Prince and Entrepreneur

Daniela Felisini
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Daniela Felisini: University of Rome Tor Vergata

Chapter 6 in Alessandro Torlonia, 2016, pp 153-191 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract This chapter is devoted to Alessandro Torlonia as prince and landowner, focusing on his strategies of marriage and self-presentation in society, his collecting and patronage of the arts, and his way of operating as an agrarian entrepreneur. Alessandro did not regard investment in land as just an aspect of the process of ennoblement, but managed his vast estates with a determined entrepreneurial spirit; as a result, they gave him substantial profits. This was not the usual approach in the Papal States, although there were other interesting cases that might suggest new interpretations of the economic history of the Agro Romano, the countryside around Rome, described by many foreign travellers as a wasteland in an evocative but stereotyped style. The non-utilitarian motives that according to Schumpeter drive entrepreneurs—“the dream and the will to find a private kingdom”—are used to explain Torlonia’s commitment to the extraordinary Lake Fucino reclamation project (1853–1873).

Keywords: Nineteenth Century; Capital Stock; Land Reclamation; Early Nineteenth Century; Reclamation Project (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:psitcp:978-3-319-41998-5_6

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-41998-5_6

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