, pp. 178–183; V. Lastinger, The Laboratory, the Boudoir and the Kitchen: Medicine, Home and Domesticity, in Women, Gender and Disease in Eighteenth-Century England and France, ed. K. Hardesty Doig, F. Berger Sturzer, Newcastle upon Tyne, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2016, pp. 119–148, specifically pp. 136–137 and notes; E.J. Mannucci, Baionette nel focolare: la rivoluzione francese e la ragione delle donne, Milan, FrancoAngeli, 2016, pp. 56–57, 103–105; J.M. Walshaw, A Show of Hands for the Republic: Opinion, Information and Repression in Eighteenth Century Rural France, Rochester-Woodbridge, Boydell & Brewer—University of Rochester Press, 2014, p. 271. ASMi, Studi p.m., 995, Locale e mobili 3, document starting with “Essendo della regolarità…”, Pavia, March 31, 1806. With Parmentier, the chemist and agriculturist Cadet de Vaux was long a consultant for the French Agricultural Office on questions of nutrition, public health, and obviously crops. His work and that of other scientific consultants are widely discussed in E.C. Spary, Feeding France: New Sciences of Food, 1760–1815, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2014. ASMi, Studi p.m., 995, Locale e mobili 3, document starting with “Essendo della regolarità…”, Pavia, March 31, 1806. Among Giobert’s studies on the topic see the monographic issue MSATo, vol. V, Turin, Briolo, 1790. See also some excerpts translated and adapted by Colombian agriculturist and politician Francisco Antonio Zea for the “Semanario de agricultura y artes dirigido a los párrocos”, December 12, 1805, no. 467, pp. 382–384, and December 19, 1805, no. 468, pp. 397–400. ASMi, Studi p.m., 995, Locale e mobili 3, document starting with “Essendo della regolarità…”, Pavia, March 31, 1806. ASMi, Studi p.m., 995, Locale e mobili 3, document starting with “Essendo della regolarità …”, Pavia, March 31, 1806. Bellardi, Catalogo primo de’ vegetali economici, p. 12. In spring 1806 too, Bayle Barelle had asked the authorities for some rice seeds coming from the Isle de France: ASMi, Studi p.m., 995, Locale e mobili 3, document starting with “Essendo della regolarità…”, Pavia, March 31, 1806. Some experiments on rice cultivation in Mauritius are mentioned also in L. Trautmann, Elementi di economia rurale, vol. II, Pavia, Bizzoni, 1821, pp. 211–212. ASMi, Studi p.m., 995, Locale e mobili 3, document starting with “Essendo della regolarità…”, Pavia, March 31, 1806. Bayle Barelle, Monografia agronomica, pp. 140–141.

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72. Ibid., p. 143. 73. ASPv, U. Matematica, 152, list of May 14, 1808, question no. 7; list of April 5, 1810, question no. 6. 74. For instance, Bayle Barelle, Monografia agronomica, pp. 81, 118, tables 1 and 2. 75. BCMHN, Ms THO 367/1, letters by Giovanni Biroli to André Thouin, Pavia, November 3 and December 2, 1811. 76. ASPv, U. Matematica, 152, list of 1813, question no. 8. 77. G. Biroli, Trattato di agricoltura, 4 volumes, Novara, Mezzotti and Vercellotti, 1809–1812. 78. Biroli, Trattato di agricoltura, vol. II, 1810, pp. 37–38. 79. Ibid., pp. 51–52; Bayle Barelle, Monografia agronomica, pp. 177–178; H.-L. Duhamel du Monceau, Traité de la conservation des grains et en particulier du froment, Paris, Guerin and Delatour, 1753, pp. xvi-xxvii, 209–210. 80. Bayle Barelle, Monografia agronomica, pp. 179–187: the depiction of Fellenberg’s barn is number 11 in table 6. About Intieri (of Tuscan origins but operating above all in Campania), please refer to: M. Fubini Leuzzi, Intieri Bartolomeo, in DBI, vol. LXII, 2004; A.M. Rao, Fortunato Bartolomeo De Felice a Napoli, in Fortunato Bartolomeo De Felice: un intellettuale cosmopolita nell’Europa dei Lumi, ed. S. Ferrari, Milan, FrancoAngeli, 2016, pp. 13–34, in particular pp. 25–28. On the methods he studied to protect the grain in storage from harmful insects see also ASPv, U. Matematica, 154, December 29, 1814, thesis Tra i metodi di difender il grano dal puntirolo e dalle tignuole vuolsi antepor quello di Bartolomeo Interi supported by Annibale Ratti from Milan. On Fellenberg, pedagogist as well as agronomist, and his worldwide influence on nineteenth-century agricultural education see: A. Schrauwers, Merchant Kings: Corporate Governmentality in the Dutch Colonial Empire, 1815–1870, New York-Oxford, Berghahn, 2021, p. 70 and related bibliography; Jones, Agricultural Enlightenment, pp. 90–91; Pederzani, I Dandolo, p. 236. 81. Biroli, Trattato di agricoltura, vol. II, p. 53. 82. ASPv, U. Matematica, 154, June 11, 1812, Dei vantaggi di costruire in volta gli alloggiamenti degli animali ed il granajo, doctoral defense by Francesco Barbosio from the Department of the Agogna. 83. Biroli, Trattato di agricoltura, vol. II, p. 55. See also G. Biroli, Trattato di agricoltura, vol. III, 1811, pp. 151, 157, 159, 163. 84. This was the case of the Mantuan countryside, described in E. Paglia, Monografia della Provincia di Mantova, in Atti della giunta per la inchiesta agraria e sulle condizioni della classe agricola, ed. Stefano Jacini, vol. VI, book II, Rome, Forzani and C. Tipografi del Senato, 1882, pp. 743–882, in particular pp. 781–782.

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85. ASPv, U. Matematica, 152, list of 1814, question no. 8. 86. L. Guglielmone, Giovanni Biroli botanico: i rapporti con l’orto botanico di Torino, le opere, la collezione di exsiccata, in Palazzi del sapere: Giovanni Biroli e la Novara napoleonica, ed. S. Bartoli, Novara, Interlinea, 2009, pp. 103–159, in particular pp. 111–112. 87. G. Biroli, Del riso: trattato economico-rustico, Milan, Silvestri, 1825, 2nd edition, pp. 6–25. 88. ASPv, U. Rettorato: 178, 1, order of the Director of Public Education, Milan, January 2, 1814; 187, 2, letter by Giovanni Biroli to Pavia university rectors, Pavia, June 20, 1814, and Turin, December 15, 1814; 205, 2, draft of the entrustment of the garden to Bergamaschi, engineer Carlo Giuseppe Dalloro, and the university bursar by the rector, August 21, 1811. See also S. Monferrini, Una fonte perenne di luce animatrice: la Novara di Biroli fra educazione, scienza e cultura, in Palazzi del sapere, pp. 15–101, in particular pp. 71, 101 and notes. 89. E. Brambilla, Il Seminario Generale nella Facoltà teologica, in Almum Studium Papiense: storia dell’Università di Pavia, vol. II, book I, ed. D. Mantovani, Pavia-Milan, Cisalpino, 2015, pp. 155–156. For the role of European clergymen in rural society and education, refer to: W.M. Jacob, The Clerical Profession in the Long Eighteenth Century, 1680–1840, Oxford-New York: Oxford University Press, 2007; P. Vismara, Il “buon prete” nell’Italia del Sei-Settecento. Bilanci e prospettive, “Rivista di storia della Chiesa in Italia”, LX (2006), no. 1, pp. 49–67; S. Hindle, On the Parish? The Micro-Politics of Poor Relief in Rural England c.1550–1750, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 2004. 90. Monferrini, Una fonte perenne di luce animatrice, pp. 16, 72 and note 7. For the context of the University of Turin in the eighteenth century see D. Carpanetto, L’Università nel XVIII secolo, in Storia di Torino, vol. V, ed. G. Ricuperati, Turin, Einaudi, 2002, pp. 187–231. 91. Costituzioni di Sua Maestà per l’Università di Torino—Constitutions de Sa Majesté pour l’Université de Turin, Turin, Stamperia Reale, 1772, p. 49. 92. Guglielmone, Giovanni Biroli botanico, p. 105. 93. ASPv, U. Registri, 810 and 816: Giovanni Biroli is recorded as enrolled in the Faculty of Medicine on November 12, 1792. 94. D. Arecco, Linneo nel Settecento italiano: storia naturale e accademismo scientifico nell’opera di Carlo Allioni (1728–1804), “Società e Storia”, (2007), no. 115, pp. 33–65, especially pp. 61–64; M. Ambrosoli, Alberate imperiali per le strade d’Italia: la politica dei vegetali di Napoleone, “Quaderni storici”, XXXIII (1998), no. 3, pp. 707–738, in particular pp. 719–721; G. Forneris, A. Pistarino, Note biografiche e attività scientifica di Giovan Battista Balbis (1765–1831): opere, erbario e

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95. 96. 97.

98.

99.

100.

101.

102.

103.

documentazione bibliografica, “Museologia scientifica”, VII (1990), nos. 3–4, pp. 201–257. Guglielmone, Giovanni Biroli botanico, p. 104 (about the dissertation see p. 144, note 8). G. Biroli, Flora economica del Dipartimento dell’Agogna, Vercelli, Zanotti Bianco, 1805. S. Bartoli, Giovanni Biroli, medico e botanico nella Novara napoleonica, Novara, Consorzio Mutue, 2012, pp. 24–26; S. Bartoli, Giovanni Biroli e la sua famiglia nella società napoleonica, in Palazzi del sapere, pp. 161– 241, especially pp. 170–171; Guglielmone, Giovanni Biroli botanico, pp. 107–109. G. Biroli, Flora Aconiensis seu plantarum in Novariensi provincia sponte nascentium descriptio, Vigevano, Typographia Viglevanensi, 1808; G. Biroli, Georgica del Dipartimento dell’Agogna, Novara, Rasario, 1809. See also: E. Mazzella, “L’orto è il miglior libro in questa scienza”. Giovanni Biroli e l’orto botanico del Liceo Convitto di Novara, in “HECL – History of Education & Children’s Literature”, VII (2012), no. 1, pp. 445–464; E. Pagano, I professori di liceo nel primo Ottocento: nascita di una professione moderna, in E. Pagano, G. Vigo, Maestri e professori: profili della professione docente tra Antico Regime e Restaurazione, Milan, UNICOPLI, 2012, pp. 125–190, in particular p. 177; Bartoli, Giovanni Biroli e la sua famiglia, pp. 184–194. G. Biroli, Catalogus Plantarum Horti Botanici Novariensis ad annum 1810, Novara, Rasario, 1810. As regards rice, celeries, and peanuts, see, respectively: Biroli, Del riso; G. Biroli, “Lettera intorno alla coltivazione dei sedani novaresi”, AARI (1809), book III, pp. 9–19; G. Biroli, Del nocciuolo da terra (Arachis hypogaea L.) come succedaneo al cacao per la cioccolata, AARI, (1812), book XV, pp. 155–162. ASMi, Studi p.m., 955, dossier Biroli, undated table by the Director of Public Education. ASPv, U. Rettorato, 208, notice from the General Office of Public Education of the appointment of Giovanni Biroli with the request to “put him to work” as soon as he arrived, November 4, 1811. ASMi, Studi p.m., 955, dossier Biroli, the university rector to the General Direction of Public Education, October 21, 1814; draft, October 27, 1814. For the final decade of Biroli’s life, see Bartoli, Giovanni Biroli e la sua famiglia, pp. 201–204, 240–241. Brianta, La cattedra di agraria a Pavia, pp. 187–189. See also Almanacco per la Provincia di Pavia per l’anno 1837 , Pavia, Bizzoni, no year, pp. 128, 136, 170–172, 180–187. He obtained his license to practice on Ventôse 22, year IX (March 13, 1801): ASPv, U. Medicina, 375. When the College of Apothecaries (Collegio degli Speziali) was suppressed in Habsburg Lombardy

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105. 106.

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108. 109.

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in 1788, its functions were transferred to the Directory of the School of Medicine in Pavia and a new program was developed for pharmacists. In the seven-year course, they would study chemistry and spend two summers studying botany at the Gymnasium of Brera in Milan, as well as at least two years in Pavia or Mantua studying pharmaceutical principles. The final exam included questions on botany and chemistry applied to pharmacy. The 1803 program consisted of three years with botany, general chemistry, and pharmaceutical chemistry in the second and third years. Refer to G.G. Mellerio, Angelo Pavesi, Egidio Pollacci, Bernardo Oddo: origine della Facoltà di Farmacia, in Divulgatori di conoscenza, di idee e di metodi: i docenti dell’Università di Pavia raccontati attraverso le loro carte, ed. F. Zucca, A. Baretta, M.P. Milani, Milan, UNICOPLI, 2014, pp. 19–55, in particular pp. 19–20; G.G. Mellerio, Nihil est in intellectu quod non prius fuerit in sensu. La chimica a Pavia nella prima metà dell’Ottocento, in Almum Studium Papiense: storia dell’Università di Pavia, vol. II, book II, ed. D. Mantovani, Pavia-Milan, Cisalpino, 2017, pp. 873–876, especially pp. 873–874. On Moretti’s career in the Napoleonic Era see: Pagano, I professori di liceo, p. 182; P.A. Saccardo, Della storia e letteratura della flora veneta, Milan, Valentiner and Mues, 1869, p. 97; G. Veladini, Giuseppe Moretti, in Cenni necrologici intorno ad alcuni membri effettivi dell’I.R. Istituto Lomb. di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti, Milan, Bernardoni, 1857, pp. 31– 35; G. Moretti, Appendice all’elenco delle piante spontanee del Vicentino, GFCS, VIII (1815), no. 2, pp. 121–136. V. Giormani, Melandri Contessi Girolamo, in DBI, vol. LXXIII, 2009. Archivio del Museo per la Storia dell’Università di Pavia, Università, Personaggi: Giuseppe Moretti, document starting with “Appendice alla tabella…” See also G. Moretti, Sulla scoperta di un nuovo acido vegetabile, “Giornale di Passariano”, May 26, 1808, no. 21, pp. 84–85. Among other periodicals, Moretti’s experiments on indigo, acids, and explosives were reported in GFCS, X (1827), pp. 325–326. About the true indigo and its cultivation in Central America see: E. Thompson Vicente, Pigmento azul a partir de productos de la naturaleza, “Revista de las artes”, LXXIV (2014), no. 1, pp. 91–104, especially pp. 98–100. M.L. Fagnani, Italian “economic botanists” and State-science cooperation (late eighteenth-early nineteenth century), “Storia economica”, XXIII (2020), no. 2, pp. 357–382 (pp. 369–371 and related bibliography for Mazzucato’s profile as botanist). ASPv, U. Matematica, 152, list of exam questions for 1816 and 1817. See also Brianta, La cattedra di agraria a Pavia, p. 187. L. Maffi, Natura docens: vignaioli e sviluppo economico dell’Oltrepò pavese nel XIX secolo, Milan, FrancoAngeli, 2012; M. Vaquero Piñeiro, “Empirici” e “istruiti”. Fattori e periti agrari in Italia tra XIX e

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110.

111.

112.

113.

XX secolo, in Gli agronomi in Lombardia: dalle cattedre ambulanti ad oggi, ed. O. Failla, G. Fumi, Milan, FrancoAngeli, 2006, pp. 84–104; G. Forni, La formazione scientifico-culturale dell’agronomo da fine’700 al’900. Un’analisi critica, and C. Fumian, I congressi degli scienziati e la cultura agronomica, both in Agricoltura come manifattura. Istruzione agraria, professionalizzazione e sviluppo agricolo nell’Ottocento, vol. I, ed. G. Biagioli, R. Pazzagli, Florence, Olschki, 2004, respectively pp. 157– 169, pp. 203–251; M.L. Betri, Gli agronomi dell’Ottocento: dall’arte alla professione, in Storia delle professioni in Italia tra Ottocento e Novecento, ed. A. Varni, Bologna, il Mulino, 2002, pp. 173–184; J.A. Davis, Economy, society, and the state, in Italy and the Nineteenth Century, ed. J.A. Davis, Oxford-New York, Oxford University Press, 2000, pp. 235–263. A detailed description of the didactics at the Collegio Zooiatrico is written in Della Scuola di veterinaria, ossia del Collegio Zooiatrico di Padova, in Nuovo dizionario universale di agricoltura, vol. XV, ed. F. Gera, Venice, Antonelli, 1841, pp. 20–26. See also: E. Pastore, Origine, vicende ed attualità della Scuola di veterinaria padovana, in L’agricoltura veneta dalla tradizione alla sperimentazione attraverso le scuole e le istituzioni agrarie padovane, ed. P.G. Zanetti, Padua, CLEUP, 1996, pp. 247–286; A. Veggetti, B. Cozzi, La Scuola di medicina veterinaria dell’Università di Padova, Trieste, LINT, 1996, pp. 9–92. A. Veggetti, Orus Giuseppe, in DBI, vol. LXXIX, 2003. See also Biblioteca dell’Orto Botanico di Parma, Corrispondenza Guatteri, 1, letters by Giovanni Marsili, director of the Padua Botanical Garden, to Giambattista Guatteri, director of the Parma Botanical Garden, Padua, April 26, 1783, and May 21, 1791. G.F. Bianchini, Osservazioni intorno alla medicina veterinaria del Friuli, scritte in una lettera al signor Antonio Zanon, in Memorie ed osservazioni pubblicate dalla Società d’Agricoltura Pratica d’Udine e raccolte nell’anno MDCCLXXI , vol. I, Fratelli Gallici, 1772, pp. 193–205; A. Zanon, Saggio di storia della medicina veterinaria, Venice, Fenzo, 1770, pp. 76–85. On the studies of the Société de Médicine of Paris see: AHN, Estado, legajo 2927, exp. 309, “Informe al Consejo de Castilla sobre veterinaria”; G. Malacarne, Della peste de’ buoi, Padua, Tipografia del Seminario, 1816, p. 40. On veterinary teaching in Piedmont see: M. Ferro, La scuola veterinaria subalpina: modelli istituzionali e professione tra la fine dell’Antico Regime e l’età napoleonica, in Studenti e dottori nelle università italiane (origini – XX secolo), ed. G.P. Brizzi, A. Romano, Bologna, CLUEB, 2000, pp. 291–309, specifically pp. 293–294; G. Armocida, B. Cozzi, La medicina degli animali a Milano: i duecento anni di vita della Scuola Veterinaria (1791–1991), Milan, SIPIEL, 1992, p. 24.

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114. J.M. Pérez García, Segismundo Malats Codina, in DBE, vol. XXXI, 2012; A. Salvador Velasco, Madrid y Córdoba, sedes de las primeras escuelas de veterinaria en España, in Libro de ponencias y comunicaciones del XVI Congreso nacional y VII hiberoamericano de historia de la veterinaria, Córdoba, Diputación Provincial, 2010, pp. 325–330; J. Gómez Piquer, J.M. Pérez García, Crónica de 150 años de estudios veterinarios en Aragón (1847–1997), Zaragoza, Institución Fernando el Católico, 2000, pp. 30– 35. 115. AHN, Estado, legajo 2927, exp. 309, Domingo Codina to Manuel Godoy, Madrid, May 27 and December 21, 1795. See also M. Benito Hernández, Bernardo Rodríguez, in DBE, Madrid, https://dbe.rah.es/ biografias/60630/bernardo-rodriguez 116. AHN, Estado, legajo 2927, exp. 309, Alonso de Rus García to Manuel Godoy, Madrid, May 21, 1795. See also the advertencia at the beginning of S. Malats, Oración que el día 18 de octubre de 1793, en que se abrió la Real Escuela de veterinaria de Madrid, leyó con este motivo, Madrid, Benito Cano, 1793. 117. ANV, As: Atti amministrativi, 1774, letter from three Mantuan students, Lyon, August 2, 1774, with their admission paper to the veterinary school annexed, September 25, 1773; C.a., 30, 2, meeting of October 26, 1790. On the expenses for the project, see ASMi, Studi p.a., 4, one attached B with the words “che contiene assegnamenti fatti in più volte da S. Maestà alla R. Accademia scientifica”, but also two letters written by prefect Carlo Ottavio of Colloredo, February 1773 and November 1778. See also Armocida, Cozzi, La medicina degli animali, pp. 26–40. 118. ASMi, Studi p.a., 11, a, letter written by secretary Giovan Girolamo Carli, Mantua, June 9, 1783; ANV, As, Cataloghi degli accademici, 5, 1, 1781, and 5, 2, 1787; L.a., 8, letter of thanks from Claude Bourgelat, without date. 119. Armocida, Cozzi, La medicina degli animali, pp. 29–42. 120. BLREP, (1802), pp. 297–298. See also: M. Mari, I. Ansaloni, La Scuola e il Museo di Veterinaria a Modena, “Atti della Società dei Naturalisti e Matematici di Modena”, CIL (2018), pp. 249–278; A. Ferraresi, La Scuola militare di Modena: un modello di formazione professionale, “Società e Storia”, (2009), no. 124, pp. 325–330; A. Ferraresi, Formazione professionale civile e militare tra Repubblica e Regno d’Italia. Il caso di Pavia, in La formazione del primo Stato italiano e Milano capitale 1802–1814, ed. A. Robbiati Bianchi, Milan, LED, 2007, pp. 733–832; E. Pigni, La Guardia di Napoleone re d’Italia, Milan, Vita e Pensiero, 2011, pp. 98–100; G. Rochat, La Scuola militare di Pavia (1805–1816), “Bollettino della Società pavese di storia patria”, XVIII (1966), pp. 175–248.

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121. In this regard see L.M. Misley, Descrizione e cura della malattia serpeggiante sui majali nel Dipartimento del Panaro, Modena, Società Tipografica, 1805. Discussing diseases that affected pigs in the Department of the Panaro, Professor Misley highlighted that these animals “formed one of the main branches of our commerce” (p. iii). 122. Armocida, Cozzi, La medicina degli animali, pp. 44–79. 123. Veggetti, Cozzi, La Scuola di medicina veterinaria, pp. 83–131; Pastore, Origine, vicende ed attualità, pp. 273–274. 124. For some debates held at the Academy of Mantua on elementary education for poor children both in town and in the countryside see ANV, As: D.a. Educazione, 43; D.a. Belle lettere, 47/20; Piani, statuti, leggi, 1, 18. About the role of the clergy in eighteenth-century Habsburg educational plans see: M. Morandi, “Per religiosità di cristiani principi”. Parroci maestri d’agricoltura nel primo Ottocento italiano, in Formare alle professioni. I saperi della cascina, ed. M. Ferrari, G. Fumi, M. Morandi, Milan, FrancoAngeli, 2016, pp. 160–171; X. Toscani, Ruoli del clero, canali e strumenti di apprendimento nella Lombardia dei secoli XVI-XIX, in Formare alle professioni. Sacerdoti, principi, educatori, ed. E. Becchi, M. Ferrari, Milan, FrancoAngeli, 2009, pp. 70–118, in particular pp. 95– 102. More in general on the evolution of elementary education in northern Italy in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries see: M. Piseri, La legislazione per l’istruzione primaria nella Lombardia tra Sette e Ottocento, and G. Vigo, L’istruzione primaria nell’età napoleonica. Problemi, statistiche, interpretazioni, both in L’istruzione in Italia tra Sette e Ottocento: Lombardia, Veneto e Umbria, vol. I, ed. A. Bianchi, Brescia, La Scuola, 2007, respectively pp. 83–111 and pp. 115–150. 125. M. Roggero, L’alfabeto conquistato: apprendere e insegnare nell’Italia tra Sette e Ottocento, Bologna, il Mulino, 1999, pp. 115, 130–131, my translation. Principles of agronomy in Habsburg primary education are referred to also in M.T. Cigolini, L’istruzione primaria in Lombardia nell’età delle riforme, in Economia, istituzioni, cultura in Lombardia nell’età di Maria Teresa, ed. A. De Maddalena, E. Rotelli, G. Barbarisi, vol. III, Bologna, il Mulino, 1982, pp. 1025–1037. 126. ASMi, Studi p.m., 431, copy of a letter by Baldassarre Rasponi, bishop of Udine, to Giovanni Mazzucato, professor of botany and agriculture at the Liceo of Udine, no date; copy of a letter by Rasponi to the rector of the Seminar of Udine, December 6, 1809. 127. The text of the Istruzioni is reproduced in S. Bucci, La scuola italiana nell’età napoleonica. Il sistema educativo e scolastico francese nel Regno d’Italia, Rome, Bulzoni, 1976, pp. 283–289. 128. For northern Italy, some examples have been recently analyzed in: L. Maffi, M.L. Fagnani, Teaching in rural communities of the Po Valley, 1861–1900: an idea of agricultural education described by agrarian

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bulletins, “Historia Agraria”, (2022), no. 86, pp. 139–169; O. Mazzotti, M. Fornasari, Agricultural education and Italian primary school teachers: the Romagna in the late nineteenth century, “Modern Italy”, XXVI (2021), no. 1, pp. 51–66.

CHAPTER 6

Conclusions

The contribution of northern Italian institutions and experts to European agricultural progress took place in a decisive period for the affirmation of science and technology as governmental instruments for economic development. Knowledge of the environment and its history, and how local populations relate to it are still very pertinent issues today; this book seeks to provide historical perspective on how this knowledge and these relationships have developed. What conclusions can we draw from our analysis of the development of agricultural science in northern Italy from the 1760s to the 1810s? What innovative aspects have our case studies brought to light? How did local epistemological dynamics align with the European development of this science? As regards the epistemological development of agricultural science, in the eighteenth century there was a general dependency on other technical fields and scientific disciplines, especially natural sciences. In most of the cases analyzed, we find naturalists applying their knowledge to the study of agriculture, animal husbandry, manufacturing, and the rural sphere generally. At first glance, there would not seem to be a conscious thrust toward what would later coalesce as a well-defined and autonomous discipline. In this sense, there was an evident contrast with the British sphere, where practitioners had a clear sense of the specific scientific and © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. L. Fagnani, The Development of Agricultural Science in Northern Italy in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Century, Italian and Italian American Studies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-20657-3_6

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technical field in which they were operating. Prominent figures in Great Britain were the agriculturists Jethro Tull, Thomas Hale, Charles Townshend, and Arthur Young, complemented by Robert Bakewell, a pioneer of artificial selection in livestock.1 However, on closer analysis we realize that the northern Italian contribution to the development of eighteenth-century agricultural science was much more intentional than might seem. Pietro and Giovanni Arduino, for example, had backgrounds in natural sciences—botany and geology, respectively. However, from a certain point on, their careers were devoted to agricultural progress in the Republic of Venice. Pietro was the founder of the Padua chair of agricultural science and consultant for the Venetian authorities in matters concerning crops, forestry, and animal husbandry; Giovanni became the public face of the first “national” agricultural research support plan ever implemented by an Italian State. Habsburg Lombardy also had its representatives of this epistemological autonomy. The two agricultural inspectors Eraclio Landi and Angelo Gualandris were state officials in charge of agricultural progress and had sufficient stature to be granted a certain authority in the two parts of Habsburg Lombardy: the Duchy of Milan and the Duchy of Mantua, respectively. As I have highlighted, they were not limited in their roles to passive supervision of Lombard agriculture but spearheaded experimental acclimatization projects, collaborated with landowners and farmers, participated in the debates of important institutions such as the Patriotic Society of Milan and the Agricultural Colony of Mantua, wrote technical texts, and cultivated contacts with the international scientific community. Little is known of the training of the Sienese friar Eraclio Landi.2 However, it is known that Angelo Gualandris studied medicine at the university and was interested in the complex world of the natural sciences. However, his scientific and professional career in the Mantua area was concentrated above all on agricultural studies. Prior to that, while in the service of the Republic of Venice, his interest in geology, mineralogy, and metallurgy had been complemented by his role as deputy secretary of the Agricultural Academy of Padua.3 Therefore, the two inspectors belonged to a community of highly qualified experts with a good awareness of their field of action. In France, the ennobling of agricultural science took place through its inclusion in important scientific institutions such as the Agricultural Society of Paris already during the Old Regime and in the National

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Institute and the National Museum of Natural History starting in the Revolutionary years.4 In early nineteenth-century northern Italy under Napoleonic rule, this process was strengthened in institutions that already boasted a solid tradition of agricultural studies in previous decades, such as the aforementioned chair of agriculture at the University of Padua founded in the 1760s and the Agricultural Society of Turin founded in 1785.5 The Italian Republic (1802–1805) and the Kingdom of Italy (1805– 1814) promoted more extensive and homogeneous development, in which the creation or in some cases re-creation of agricultural societies, chairs of agricultural science, and experimental gardens accelerated the epistemological development begun in the eighteenth century.6 An exception was the Academy of Mantua, which witnessed a slowdown in this process during the Napoleonic Era, as analyzed in Chapter 2 and Chapter 4, when the newly imposed State authority clashed with the characteristic autonomy of the Mantuan institution and implemented decisions (first of all the requisition of the experimental fields near Palazzo Te and Villa La Favorita) that significantly compromised agricultural experimentation. Napoleonic regulation was of the utmost importance in giving a new impetus to the development of agricultural science. The National University Curricular Plans implemented on October 31, 1803 introduced the chair of agricultural science with an associated garden at national universities. At the University of Pavia, the chair was created in 1804 and the garden between 1806 and 1807. Professors Giuseppe Bayle Barelle and Giovanni Biroli and their various assistants provided seminal research and teaching during the Napoleonic Era, with Professor Giuseppe Moretti continuing the effort during the years of the Restoration. They consecrated the introduction of agricultural science as an autonomous discipline at the University of Pavia with its own specialized faculty, facilities, and curriculum. As demonstrated by our study of contacts with colleagues in other centers of science and Napoleonic legislation, this was not an isolated, exemplary case—unlike the chair of agriculture and associated garden at the University of Padua in the 1760s. Bayle Barelle, Biroli, and their assistants operated in a much broader and more cosmopolitan playing field. Despite the partial fragmentation of Italy occurring during the Restoration and lasting up to the process of unification in the second half of the nineteenth century, this project for an agricultural science network sought to maintain a supranational vision. The documentation

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also attests to pre-existing contacts between Domenico Nocca, professor of botany in Mantua and Pavia, and Antonio José Cavanilles, professor and director at the Madrid Botanical Garden. Nocca’s role as a sort of mentor to Giuseppe Bayle Barelle and Giovanni Biroli and his contributions as a consultant to Habsburg and Napoleonic authorities on economic issues (e.g., the use of vegetal fibers in textile manufacturing and the circulation of sugar plants) are emblematic of the importance of botany in constructing agricultural science in Pavia.7 The agriculturists active in Pavia could be divided into two groups. To the first belong those who were still defining themselves as experts in agricultural science: Bayle Barelle with his assistants Carlo Bignami, Carlo Bellardi, and Giuseppe Bergamaschi. Despite the great differences in their technical and scientific training, the four men were united by a type of research activity (wheat hybridization, cereal phytopathology, peanuts as oil source, woad as a dye source) in which the agricultural sector was still struggling to gain greater autonomy and definition, with uncertain dynamics influenced by Bayle Barelle’s unconventional and ongoing training during his tenure in Pavia (1804–1811). However, Bayle Barelle had the important merit of building the university agricultural research space: the San Giacomo Agricultural Garden. The analysis in Chapter 4 of the dense correspondence between prominent figures at the University of Pavia, the various government offices in Milan, and Bayle Barelle himself has allowed us to reconstruct the difficult process of choosing a suitable place in which to install the agricultural garden, the scientific and practical requisites that had to be met and the reasons some options were unsuitable. The next step was to organize how species would be subdivided in the garden and what sort of experiments would be conducted, and also how this all would dovetail with the content of lessons. The study of Bayle Barelle’s letters to André Thouin, a central figure at the Paris Botanical Garden, the analysis of the scientific articles published through the Napoleonic Era, and the careful examination of the catalog of the Pavia Agricultural Garden published in 1809 have made it possible to reconstruct the research activity carried out by Bayle Barelle and his team in Pavia up to 1811, concentrated above all on the cultivation of the peanut as an oil source, the enhancement of cereal cultivation through hybridization attempts and phytopathology studies, and the processing of woad as a source of dye. The Pavia Agricultural Garden was an active experimental center since its creation, but it was also a good point of

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reference for the Paris Botanical Garden, from which in 1808 Thouin asked for samples of the wheat species used in hybridization experiments by Bayle Barelle.8 The second group of agricultural experts was composed of Giovanni Biroli and Giuseppe Moretti. Despite their different scientific and professional backgrounds, the two had many points in common. Before teaching agriculture in Pavia (1811–1814), Biroli had gained experience in the subject at the Liceo of Novara; moreover, he had deepened his knowledge of agricultural practices in eastern Piedmont and in the Lomellina area thanks to his work as medical officer, his active role in the Agricultural Society of the Department of the Agogna, and his experiments on economic plants such as peanuts, chufa sedges, and dye plants.9 Moretti also came to the Pavia professorship (1815–1835) with a good knowledge of both agricultural science proper and applied botany. He had taught chemistry, natural history, botany, and agriculture since 1807 at the Liceo of Udine, the Liceo of Vicenza, and the Liceo of Porta Nuova in Milan, as well as acting as a substitute teacher for Biroli at the University of Pavia. Thanks to botanical explorations conducted either alone or with colleagues, he had a good knowledge of the flora of Friuli and Veneto (Udine and Vicenza). He had also conducted chemical, botanical, and pharmaceutical experiments on various plant species, documented in an extensive series of publications.10 Therefore, both Biroli and Moretti more consciously identified themselves as agricultural scientists than the four in the first group, despite the fact that Biroli’s contribution to the Pavia Agricultural Garden was very small: he was a sort of a “transitional agriculturist” between Bayle Barelle in the first years of the institute and Moretti during the Restoration. In terms of professional profile, Biroli and Moretti, like Filippo Re, represented a clear further step toward the relatively well-defined agricultural science that developed in northern Italy in the following decades. However, it remained intermixed with the more “stateless” identity that had characterized the first group, as evidenced by continuous oscillations in the scientific and professional activity of Giuseppe Bergamaschi between agricultural science, botany, medicine, and veterinary medicine until at least the 1830s. Giovanni Biroli and Giuseppe Moretti, albeit more solidly grounded as agriculturists and having longer careers that their predecessors, as demonstrated in Chapter 5, nevertheless showed some oscillation between agriculture and botany. Biroli taught botany and

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directed the Botanical Garden at the University of Turin from the end of 1814 to 1817. From the mid-1820s to 1853, Moretti taught botany and directed the Botanical Garden at the University of Pavia.11 However, the teaching of agricultural science in Pavia was not without defects also in its maturity, during the Restoration. For instance, Neapolitan botanist Michele Tenore visited the Pavia Agricultural Garden in June 1824, met Moretti, and appreciated how well-organized the cultivations were and rich the wax-fruits collection was. He was more skeptic about the teaching methods, finding them too “academic” and too little practical. In particular, he thought that the Pavia Agricultural Garden and in general all the agricultural gardens of the peninsula (Italian peculiarity) were too different from Swiss, French, and British “experimental farms”, where students resided and lived the agricultural life day by day, with all its activities.12 As far as agricultural experimentation is concerned, two of the most innovative studies in this book are the roles in the international network of the Agricultural Colony of Mantua—and more generally the Academy of Sciences and Fine Letters of which it was part—in the second half of the eighteenth century and of the Pavia Agricultural Garden during the Napoleonic Era. Madrid was a very important counterpart in the material organization of the economic botany of Mantua, thanks to the connections of Casimiro Gómez Ortega and Antonio José Cavanilles with Angelo Gualandris, Domenico Nocca, and, to a lesser extent, Marchioness Maria Teresa Cristiani Castiglioni. During the Old Regime, Paris contributed to the transmission of seeds, scientific knowledge, and technical information to Mantua but had a greater influence on the Pavia Agricultural Garden in the Napoleonic Era, by virtue of the institutional importance of both the French capital and the Italian university. Furthermore, in both the eighteenth century and the Napoleonic Era, rural society contributed to progress in experimentation: landowners by being receptive to innovations in agriculture and manufacturing; priests, farmers, and peasants by providing practical feedback on the effects of introducing new crops. The active involvement of landowners in the experiments of the Agricultural Colony of Mantua (for example, silkworm breeding) and Bayle Barelle’s experiments near Pavia (for instance, the cultivation of peanuts) were important. Other examples include experiments on various crops led by Giuseppe Nuvolone Pergamo in Piedmont, on viticulture, winemaking, and manufacturing of bricks, lime, and ceramics by Fabio Asquini

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in Friuli, and on merino sheep breeding by Vincenzo Dandolo in his estate near the town of Varese, but also by some Piedmontese noble landowners taking part in the Pastoral Society of Chivasso . The opinions expressed by priests, farmers, and peasants, on the other hand, are much more difficult to ascertain, indirectly assessable mainly through the reports drawn up by experts and institutions on different occasions. For instance, there were the varied reactions by the inhabitants of Valsassina, a valley in the Lombard Alps, to the experiments with a new variety of barley carried out by agricultural inspector Eraclio Landi and the Patriotic Society of Milan. The supervision was assigned to a parish priest and a local landowner, who recorded a general appreciation on the part of the valley people to income from the barley, but disagreement as to whether to continue the experiments. One party wanted to keep barley growing and asked for additional seeds. The other party preferred maize, the cultivation of which required less time, resources, and effort.13 It would be interesting to note on a larger scale the rural community’s appreciation of Italian agricultural experiments and its influence on them in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Here, comparative research with other areas would be useful. For example, Peter Jones discussed the approach of French landowners and farmers to the scarcity of fodder in the late eighteenth century due to a concomitance of causes. Only a few regions reacted by experimenting with new artificial fodder crops; Jones notes that they were the same areas that guided French agricultural and industrial change in the nineteenth century. In many other locations, however, landowners and farmers remained fixed in pre-capitalist mindsets, scarcely forward-looking or inclined to invest in innovation.14 In addition to Jones’s observations, we may examine two other cases discussed in recent historiography that are pertinent in studying the active contribution of rural society to the acquisition of agronomic knowledge. One is a case studied by Joseph Bettey of the farmer and land agent George Boswell, who lived in South Dorset in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. With a sound but non-specialized education, Boswell became a renowned expert in water meadows and other cultivation methods thanks to his observation skills, direct experience, and ability to stay abreast of developments. He was known throughout England, to the point where he was consulted by agronomists such as Young and Bakewell and by the politician Sir John Sinclair from London.15

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Another example is the Bavarian farmer Michael Irlbeck, studied by Verena Lehmbrock. Irlbeck had not received a university education and was not a particularly wealthy landowner. He owned a modestly sized, well-run farm where he experimented in improved management techniques starting in the early nineteenth century. He contributed through his writings to the agricultural knowledge network, promoting the sort of direct experience he and other Bavarian farmers had gained against the theories of the intellectual elite.16 Regarding the circulation of knowledge, printed materials on agricultural science in northern Italy were many and varied. The analysis of agriculturists’ opinions expressed in books and periodicals and the study of the role that scientific, technical, and economic texts played in the agriculturists’ training, research, or teaching show that a critical spirit was developing in parallel with these tools of knowledge. The agriculturists often went from being readers to being authors and helped to produce a market for agricultural science publications that demanded up-to-date content accounting for progress made in every corner of Europe both in the eighteenth century and in the Napoleonic Era. This characterizes the texts available to the Academy of Sciences and Fine Letters of Mantua, to Giuseppe Bayle Barelle during his rather personalized studies in the 1780s and 1790s, and to the scientific and intellectual network organized by Filippo Re under Napoleonic rule. In eighteenth-century Italy, periodicals specialized in agricultural topics were few. Two good examples were edited and published in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany: the Veglie (1767–1769), based on a project by the Canon Regular of the Lateran and agriculturist Ubaldo Montelatici; and the Magazzino toscano (1770–1782), founded by the physician and botanist Saverio Manetti. Both Montelatici and Manetti were among the founders of the Academy of Georgofili in Florence.17 Countries such as England and France, whose agricultural literature was taken as a model for other parts of Europe, also produced important periodicals in this field. For example, in England, Arthur Young was the editor of the Annals of Agriculture and Other Useful Arts, started in 1784 and renowned throughout Europe. In France, there were La feuille du cultivateur, published in Paris from 1790 to 1805, and the Journal d’agriculture à l’usage des habitans de la campagne, edited by agriculturist Henri-Alexandre Tessier and published in 1791 and 1792.18 While these relatively early examples did exist, wide circulation of periodicals specialized in agricultural subjects did not begin until the second

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half of the 1790s with Tessier’s Annales de l’agriculture française in France, the Semanario de agricultura y artes in Spain, and the Biblioteca di campagna, the Giornale d’agricoltura, and the Annali dell’agricoltura in the Kingdom of Italy.19 Moreover, both in the late eighteenth and in the early nineteenth century, there were many European periodicals dedicated to science and technology that gave ample but not exclusive space to agricultural topics. They included the Giornale d’Italia, printed in Venice (of paramount importance to agriculturists in the Republic of Venice, as discussed in Chapter 2), the Opuscoli scelti, printed in Habsburg Milan, the Anales de ciencias naturales of Madrid, and the Annales des arts et manufactures of Napoleonic Paris (Table 6.1). Agricultural teaching in northern Italy was not uniform in all schools, nor as well-balanced as efforts in research, experimentation, and publication. Little space was devoted to agricultural issues in primary schools. The tendency of Italian authorities and intellectuals was to consider it the purview of parish priests (possibly backed by academies and learned societies), who had to explain agricultural notions in a simple way based on pamphlets, “agricultural catechisms”, and booklets written by experts.20 Italian authorities did not create an official, well-structured, and homogeneous primary education system either in the eighteenth century or during the Napoleonic Era. Even in culturally advanced Habsburg Lombardy, while some primary education for rural children was offered, the trend was similar to the above and did not produce a good level of basic agricultural education.21 As regards technical education (the equivalent of today’s vocational education), the second half of the eighteenth century and the Napoleonic Era witnessed some good programs, but they were rather patchy. One instance was training in beekeeping promoted in Brescia by the local Liceo and the Academy of Sciences, Fine Letters, Agriculture and Arts. Another good example is Lorenzo Pellegretti’s project for an agricultural school in Castiglione delle Stiviere, near Mantua, which was ultimately rejected by the authorities of the Cisalpine Republic (discussed in Chapter 5).22 There were interesting developments, on the other hand, in agriculture as a subject in secondary and higher education, but it was not homogeneous across all northern Italian States. From the 1760s until the end of the century, the chair of agriculture and its garden at the University of Padua stood out in northern Italy. In the early nineteenth century, the Italian Republic and the Kingdom of Italy established an important

1764–1776 1776–1784; 1789–1797 1767–1769 1770–1782 1775–1777 1778–1803 1784–1815 1790–1805 1790–1805 1791 1791–1814, 1820–1839 1791–1792 1794–1823 1797–1873 1797–1808 1799–1800 1801–1804

Venice Venice Florence Florence Milan Milan Bury St Edmunds Pavia Paris Turin Turin Paris Paris Paris Madrid Madrid Madrid

Giornale d’Italia spettante alla scienza naturale e principalmente all’agricoltura, alle arti ed al commercio Nuovo Giornale d’Italia spettante alla scienza naturale e principalmente all’agricoltura, alle arti ed al commercio Veglie appartenenti all’economia della villa Magazzino toscano Scelta di opuscoli interessanti Opuscoli scelti sulle scienze e sulle arti Annals of Agriculture and Other Useful Arts Annali di chimica ovvero raccolta di memorie sulle scienze, arti, e manifatture ad essa relative La feuille du cultivateur Annali di economia rurale, civile e domestica Calendario georgico della Società agraria di Torino Journal d’agriculture à l’usage des habitants de la campagne Journal de physique, de chimie, d’histoire naturelle et des arts Annales de l’agriculture française Semanario de agricultura y artes dirigido a los párrocos Anales de historia natural Anales de ciencias naturales

Years of publication

Place

Title

Table 6.1 The most important periodicals dedicated partially or wholly to agricultural science and experimentation, with place and years of publication

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1808–1812 1813–1827 1809–1814

Pavia Pavia and Milan Milan

Sources Biblioteca Digital—Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid (https://bibdigital.rjb.csic.es), Gallica—Bibliothèque Nationale de France (https://gal lica.bnf.fr/accueil/it/content/accueil-it?mode=desktop), Hathi Trust—Digital Library (https://www.hathitrust.org), OPAC SBN—Catalogo del Servizio Bibliotecario Nazionale (https://opac.sbn.it/web/opacsbn)

1804–1809 1806–1815 1807–1808 1808–1809

Milan and Naples Paris Milan Milan

Biblioteca di campagna Annales des arts et manufactures Giornale d’agricoltura Giornale della Società d’incoraggiamento delle scienze e delle arti stabilita in Milano Giornale di fisica, chimica e storia naturale Giornale di fisica, chimica, storia naturale, medicina, ed arti Annali dell’agricoltura del Regno d’Italia

Years of publication

Place

Title

6 CONCLUSIONS

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milestone with the departmental licei and the three national universities (two others in addition to the University of Padua) providing courses in agricultural science with dedicated gardens, laboratories, libraries, and appropriately trained personnel. In this regard, the little studied case of agricultural teaching at the University of Pavia—now analyzed in some depth in Chapter 4 and Chapter 5—adds a new tessera to the historiography on this topic, hitherto predominantly focused on the universities of Bologna and Padua due to the broader repute of Filippo Re and the Arduino family. The Pavia chair of agricultural science, on the other hand, was marked by a series of difficulties due to the fact that it was an institution created almost from scratch and had little available land suitable for the development of an agricultural garden. The organization of lessons, spaces, and materials was entrusted to Giuseppe Bayle Barelle, who as an agriculturist was still in training at the time. His successors Giovanni Biroli and Giuseppe Moretti, on the other hand, already represented a more established agricultural science. The analyzed documentation has allowed us to outline the genesis of agricultural science as an autonomous discipline and provide a micro-historical and epistemological analysis of a process of international scope.23 This book also studies the individuals whom Steven Shapin called “invisible technicians”.24 Alongside the agriculturists who coordinated experiments and published results, there was a large number of more or less specialized technicians who carried out the practical parts of those experiments. Chemical experts, land surveyors, gardeners, peasants, and farmworkers were employed, for instance, in the sowing, harvesting, and shelling of peanuts for Bayle Barelle’s experiments. We also sense the presence of an unseen team behind Giovanni Mazzucato’s coordination of date-plum berry picking and the subsequent and difficult process of sugar extraction. Similar invisible assistants and workers existed in the eighteenth century, but they are more easily discerned in the Napoleonic-Era documentation thanks to the greater analytical detail in journal reports of the experimentation process. Despite this development, some experts still remained rather unwilling to share the glory of their experiments with their assistants and subordinates. This attitude seems to emerge in Mazzucato’s article on date-plum sugar analyzed in Chapter 4, where labor is taken for granted and it almost seems that the elaborate process of extracting sugar from date-plums was done by Mazzucato alone.

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Another topic is the role of explorative journeys in agricultural science. Significant examples include Luigi Castiglioni’s journey through North America, Gualandris’s travels through Europe and his investigations in the countryside of the Duchy of Mantua, Cavanilles’s exploration of the Valencia area in Spain, Nocca’s of Mount Baldo (and also the Pavia and Oltrepò areas, not analyzed in this book), and Biroli’s of the Lomellina area and eastern Piedmont.25 Travels and explorations were important elements in the training of early modern naturalists, such as botanists, geologists, and zoologists who cut their teeth studying rural areas, forests, valleys, coasts, and mountain ranges as a complement to their in-depth studies in the best scientific centers in Europe.26 Itinerant education became an important component in the refinement of agriculturists too. The English were the first to adopt the practice, as in the cases of Jethro Tull, Arthur Young, and Robert Bakewell, who traveled extensively both to build their identity as experts and to increase the breadth of their research.27 François-Hilaire Gilbert’s voyage to Spain at the turn of the nineteenth century represents a different kind of travel: in this case, it was promoted by the State and of direct value for the French economy, involving gathering information on crops, livestock, and manufacturing. If Gilbert had not died during his Spanish mission, he would have significantly increased his agricultural knowledge.28 Traveling continued to be important in the careers of more epistemologically affirmed agriculturists and agronomists through the first half of the nineteenth century, as in the cases of Anton von Wittman-Dengláz, Fréderic Lullin de Châteauvieux, and Johann Burger, who explored the northern Italian countryside on different occasions and with different purposes.29 The development of agricultural science in northern Italy in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries offers numerous stimuli for further investigation and new debate with other historians interested in these research topics. This book highlights the contribution of northern Italian institutions and experts to European agricultural science in a decisive period in the affirmation of science and technology as valid governmental instruments for economic development. At the same time, the scholarly community and the authorities in northern Italy and other areas of the peninsula improved their knowledge on the living conditions of rural society. Despite the importance of this institutional network and its newly gained knowledge in the definition of agricultural science, there was very little State involvement in agriculture prior to the 1880s, and

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major changes in the Italian agricultural sector and rural society would not emerge until late in the nineteenth century.30 Nonetheless, recent literature has identified “alternative” actors and dynamics that made it possible to leverage scientific and technological progress to achieve real agricultural innovation. For instance, Luciano Maffi has studied the evolution of viticulture and winemaking in some areas of northern Italy in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, highlighting the introduction of scientific and technical innovations into a traditional context, the interaction between local and supralocal actors, and engagement with an international commercial network.31 Silvia Conca Messina and Catia Brilli have highlighted the active role of nobility in the agricultural progress in northern Italy through the nineteenth century: an entrepreneurial mindset and openness to technological innovation were key elements in all but a few exceptional cases.32 Knowledge of the natural world and its history and how this knowledge affects the way local populations relate to their environment are very pertinent questions today. This book provides a valuable contribution by examining them through a historical lens. Faced as our planet is by dwindling resources and the negative effects of shortsighted environmental stewardship, an understanding of the effects and implications of chosen agricultural practices is increasingly critical. States, organizations, and the scientific community are addressing these issues with growing urgency, seeking to find sustainable, broad-scale responses. It is my hope that, by looking back over some of the paths we have taken, we can better comprehend the alternatives available to us.

Notes 1. L. Frey, M. Frey, Townshend, Charles, second Viscount Townshend (1674–1738), in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, online ed., Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2004, https://doi.org/10.1093/ref: odnb/27617; L. Brunt, Rehabilitating Arthur Young, “Economy History Review”, LVI (2003), n. 2, pp. 265–299; A. Patterson, Robert Bakewell, in Biographical Dictionary of the History of Technology, ed. L. Day, I. McNeil, London-New York, Routledge, 1996, pp. 67–68; A.J. Bourde, The Influence of England on the French Agronomes, 1750–1789, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1953, pp. 40–52, 65–66. 2. A. Visconti, Il trasferimento delle piante nella Lombardia austriaca negli ultimi decenni della dominazione asburgica, “Altre modernità” (2013), no. 10–11, pp. 39–51; A. Visconti, Paesaggi di Lombardia: il caso

6

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4.

5.

6.

7.

8. 9.

10.

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dell’ulivo tra ambienti naturali e tecniche manifatturiere (1772–1796), in Oltre il giardino: le architetture vegetali e il paesaggio, ed. G. Guerci, L. Pelissetti, L. Scazzosi, Florence, Olschki, 2003, pp. 167–174. For a report of his journey through Europe see A. Gualandris, Lettere odeporiche, Venice, Pasquali, 1780. For the scientific context of his journey refer mainly to F. Baraldi, Gli studi geologici di Angelo Gualandris nelle opere pubblicate e nei documenti inediti conservati nell’Archivio storico dell’Accademia Nazionale Virgiliana di Mantova, in N. Azzi, F. Baraldi, E. Camerlenghi, Angelo Gualandris (1750–1788): Uno scienziato illuminista nella società mantovana di fine Settecento, Mantua, Accademia Nazionale Virgiliana di Scienze Lettere e Arti, 2018, pp. 9–77. E.C. Spary, Utopia’s Garden: French Natural History from Old Regime to Revolution, Chicago-London, The University of Chicago Press, 2000; C.C. Gillispie, Science and Polity in France: the End of the Old Regime, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1980; C.C. Gillispie, Science and technology, in The New Cambridge Modern History, vol. IX, ed. C.W. Crawley, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1965, pp. 118–145. P.G. Zanetti, L’orto agrario di Padova e l’agricoltura nuova, “Rivista di storia dell’agricoltura”, XXXVI (1996), no. 1, pp. 5–67; R. Allìo, La Società agraria di Torino (1785–1843), in L’agricoltura nel Piemonte dell’800, ed. P. Caroli, P. Corti, C. Pischedda, Turin, Centro Studi Piemontesi, 1991, pp. 73–82. D. Brianta, I luoghi del sapere agronomico: Accademie, società di agricoltura e di arti meccaniche, orti agrari, atenei (1802–1814), in Istituzioni e cultura in età napoleonica, ed. E. Brambilla, C. Capra, A. Scotti , Milan, FrancoAngeli, 2008, pp. 62–156. In this regard, see Chapter 3 in particular. The correspondence between Giovanni Biroli and Domenico Nocca is kept in BUPv, Autografi, 3, dossier Giovanni Biroli. BCMHN, MS 1971, 152, letters by Giuseppe Bayle Barelle to André Thouin, Pavia, November 29, 1807, and July 20, 1808. S. Bartoli, Giovanni Biroli, medico e botanico nella Novara napoleonica, Novara, Consorzio Mutue, 2012. See also M.L. Fagnani, Studying “useful plants” from Maria Theresa to Napoleon: Continuity and invisibility in agricultural science, northern Italy, the late eighteenth to early nineteenth century, “History of Science”, LIX (2021), no. 4, pp. 373–406, specifically p. 401. M.L. Fagnani, L’agraria “italiana” prima e dopo Napoleone: percorsi formativi di una scienza, “Società e Storia”, (2020), no. 169, pp. 457– 491, in particular pp. 482–483. On Moretti’s and Biroli’s careers as botanical directors, in addition to the bibliography referenced above and in Chapter 5, see also: G. Veladini,

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13. 14. 15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

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Giuseppe Moretti, in Cenni necrologici intorno ad alcuni membri effettivi dell’I.R. Istituto Lomb. di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti, Milan, Bernardoni, 1857, pp. 31–35; ARJB, DIV. I 56, 3–13 and 14, letters by Giovanni Biroli to Mariano Lagasca, director of the Madrid Botanical Garden, Turin, January 15 and April 12 1817, which demonstrate the exchange of seeds and probably texts between the gardens of the two capitals. M. Tenore, Viaggio per diverse parti d’Italia, Svizzera, Francia, Inghilterra e Germania, vol. I, Naples, Stamperia Francese, 1828, pp. 254–256. Visconti, Il trasferimento delle piante, pp. 42–44. P.M. Jones, The Peasantry in the French Revolution, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1988, p. 257. J. Bettey, George Boswell of Puddletown (1735–1815): progressive farmer and author, “Agricultural History Review”, LVII (2009), no. 1, pp. 58– 69. See also P.M. Jones, Agricultural Enlightenment: Knowledge, Technology and Nature, 1750–1840, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2016, p. 99. V. Lehmbrock, Peasant Eyes: A Critique of the Agricultural Enlightenment, in Agricultural Knowledge Networks in Rural Europe, 1700–2000, ed. Y. Segers, L. Van Molle, Woodbridge, The Boydell Press, 2022, pp. 50–74. P. Nanni, Campagne e agricoltura attraverso il “Magazzino toscano” (1770–1782), “Rivista di storia dell’agricoltura”, L (2010), no. 2, pp. 167–183; M. Simonetto, Accademie agrarie italiane del XVIII secolo. Profili storici, dimensione sociale (I), “Società e Storia”, (2009), no. 124, pp. 261–302, in particular pp. 268–270; G. Fumi, Ubaldo Montelatici (nota introduttiva), in Scritti teorici e tecnici di agricoltura, vol. II, ed. S. Zaninelli, Milan, Il Polifilo, 1989, pp. 23–29; F. Venturi, Settecento riformatore, vol. V, book I, Turin, Einaudi, 1987, pp. 405–408. Jones, Agricultural Enlightenment, pp. 165–167; J. Shovlin, The Political Economy of Virtue: Luxury, Patriotism, and the Origins of the French Revolution, Ithaca-London, Cornell University Press, 2006, p. 160; M.-Th. Isaac, C. Sorgeloos, L’école centrale du département de Jemappes, 1797 – 1802: enseignement, livres et lumières à Mons, Brussels, Bibliothèque royale du Belgique, 2004, p. 153. F. Reynaud, L’élevage bovin de l’agronome au paysan (1700–1850), Rennes, Presses universitaires de Rennes, 2010, p. 91; Brianta, I luoghi del sapere agronomico, pp. 113–114; M. Fissell, R. Cooter, Exploring Natural Knowledge: Science and the Popular, in The Cambridge History of Science, vol. IV, ed. R. Porter, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2003, pp. 129–158, in particular p. 143; E. Larriba, G. Dufour (eds.), El Semanario de agricultura y artes dirigido a los párrocos (1797 –1808), Valladolid, Ámbito, 1997, pp. 9–61.

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20. The role of clergymen in the assistance and education of European rural society is widely discussed in historiography. See some examples in: W.M. Jacob, The Clerical Profession in the Long Eighteenth Century, 1680–1840, Oxford-New York: Oxford University Press, 2007; S. Hindle, On the Parish? The Micro-Politics of Poor Relief in Rural England c.1550–1750, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 2004. For the Italian case, please refer to: M. Morandi, “Per religiosità di cristiani principi”. Parroci maestri d’agricoltura nel primo Ottocento italiano, in Formare alle professioni. I saperi della cascina, ed. M. Ferrari, G. Fumi, M. Morandi, Milan, FrancoAngeli, 2016, pp. 160–171; X. Toscani, Ruoli del clero, canali e strumenti di apprendimento nella Lombardia dei secoli XVI-XIX , in Formare alle professioni. Sacerdoti, principi, educatori, ed. E. Becchi, M. Ferrari, Milan, FrancoAngeli, 2009, pp. 70–118, in particular pp. 95–102; P. Vismara, Il “buon prete” nell’Italia del Sei-Settecento. Bilanci e prospettive, “Rivista di storia della Chiesa in Italia”, LX (2006), no. 1, pp. 49–67. 21. The Academy of Sciences and Fine Letters of Mantua discussed some projects of elementary education for children living both in the urban and rural areas of the Duchy, in which some notions of agriculture were included. In this regard, refer to the projects themselves and the comments made on them by the members of the Academy: ANV, As: D.a. Educazione, 43; D.a. Belle lettere, 47/20; D.a. Critica, 59/3, 59/4; Piani, statuti, leggi, 1, 18. In the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the Academy of Georgofili discussed the topic of agricultural education for rural youth, and the importance of the role of parish priests in this regard was once again very clear. For instance, see F. Pagnini, Sistema di educazione per i giovani della campagna, vol. II, Florence, Vanni, 1775. 22. ASMi, Studi p.m., 381, Oggetto e piano di una scuola agronomica teoricopratica proposta al governo da tenersi nel locale di Santa Maria e fondo annesso, situati nel territorio di Castiglione delle Stiviere, by Lorenzo Pellegretti, Brumaire 1, year X (October 23, 1801); ASMi, Studi p.m., 381, letter by commissario Marchetti to the Minister of the Interior, Mantua, Brumaire 12, year X (November 3, 1801). 23. On the concepts of micro-history and cultural history and their value in historical research see: C. Ginzburg, Exploring the Boundaries of Microhistory, Nangang-Taipei, Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica, 2017; C. Ginzburg, Microhistory: two or three things that I know about it, translated by J. Tedeschi, A.C. Tedschi, “Critical Inquiry”, XX (1993), no. 1, pp. 10–35; P. Burke, What is Cultural History?, Cambridge, Polity Press, 2018, 3rd edition. 24. S. Shapin, The invisible technician, “American Scientist”, LXXVII (1989), no. 6, pp. 554–563. 25. The results of the botanical explorations conducted in the Oltrepò and Pavia areas by Domenico Nocca are included in D. Nocca, G.B. Balbis,

232

26.

27.

28.

29.

30.

31.

32.

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Flora Ticinensis, 2 volumes, Pavia, Capelli, 1816–1823, and D. Nocca, Clavis rem herbariam addiscendi absque praeceptore, Pavia, Fusi, 1823. A. Simões, A. Carneiro, M.P. Diogo (eds.), Travels of Learning: a Geography of Science in Europe, Dordrecht-Boston-London, Springer, 2003. See also M. Ciardi (ed.), Esplorazioni e viaggi scientifici nel Settecento, Milan, Rizzoli, 2008. L. Brassart, Les enfants d’Arthur Young ? Voyageurs agronomes en France au temps du Consulat et de l’Empire, “Annales historiques de la Révolution française”, CCCLXXXV (2016), no. 3, pp. 109–131; M. Ambrosoli, The Wild and the Sown: Botany and Agriculture in Western Europe, 1350–1850, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1997, pp. 355–356; Patterson, Robert Bakewell, p. 67; P. Chaunu, La civilisation de l’Europe des Lumières, Paris, Arthaud, 1971, pp. 330–332. A.-F. de Silvestre, Notice biographique sur F.-H. Gilbert, Mémoires publiés par la Société d’Agriculture du Département de la Seine, vol. IV, Paris, Huzard, year X, pp. 124–152. E.Y. Dilk, Un agronomo austriaco nel Lombardo-Veneto, in J. Burger, Agricoltura nel Regno Lombardo Veneto, ed. E.Y. Dilk, Milan, Provincia di Milano – Parco Agricolo Sud Milano, 2002, pp. 11–32. On this complex subject refer to following studies and their extensive bibliographies: A.M. Locatelli, P. Tedeschi, Institutions and agrarian development: fiscal policies and statistical enquiries, in Leading the Economic Risorgimento: Lombardy in the 19th Century, ed. S.A. Conca Messina, Abingdon-New York, Routledge, 2022, pp. 304–317; A. Prosperi, Un volgo disperso. Contadini d’Italia nell’Ottocento, Turin, Einaudi, 2021, 2nd edition; J. Cohen, G. Federico, The Growth of the Italian Economy 1820–1960, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2001, pp. 30–45; F. Cazzola, Storia delle campagne padane dall’Ottocento a oggi, Milan, Bruno Mondadori, 1996. L. Maffi, The development of winegrowing and oenology in Southern Piedmont and Oltrepò Pavese, in A History of Wine in Europe, 19th to 20th Centuries, vol. I, ed. S.A. Conca Messina, S. Le Bras, P. Tedeschi, M. Vaquero Piñeiro, Cham, Palgrave Macmillan, 2019, pp. 171–195; L. Maffi, Natura docens: vignaioli e sviluppo economico dell’Oltrepò pavese nel XIX secolo, Milan, FrancoAngeli, 2012. See also M. Vaquero Piñeiro, P. Tedeschi, L. Maffi, A History of Italian Wine: Culture, Economics, and Environment in the Nineteenth through Twentieth-First Centuries, Cham, Palgrave Macmillan, 2022. S.A. Conca Messina, C. Brilli, Agriculture and nobility in Lombardy. Land, management and innovation (1815–1861), “Business History”, LXIV (2019), no. 2, pp. 255–279. The entire issue of “Business History” is dedicated to noble entrepreneurs in nineteenth-century Europe and Asia, with many authors contributing analyses of a wide variety of case studies.

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Index

A Abano, 126 Agogna, Department, 186, 187, 189, 204, 206, 219 Alfort, 46, 193, 194 Allioni, Carlo, 188, 190 Alps, 23, 77, 93, 128, 221 Ambrosoli, Mauro, 4, 5, 13–15, 57, 202, 207, 232 Americas, 51, 79–81, 101, 102, 106, 107, 140, 159, 209, 227 Amoretti, Carlo, 38, 46, 48, 63, 69, 70, 73, 107, 117, 125, 154, 163, 164, 175, 198 Amoreux, Pierre Joseph, 91, 92, 110 Ando, Yusuke, 5, 14 Andreoli family, 78 Andrés, Juan, 47, 97, 100, 101, 113, 126, 153, 155 Andreucci, Luigi, 45 Antilles, 80, 92 Apennines, 179 Apulia, 52, 72, 88, 163

Arco, Giambattista Gherardo di, 32, 64 Arduino, Giovanni, 21, 36, 42, 47, 66, 68, 70, 216 Arduino, Luigi, 40, 86, 116, 140, 147, 175 Arduino, Pietro, 10, 20, 36, 37, 100, 125, 129, 140, 154, 192, 216 Asia, 51, 52, 232 Asquini, Fabio, 72, 117, 220 Asti, 19 Astorga, 146 Augello, Massimo M., 6, 15, 61, 104, 151

B Bakewell, Robert, 216, 221, 227 Balbis, Giovanni Battista, 186, 188–190, 231 Balsamo, Paolo, 117, 150, 168 Banks, Joseph, 84 Barbary Coast, 147

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 M. L. Fagnani, The Development of Agricultural Science in Northern Italy in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Century, Italian and Italian American Studies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-20657-3

269

270

INDEX

Barcelona, 194 Batsch, August Johann, 52, 53 Bayle Barelle, Giuseppe, 40, 55, 73, 85, 86, 93–95, 97, 102, 104, 108, 111, 130, 131, 133–136, 138, 139, 142, 143, 156–158, 160, 162, 174–178, 180–185, 187, 189, 190, 200–206, 217–220, 222, 226, 229 Bellardi, Carlo Antonio Lodovico, 93, 125, 138, 177, 188, 218 Belmonte, Prince of (Giuseppe Ventimiglia), 117 Bergamaschi, Giuseppe, 178, 179, 187, 203, 204, 207, 218, 219 Bergamo, 179 Berici Hills, 147 Berlin, 41, 42, 44 Bern, 41, 42 Bertolini, Giulio Cesare, 52 Bettey, Joseph, 221, 230 Betti, Zaccaria, 43, 45 Bettoni, Giovanni, 88, 109 Biagioli, Giuliana, 5, 13, 15, 62, 210 Bianchini, Giovanni Fortunato, 165, 193, 210 Bidet, Nicolas, 44 Bignami, Carlo, 176–178, 187, 204, 218 Biroli, Giovanni, 40, 94, 95, 102, 105, 111, 135, 136, 158, 159, 178, 179, 183–191, 203, 206–208, 217–219, 226, 227, 229, 230 Bisagni, Giuseppe, 124, 154 Boissier de Sauvages, Pierre Augustin, 44 Bologna agricultural garden, 99, 100, 139, 140, 171 University, 40, 88, 98, 99, 102, 130, 139, 171, 172, 180

Bonaparte, Joseph, 22, 98 Bonaparte, Lucien, 143 Bonvicino, Costanzo Benedetto, 19 Bordeaux, 32, 44 Bordiga, Benedetto, 82, 83 Borsa, Matteo, 34, 123, 124, 154, 155, 163, 164 Bosc d’Antic, Louis-Augustin, 147 Boswell, George, 221 Bourbon family, 20 Bourgelat, Claude, 21, 193, 194, 211 Brambilla, Elena, 5, 11, 15, 60–63, 104, 156, 198, 207, 229 Brambilla, Giovanni Alessandro, 47 Brassart, Laurent, 3, 5, 11, 12, 107, 110, 151, 232 Brescia Academy of Sciences, Fine Letters, Agriculture and Arts. See Ateneo Ateneo, 146, 149 Liceo, 146, 149, 223 Brianza, 47, 78, 116 Brilli, Catia, 228, 232 Brisseau de Mirbel, Charles-François, 94 Brockway, Lucile, 4, 14, 103 Brugnatelli, Luigi Valentino, 38, 202 Brusati, Valentino, 90, 175 Brussels, 65, 194, 230 Burger, Johann, 227, 232

C Cadet de Vaux, Antoine-Alexis, 110, 181, 205 Calabria, 86, 88, 123, 153 Cambi, Giulio, 124 Cap-Français (Cap-Haïtien), 92 Capra, Carlo, 4, 5, 11, 13, 15, 60, 62, 63, 105, 156, 198, 229 Caribbean, 146

INDEX

Carli, Giovan Girolamo, 34, 68, 211 Casali, Luigi, 32, 33, 35 Casatico, 125–127, 154, 155 Castelli, Carlo, 33, 63 Castiglione delle Stiviere, 168, 169, 223 Castiglioni, Alfonso, 78–80, 106, 107 Castiglioni, Luigi, 81–83, 105–107, 144, 163, 174, 227 Cattaneo, Francesco, 135 Cavanilles, Antonio José, 8, 47, 51, 87, 95, 112–114, 122, 171, 218, 220 Cayenne, 79, 92 Chabert, Philibert, 43, 45, 46, 194 Charles III, King of Spain, 146 Chaunu, Pierre, 4, 14, 159, 232 Chendi, Domenico Vincenzo, 43, 45 Chivasso, Pastoral Society of La Mandria, 26, 116, 118, 119, 151, 221 Chomel, Noel, 45 Cisalpine Republic, 22, 168, 171, 174, 223 Clusius, Carolus, 79 Coddè, Pasquale, 68, 70, 71, 73, 123, 124, 152, 153 Colloredo, Carlo Ottavio di, 41, 124 Colloredo, Giambattista di, 124 Conca Messina, Silvia A., 103, 228, 232 Configliachi, Luigi, 139, 191 Cook, James, 84 Cormack, Lesley, 5, 14 Cristiani Castiglioni, Maria Teresa, 9, 125–127, 220 Crivelli family, 78 Cuba, 80 Curry, Helen Anne, 4, 14 Cusani family, 78 Cuvier, Georges, 109, 110

271

D Dalloro, Carlo Giuseppe, 132, 157, 203, 207 Dalmatia, 177 Dana, Giovanni Pietro Maria, 19, 188 Dandolo, Vincenzo, 119, 177, 186, 202, 221 Denmark, 42, 194 Desfontaines, René, 94 Desio, 78 Despommiers, Matthieu, 44 Dombasle, Mathieu de, 87, 109 Dorn, Harold, 5, 14 Duchy of Modena and Reggio, 55 Dugas Duvillard jr., 131 Duhamel du Monceau, Henri Louis, 42, 44, 147, 206 Dupuy-Demportes, Jean-Baptiste, 44

E Easterby-Smith, Sarah, 3, 12, 205 Ede, Andrew, 5, 14 Emilia, 97, 100, 139 Ercole III d’Este, Duke of Modena and Reggio, 195 Estévez, Hipólito, 194

F Fabbroni, Adamo, 34, 64 Fassati, Luigi, 145 Federico II Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, 123 Fellenberg, Philipp Emanuel von, 186, 206 Ferber, Johann Jacob, 123, 153 Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria-Este and Governor of the Duchy of Milan, 49 Ferdinand VII, King of Spain, 22 Ferrara, 43, 45

272

INDEX

Firmian, Karl Gotthard von, 71, 120, 152 Florence, 36, 144–146, 194, 222, 224 Academy of Georgofili, 36, 222, 231 Royal Museum of Physics and Natural History, 194 Forest de Bélidor, Bernard, 33 Fortis, Alberto, 37, 66, 168 Foscarini, Marco, 38 France, 75, 92 Empire, 177 Isle of. See Mauritius Republic, 93 Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, 49, 51 Franklin, Benjamin, 84 French, Henry, 4, 14, 105 Friuli, 9, 21, 147, 196, 197, 219, 221

G Gagliardo, Giovanni Battista, 88, 89, 109 Galafassi, Luigi, 32, 33, 35 Gascoigne, John, 5, 14 Genoa, 26, 27, 145, 163, 164 Genovesi, Antonio, 32, 170 Gentilcore, David, 143, 163 Germani, Gerolamo, 179 Giarrizzo, Giuseppe, 4, 13, 14, 66, 150, 198 Gilbert, François-Hilaire, 143, 162, 227 Giobert, Antonio, 19, 181, 205 Gioeni d’Angiò, Giuseppe, 38 Godoy, Manuel, 97, 211 Gómez Ortega, Casimiro, 71, 79–81, 84, 102, 103, 106, 122, 126, 153, 155, 220 Göttingen, 41

Governolo, 31 Great Britain, 4, 6, 75, 91, 117, 194, 216 Grégoire, Henri, 85, 108, 137, 160 Griselini, Francesco, 36–38, 43, 48, 66 Gualandris, Angelo, 46, 47, 50, 53, 90, 121–123, 125–128, 144, 216, 220, 227 Guatteri, Giambattista, 20, 90, 193 Guidi, Marco E.L., 6, 15, 61, 104, 151 H Haartman, Johannes, 178, 203 Haiti, 92 Hales, Stephen, 185 Hale, Thomas, 4, 43, 216 Harasti, Gaetano, 146, 164 Havana, 80 Helbling, Sebastian, 49, 50 Herbert, Claude-Jacques, 44 Horan, Joseph, 3, 5, 12, 95, 103, 112, 143, 162 Hungary, 136 Hutton, James, 179 I Indian Ocean, 92 Infantado, Dukes of, 96 Ingold, Alice, 3, 12 Intieri, Bartolomeo, 186, 206 Irlbeck, Michael, 222 Italy central, 7, 22, 35, 40, 161 Kingdom of, 2, 10, 23, 24, 27, 39, 55, 86, 119, 129, 140, 151, 156, 171, 172, 175–177, 180, 195–197, 204, 217, 223 northern, 1, 2, 5–9, 18, 22–24, 26, 28, 35, 36, 38, 40, 79–81, 85,

INDEX

87, 89, 95, 98, 116, 117, 119, 125, 129, 137, 139, 141, 142, 145, 147, 149, 151, 169, 213, 215–217, 219, 222, 223, 227, 228 Republic, 2, 10, 23, 27, 39, 53, 54, 72, 129, 156, 169, 171–174, 180, 195, 197, 217, 223 southern, 98, 137

J Jacini, Stefano, 186, 206 Jardine, Nicholas, 4, 5, 14 Jones, Peter M., 3, 11, 12, 17, 57, 65, 113, 159, 202, 204, 206, 221, 230 Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, 28, 48 Jussieu, Antoine-Laurent de, 96, 122

K Kaunitz-Rietberg, Wenzel Anton von, 29, 49, 63 Kingsland, Sharon, 5, 12, 14, 103, 162 Kuroki, Ryuzo, 5, 14

L Lake Como, 9, 77, 78, 87, 105, 116, 128, 141, 144, 145, 149, 171 Lake Garda, 87, 126, 143–145 Lamarck, Jean-Baptiste, 96 Landi, Eraclio, 33, 34, 46, 53, 64, 77, 104, 137, 142, 144, 216, 221 Landriani, Marsilio, 195 La Pérouse, Jean François de, 84 Lario, Department, 119 Lehmbrock, Verena, 222, 230 Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm von, 41 Leipzig, 41

273

Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor, 51 L’Héritier de Brutelle, Charles-Louis, 123 Ligurian Republic, 26, 164 Linnaeus, Carl, 174, 178 Lisbon, 137 Litta, Agostino, 33–35, 46, 64, 70 Lodi, 142, 194 Lomellina, 189, 219, 227 London, Royal Society, 32, 41, 84 Lorgna, Anton Maria, 30, 37, 64, 66 Lullin de Châteauvieux, Fréderic, 227 Lusatia, 146 Lyon, 34, 160, 193, 194, 211

M Maddaluno, Lavinia, 5, 15, 62, 104, 161, 198 Madrid, 8, 22, 39, 47, 50, 51, 78, 80, 95–98, 100, 102, 103, 122, 143, 171, 194, 218, 220, 223, 224 botanical garden, 8, 39, 47, 51, 79, 80, 95, 97, 103, 122, 171, 218 Veterinay School, 39 Maffi, Luciano, 209, 213, 228, 232 Malacarne, Vincenzo Gaetano, 196, 210 Malats, Segismundo, 194, 211 Manetti, Saverio, 222 Mantua Academy of Sciences and Fine Letters (later Academy of Sciences, Fine Letters and Arts, and Accademia Virgiliana), 7, 25, 28, 97, 99, 168, 171, 175, 217, 220, 222, 231 Agricultural Colony, 17, 28, 29, 44, 46–49, 119, 125, 127, 128, 138, 149, 160, 216, 220 botanical garden, 71, 100, 122, 123

274

INDEX

Duchy of, 42, 90, 121, 128, 144, 154, 227 Gymnasium, 46, 50, 122, 168 La Favorita, 53, 73, 119, 120, 127, 138, 153, 160, 217 Liceo, 149 Palazzo Te, 53, 73, 119, 120, 123, 124, 127, 128, 217 Maria I, Queen of Portugal, 137 Maria Theresa of Austria, 26, 28, 29, 48, 76, 171, 175 Marjanen, Jani, 5, 14, 165 Marsand, Antonio, 87, 108 Marsili, Giovanni, 20, 171 Martano, 163 Masson de Morvilliers, Nicolas, 96 Mauritius, 79, 92, 182, 205 Mazzucato, Giovanni, 9, 140, 147, 148, 161, 165, 191, 209, 212, 226 McClellan III, James, 5, 14, 103, 111 McDonagh, Briony, 4, 14, 105 Melandri, Girolamo, 191 Mella, Department, 59, 164 Melograni, Giuseppe, 88 Melón, Juan Antonio, 101, 114 Mencke, Otto, 41 Menzies, Archibald, 84 Milan Brera botanical garden, 76, 141, 142, 175 Duchy of, 9, 76, 77, 105, 137, 141, 145, 216 Patriotic Society, 9, 26, 29, 33, 39, 76, 78, 84, 116, 125, 145, 168, 175, 176, 216, 221 Society for the Encouragement of Sciences and Arts, 76 society of public education, 76 veterinary schools, 10, 195 Mincio, Department, 54, 55, 119, 145, 152, 168

Mincio, river, 31 Miollis, Sextius Alexandre François de, 53 Mirabeau, Honoré Gabriel Riqueti de, 28, 35 Modena and Reggio, Duchy of, 21, 193 Molin, Girolamo, 196 Mombello, 78 Montelatici, Ubaldo, 222 Montero y Santa Colomba, Antonio, 146, 164 Montpellier, 91, 92, 141 Moreau de Saint-Méry, Médéric Louis Élie, 27 Moreschi, Antonio, 134 Moretti, Giuseppe, 139, 179, 187, 190–192, 209, 217, 219, 220, 226, 229 Moscati, Pietro, 140 Moschettini, Cosimo, 52, 53, 72, 145, 163 Mount Baldo, 227 Mozzate, 78, 116 Murari dalla Corte, Girolamo, 53, 72, 73, 152 Murat, Joachim, 22, 86, 116, 147, 168

N Naples Institute of Encouragement for Natural Sciences, 88 Kingdom of, 21, 22, 40, 47, 86, 88, 89, 147, 168, 193 University, 168, 170 Napoleon, 8, 11, 22, 23, 25, 85, 86, 92, 116, 140, 143, 149, 167, 192 Nectoux, Hippolyte, 92, 102, 110 Netherlands (the), 21

INDEX

Nocca, Domenico, 47, 51, 53, 55, 56, 71, 86–89, 95, 97, 98, 100–102, 108, 109, 112, 114, 130, 145, 163, 173, 175, 178, 200, 218, 220, 227, 229, 231, 232 Nocetti, Francesco, 55, 56, 73, 74 Norway, 42 Novara, 105, 135, 136, 187–190, 204, 206, 219 Nuvolone Pergamo, Giuseppe, 118, 126, 220 Nuvoloni, Giuseppe, 126, 127, 155 O Olona, Department, 157 Onorati, Niccola “Columella”, 168, 198 Orus, Giuseppe, 21, 193 P Padua, 36, 78, 86, 108, 116, 126, 138, 140, 198 Agricultural Academy, 216 Agricultural Garden, 140, 172 Collegio Zooiatrico, 192 University, 10, 20, 36, 78, 86, 87, 125, 129, 139, 149, 168, 172, 175, 180, 191, 196, 217, 223, 226 Palermo, 116, 117, 168 Academy of Studies, 168 Boccadifalco Royal Estate, 116 Panaro, Department, 195, 212 Paris Academy of Sciences, 25, 26, 42, 90 Agricultural Society, 91–93, 181, 193, 216 botanical garden, 8, 89, 90, 92, 93, 95, 97, 103, 122, 123, 131, 138, 153, 183, 189, 218, 219

275

National Institute of Sciences, Literature and Arts, 25, 93 National Museum of Natural History, 3, 22, 90 Parma and Piacenza, Duchy of, 20, 26, 27, 193 Parmentier, Antoine, 91, 110, 181, 205 Passariano, Department, 140, 197 Pavia agricultural garden, 9, 93–95, 102, 108, 130–136, 138–140, 142, 175, 180, 182, 183, 186, 190, 191, 218–220 botanical garden, 85–88, 109, 141, 156, 171, 220 University, 9, 38, 48, 50, 51, 55, 80, 81, 84–86, 90, 93, 94, 97, 102, 108, 130, 135, 138, 139, 149, 161, 167–170, 174, 176, 177, 179, 180, 188–191, 196, 217–219, 226 Pazzagli, Rossano, 5, 13, 15, 60, 62, 65, 67, 200, 210 Pellegretti, Lorenzo, 168, 169, 199, 223, 231 Philadelphia, American Philosophical Society, 84 Phillips, Denise, 5, 12, 14, 103, 162 Piave, Department, 177 Piombino, 22 Po Department, 26 river, 29, 31, 86 Pollini, Ciro, 173, 200 Portugal, 81, 137 Pozzo, Paolo, 123

Q Quesnay, François, 28, 35, 179

276

INDEX

R Rasponi, Baldassare, 212 Re, Filippo, 40, 41, 55, 68, 88, 95, 97–102, 109, 112–114, 130, 139, 161, 171, 176, 180, 181, 189, 202, 219, 222, 226 Reggio Emilia, 55, 98, 100, 171 Reno, Department, 140, 172 Rodríguez, Bernardo, 194 Roger, Pierre, 45 Roggero, Marina, 197, 212 Romagna, 191 Ronconi, Ignazio, 44 Rothery, Mark, 4, 14 Rush, Benjamin, 84

S Sage, Balthazar-Georges, 122 Saint Laurent, Joannon de, 120, 128, 152 Saluzzo di Monesiglio, Giuseppe Angelo, 19 Sartorio, Giuseppe, 163 Saxony, 41 Scannagatta, Giosuè, 130, 171 Schiebinger, Londa, 5, 14, 107 Schiera, Pierangelo, 4, 13 Schirach, Adam Gottlob, 146, 164 Scopoli, Giovanni Antonio, 80, 81, 90, 110, 190 Scotland, 179 Scotti, Aurora, 5, 11, 15, 60, 156, 198, 229 Secord, James Andrew, 4, 5, 14 Sesia, Department, 186 Siberia, 77, 91, 137 Sicily, 86, 87, 116, 168 Sinclair, John, 221 Slovenia, 136 Soave, Francesco, 38, 46 Sonnenfels, Joseph von, 29

Sonnini, Charles-Sigisbert, 181 Spain, 6, 13, 19, 22, 27, 39, 47, 62, 75, 79–81, 84, 87, 95, 98, 101, 118, 136, 137, 141, 146, 194, 223, 227 Spary, Emma C., 3–5, 12, 14, 95, 109–112, 160, 165, 205, 229 Spielmann, Jacques, 171 Stapelbroek, Koen, 5, 14, 165 St. Petersburg, 41, 42 Strasbourg, 171 Styrian, 21 Swan, Claudia, 5, 14, 107 Switzerland, 38, 119 T Taranto, 88, 109 Tarello, Camillo, 44 Taro, Department, 27 Tartini, Jacopo Ambrogio, 145, 163 Tenore, Michele, 220, 230 Tessier, Henri-Alexandre, 39, 143, 222, 223 Thouin, André, 8, 71, 89–97, 102, 103, 109–112, 122, 131, 135, 136, 138, 142, 158, 160, 162, 183, 189, 206, 218, 219, 229 Tillot, Guillaume du, 20 Toscolano, 126 Townshend, Charles, 216 Transpadane Republic, 76 Trautmann, Leopold, 139, 160, 191, 205 Tron, Nicolò, 37 Tull, Jethro, 4, 36, 216, 227 Turin Academy of Sciences, 19 Agricultural Society, 9, 18, 19, 26, 39, 89, 98, 118, 125, 139, 143, 149, 186, 217 Arsenal, 19 botanical garden, 188, 189, 220

INDEX

Crocetta Garden, 118 University, 19, 188, 190 Turra, Antonio, 37 Tuscany, Grand Duchy of, 28, 145, 222, 231

U Udine, Society of Practical Agriculture, 21, 38, 193

V Valencia, 79, 96, 113, 141, 227 Valsassina, 77, 128, 221 Valsecchi, Franco, 4, 13 Valtellina, 179 Vancouver, George, 84 Varenna, 171 Varese, 119, 186, 221 Vassalli Eandi, Anton Maria, 19, 20, 58 Venice, 36, 43, 171, 193, 223, 224 Republic of, 7, 10, 20, 36–38, 42, 47, 48, 53, 78, 117, 129, 140, 144, 145, 192, 193, 196, 202, 216, 223 Venturi, Franco, 4, 13, 57, 66, 199

277

Verona, 30, 43, 45, 73, 144, 173, 200 Verri, Pietro, 78, 79 Viard, André, 44 Vicenza, 36, 37, 146, 147, 191, 219 Vienna, 29, 47, 49, 51, 63, 191, 196 Vitmann, Fulgenzio, 171, 175, 178 Vivanti, Corrado, 4, 13, 64, 155, 161 Vivier, Nadine, 3, 5, 12, 14, 155 Volta, Giovanni Serafino, 46 W Warde, Paul, 5, 15 Willermoz, Pierre-Claude-Catherine, 34, 35, 65 Wittman-Dengláz, Anton von, 227 Wollstonecraft Shelley, Mary, 78, 105 Y Young, Arthur, 18, 19, 36, 78, 84, 99, 216, 221, 222, 227 Z Zanon, Antonio, 72, 193, 210 Zara, 177 Zea, Francisco Antonio, 98, 205