Gas in Paris and Rome from Its Origins to the Competition with Electricity

Andrea Giuntini () and Jean-Pierre Williot ()
Additional contact information
Andrea Giuntini: Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia
Jean-Pierre Williot: Sorbonne Identités, Relations Internationales et Civilisations de l’Europe (SIRICE), Faculty of Letters, Université Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV)

Chapter Chapter 6 in The Gas Industry in Latin Europe, 2023, pp 133-157 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract The goal of this chapter is to analyse the origin and development of the gas supply in two of the most important state capitals of Latin Europe. The first companies, the origin of the capital, the production-distribution technology and the networks are examined. Due to the different sizes of the two cities and the different levels of economic development of France and Italy, the trajectory of the sector had some common elements, but also many differences. In Paris, the gas industry emerged at the beginning of the nineteenth century, thanks to the interest of the city council and investors in providing the city with lighting, which was identified as a symbol of modernization. In contrast, in Rome, the process was delayed until the 1850s, largely due to the hostile attitude towards technological innovations by the Vatican authorities. The evolution was faster in Paris, where there were more than ten factories at the end of the century, while in Rome there were only two. In Paris, local capital was dominant while in Rome foreign (British) capital prevailed. In both cases private companies operated under concession, orienting their supply towards public lighting, commercial activities and the demands of the bourgeoisie.

Keywords: Gas; Italy; France; Rome; Paris; Nineteenth century (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L95 N63 N73 Q43 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-031-16309-8_6

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9783031163098

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-16309-8_6

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Springer Books from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().