Class Formation and Political Mobilization in Turn-of-the-Century Milan

Extract

In the late nineteenth century, as today, Milan stood at the center of Italy's most advanced economic developments, and served in effect as the financial capital of the country. Well before industrialization had taken hold in most of the Italian peninsula, Milan's industry—tied to developments further north in Europe—was sprouting. Moreover, as the three articles that follow clearly show, Milan—rather than the Italian capital, Rome—was at the heart of many modern political developments in Italy.