The noble entrepreneurs coming from the bourgeoisie: Counts Bettoni Cazzago during the nineteenth century

Abstract

The aim of this contribution is to highlight the entrepreneurial activities managed by the family of the Counts Bettoni Cazzago. In their land properties they cultivated both high added value goods (lemons and olive oil) and products with lower market value (such as wine, wheat and maize). They also invested in silkworm breeding and they varied the management methods of their farms in relation to the different cultivated crops and they organised the distribution of their production. They created an efficient distribution network in Europe as well as new companies (including a rural cooperative) which allowed them to reduce their selling expenses.

Keywords:

• Noble entrepreneurs
• agriculture
• agrarian contracts
• Eastern Lombardy

Acknowledgment

Author thanks anonymous referees for their suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Even if this paper always uses the name Bettoni Cazzago, it should be noted that the real name of the family was Bettoni until when Count Giacomo Bettoni married Maria Teresa, the last heir of the aristocratic family Cazzago. For all information about the Counts who are indicated in the paper see Bettoni Cazzago (1872) and ‘Bettoni’ and ‘Bettoni Cazzago’ in Enciclopedia Bresciana, vol. I (1974), 156–158 (ad nomen). Brescia: Grafo, 1974.

2. For other examples of Italian noble entrepreneurs during the nineteenth century see Martini (1999), Moroni (1997), Cardoza (1997), Biagioli (1998), Ciuffetti (1997), Biagioli (2000), and Conca Messina (2014). See also the note 4.

3. On the crisis of several noble families in Eastern Lombardy during the first half of the nineteenth century see Tedeschi (2006, pp. 61–68). About the extension of aristocratic land properties in the plain of the Eastern Lombardy from the Napoleonic age to the end of the nineteenth century (see: Calini Ibba, 2000, vol. I, 107–202, 409–451, 511–542, 623–643).

4. About the attitudes and the actual contributions of the aristocratic families to the Italian economic development during the nineteenth century see the contributions in note 2 and Banti (1994), Montroni (1996), Jocteau (1997), Cova (2014), and Les noblesses européennes ((1988) in particular the contributes of E. Ravoux Rallo, R. P. Coppini, R. Desoras, A. M. Banti, W. Barberis and A. L. Cardoza). Concerning the case of Northern Italy very important suggestions and advice are in: Conca Messina (2015), Conca Messina and Tolaini (2016), and Brilli, Conca Messina, and Tolaini (2017).

5. About the attitudes of the noblemen in the European countries exists a wide bibliography. See, among others, Clark (1984), Higgs (1987), Berdhal (1988), Cannadine (1990), Brelot (1992), Mosse (1993), Thierry (2006), and Les noblesses européennes ((1988) in particular the contributions of A. Daumard, A. J. Tudesq, G. Postel-Vinay, C. I. Brelot, A. Plessis, C. Charles and W. Cerman for the French case, P. Ruiz Torres and M. T. Perez Picazo for the Spanish case, C. Dipper for the German case, M. Thompson and J. V. Beckett for the English case and, finally, K. Vocelka for the case of the Habsburg Empire).

6. See in the AFBC: «Libro Cassa 1833» including ‘Bilancio limoni’ [1833–44].

7. About the high taxation related to the new cadastre and the citrus gardens see in the State Archives of Milano, Fondo Catasto Lombardo-Veneto, ‘Prospetto di classificazione’, 1827, cart. 10072; ‘1836. Minute di stima del comune censuario di Gargnano’ and ‘Allegato D alle Minute di Stima dell’unità di misura dei terreni costituenti il comune di Gargnano’, cart. 10104 and 10105.

8. About prices existing in the land market of the Eastern Lombardy see Tedeschi (2004b, p. 875) and Tedeschi (2006, pp. 433–434).

9. For all information about the sales network created by the Counts Bettoni Cazzago see in the AFBC the register ‘Maestro C’ [1820–50] and the Count Lodovico’s diary (with notes from 1770 to 1828).

10. On the agrarian cooperative Società Lago di Garda see: Samuelli (1883), Erculiani (1940), and Cazzani and Sarti (1992, pp. 103–112, 121–123). Please note that the low quality lemons were not sold: they were reserved for self-consumption in the Riviera.

11. For all information concerning the production of Counts Bettoni Cazzago’ s citrus gardens during the nineteenth century see in the AFBC the following registers ‘Estratto delle principali partite esistenti nel Maestro B’, Bogliaco 30 November 1817; ‘Estratto delle principali partite esistenti nel Maestro B e riguardante lo smercio delli limoni dell’anno corrente’, Bogliaco 30 November 1818; ‘Ricavo approssimativo delli limoni spiccati in [mese] spediti e venduti’ [1820, 1822, 1824]; ‘Prima Notta incominciata li 7 agosto 1833…’, ‘Bilancio limoni 1852’; ‘Riassunto del ricavo Limoni e Portogalli nel decennio da 1854 a tutto 1863’; «Promemoria limoni’ [1871–80] and ‘Bilancio limoni’ [1867–1911]. See also Bettoni Cazzago (1877b, pp. 40–41, 62–71). About earnings related to the land properties where there were not citrus gardens see, in the AFBC, ‘Entrata Giallo di tutto lo stabile 1841. Visano’; ‘Verbale di amministrazione dello stabile di Visano [1843–53]’; ‘Quadro dell’entrata del frumento di tutto lo stabile [Visano]. 1844’; ‘Partitario B della Fattoria di Cazzago dal 1832 al 1870’; ‘Libro partitario della fattoria di Cazzago [1852–70]’.

12. On the problems concerning the real estate in the Eastern Lombardy and the related market see: Bettoni Cazzago, 1862, 1862-64; Tedeschi, 2008b, pp. 232–253.

13. The land properties which entered into the Bettoni Cazzago ‘s patrimony because of the marriage were in the Franciacorta and precisely in Calino (more than 12 hectares), Cazzago (14 hectares), Erbusco (more than 19 hectares), Rovato (almost 38 hectares). Finally, a further land property was in the outskirts of Brescia (more than 13.5 hectares in San Nazzaro).

14. On the European network which diffused the knowledge in agronomics and the innovation concerning the methods of cultivation see Locatelli and Tedeschi (2015), Pazzagli (2008), Van Molle (2005), and Vivier (2008). About the studies on agronomics of the members of the Ateneo di Brescia see Tedeschi (2004a).

15. These were the main publications edited by the Count Lodovico Bettoni Cazzago, the ‘best agronomist’ of the family during the nineteenth century (Bettoni Cazzago, 1865, 1877a,b, 1879a,b, 1881, 1886). Please note that in the Commentari dell’Ateneo di Brescia it is only possible to read the long abstract of manuscripts presented in the workshops and lectures organised by the Ateneo: manuscripts are available in the Historical Archives of the Ateneo of Brescia.

16. About the agrarian contracts existing in Lombardy during the nineteenth century and the choice of criteria followed by landowners see: Tedeschi, 2017.

17. About the new Italian associations of landowners see: the contributes of A. Caracciolo, F. Socrate and P. Corti in Caracciolo and Socrate (1977), Malatesta (1990), Banti (1996, pp. 65–97), and Fontana (1997). For an analysis concerning many European cases see: Malatesta (2007). About the landowners’ attitude about taxes and cost of labour in the Eastern Lombardy see Tedeschi (2008a, pp. 259–262).

18. The land property in Goglione Sotto was the only one which was rented by cash (in 1834 and 1847). See in the AFCB ‘Verbale di consegna dello stabile Bona’. The sisters Cazzago did not manage their land and rented them by cash: see the ‘Verbali di consegna degli stabili’ of Cazzago, Calino, Erbusco e Rovato [1830–1850], in AFBC and, in particular, the ‘Relazione di stima della sostanza immobile componente lo stabile di Cazzago del 31 marzo 1835’, the contract for the rent by cash to brothers Zoni starting by 11 November 1855 and the ‘Verbale di consegna dello stabile di proprietà della nobile Cazzago dato in affitto al Sig. G. Gaio’ (from 1855 to 1858).

19. About the division of the harvest between the Counts Bettoni Cazzago and their gardeners and sharecroppers see in the AFBC: ‘Giardinieri e coloni: mastro II 1843–1860’, ‘Contratto di mezzadria nel distretto di Gargnano’ as well as the registers quoted in the previously notes.

20. About the foundation of the ‘Comizio Agrario’ (1861), the ‘Scuola Agraria della Bornata’ (1876) and the ‘Scuola di orticultura e albericoltura di Bogliaco’ (1883) see: Paris (2008) and Tedeschi (2008b). About the relevance of the Lombard élites for the development of agriculture in Lombardy during the nineteenth century see Locatelli and Tedeschi (2018).

21. Count Carlo Bettoni promoted in 1768 the creation of the the Accademia Agraria di Brescia and in 1769 founded the Accademia Agraria di Salò, that is the two main institutions studying the agriculture in the Eastern Lombardy during the second half of the Eighteenth century. They respectively became the Ateneo di Brescia (1802) and Ateneo di Salò (1811). On his studies and on the first steps of the development of the citrus gardens in the Riviera see Fava and Trebeschi (1994) and Zamboni (1994). About the members of the family Bettoni Cazzago in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth centuries see the note 1.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Paolo Tedeschi

Paolo Tedeschi is associate Professor of economic history at the University of Milan-Bicocca DEMS where he teaches Economic History and History of European Integration. He taught at the University of Luxembourg and at the Catholic University of Louvain (UCL). His recent research and publications concern the history of European integration (in particular the Common Agricultural Policy, the European Investment Bank, the European Monetary System, the Economic and Monetary Union, as well as the European migration policies), the economic history of Lombardy (in particular the rural history and the Alpine history,18th–20th century), and the history of Lombard business organisations, trade unions and friendly societies (19th–20th century).