Abstract
Here we explore the education and development of the young Alessandro Torlonia and his early experiences of work, in order to identify determinants of his future entrepreneurial success. The third son of Giovanni, Alessandro, received an education that was unusual for the Papal States but similar to that of other scions of the contemporary Italian and European ruling classes: like the young Cavour, Alessandro spent long periods in London and Paris, where he entered the networks of European finance. His evident talent and passion for business persuaded his father to transfer the Bank to him (1829), contravening the rules of succession. Alessandro's initial activities as new head of the Bank are examined, focusing on internationalization strategies.
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Notes
- 1.
Stendhal, A Roman Journal, 78. Stendhal’s original French phrase was “M. Torlonia est. l’homme à argent par excellence” (Promenades dans Rome, 131; italics in the original).
- 2.
Stendhal, A Roman Journal, 78.
- 3.
Ago, “Burocrazia, ‘nazioni’ e parentele nella Roma del Settecento”; Higgs, Nobles in Nineteenth-Century France; Lipp, Noble Strategies in an Early Modern Small State.
- 4.
Giraldi, L’archivio dell’amministrazione Torlonia, xix.
- 5.
Chaney, The Evolution of the Grand Tour, 68–100.
- 6.
On the educational value of these travels abroad, see Dent, “Travel as Education”; Talamo, “Introduzione,” v–vii. For profiles of the men mentioned, see Hearder, Cavour; Mack Smith, Cavour; Romeo, Vita di Cavour; Ruffini, La giovinezza del Conte di Cavour; Gherardi and Matteucci, Marco Minghetti statista e pensatore politico; Biagioli, Il modello del proprietario imprenditore nella Toscana dell’Ottocento.
- 7.
This was the description by the politician Terenzio Mamiani, an exile in the French capital during the early 1830s, in his “Parigi or fa cinquant’anni,” 588.
- 8.
Colapietra, La Chiesa tra Lamennais e Metternich.
- 9.
Dal Pane, “La vita economica e sociale a Bologna durante il Risorgimento,” 84. Gemelli and Vismara, La riforma degli studi universitari.
- 10.
Augello et al., Le cattedre di economia politica in Italia; Felisini, “Economia e/o morale?”
- 11.
On the large groups of Italian exiles in London and Paris during the Risorgimento period, see Galante Garrone, “L’emigrazione italiana del Risorgimento.”
- 12.
Letter from Alessandro to his father of 7 July 1820, in ACS, Archivio Torlonia, b. 197, fasc. 11.
- 13.
Soderini, “Il Principe d. Alessandro Torlonia,” 312.
- 14.
Chateaubriand, Letter to Madame Récamier of 8 November 1828 in Mémoires d’outre tombe, vol. 2: 219. See also Mullen and Munson, The Smell of the Continent.
- 15.
Soderini, “Il Principe d. Alessandro Torlonia,” 326–27.
- 16.
Letter from Alessandro Torlonia to his father, written from London and dated 26 July 1823, underlining in the original, in ACS, Archivio Torlonia, b. 197, f. 11.
- 17.
See McClelland, “The Achievement Motive in Economic Growth,” 75–76.
- 18.
Stendhal, A Roman Journal, 77.
- 19.
Anselmi, Una città adriatica.
- 20.
Letter from Alessandro to his father Giovanni of 24 August 1827, ACS, Archivio Torlonia, b. 197. fasc. 10.
- 21.
Inheritance laws were based on two main mechanisms: primogeniture, which obliged an heir to pass his inheritance down the line of direct male succession, and the “fedecommesso,” which allowed for more flexibility in the system. In the fedecommesso the heir was obliged to preserve the assets inherited so that they could in turn be passed on, often to an individual indicated by the first testator; thus it allowed for assets to be left to people other than the first-born, but for the unity of the family fortune to be preserved. The two institutions had been substantially reformed during the revolutionary period but their earlier forms had then been reintroduced in almost all the Italian states after the Restoration, and in the Papal State with a particularly broad application. See Caravale, “Fedecommesso” (entry in the Enciclopedia del diritto); Piccialuti, L’immortalità dei beni.
- 22.
The main components of Marino Torlonia’s settlement as first-born were the Bracciano estate, the Settebagni sulla Salaria estate, the rural area of Pisciarello, the villa of Porto d’Anzio, the palazzi on both Piazza Venezia and, nearby, Piazza degli Santi Apostoli, and the duchy of Poli and Guadagnolo. The last possession had been acquired in May 1820 from the Sforza Cesarini family, as described in the “Erezione di Primogenitura” document which is appended to marriage deeds between Marino and Anna Sforza Cesarini of 1 October 1821, in ASR, Trenta Notai Capitolini, Notaio Gallesani, 1821, vol. 774, 406r to 421v.
- 23.
La Marca, “Primogenitura e fidecommessi nella Roma Pontificia.”
- 24.
Both these wills, that of 8 August 1825 (with notary Valentini) and the final one of 3 March 1829, are conserved in ASR, Trenta Notai Capitolini, uff. 4, not. Valentini (succ. Sacchi), 1829 vol. 622.
- 25.
The transaction was drawn up on 6 June 1829; the deeds are in ASR, Trenta Notai Capitolini, Notaio Calvaresi, uff. 4, 1829, vol. 624.
- 26.
On assistance to women, see Groppi, I conservatori della virtù; information about the body founded by Torlonia is in Morichini, Degli istituti di carità.
- 27.
ASR, Trenta Notai Capitolini, ufficio 4, notaio Raimondo Calvaresi, deed of 26 April 1833.
- 28.
Medick and Sabean, Interest and Emotion.
- 29.
Porisini, Condizioni monetarie e investimenti nel bolognese.
- 30.
“Notizie di S.E. don Marino Torlonia e suoi successori,” in ACS, Archivio Torlonia, b. 197, fasc. 116.
- 31.
The deed of sale is in ASR, Trenta Notai Capitolini, ufficio 4, notaio Calvaresi, 1837, vol. 646.
- 32.
Neri, Abitare a Roma, 307.
- 33.
Circular of 24 October 1829, in ACS, Archivio Torlonia, b. 265, fasc.2.
- 34.
The reference is to the title of a chapter on Junius Spencer Morgan in Carosso and Carosso, The Morgans, 105.
- 35.
ACS, Archivio Torlonia, b. 265, fasc. 5.
- 36.
The documents are in ACS, Archivio Torlonia, b. 265, fasc. 10.
- 37.
De Cesare, Roma e lo Stato del Papa, 130–31.
- 38.
Cassis, Capitals of Capital, 37–40; Coppini and Volpi, “Le regole dell’onore,” 37.
- 39.
Giuseppe Pecchio, Storia dell’economia pubblica (Milan: 1829), quoted in Caracciolo, L’albero dei Belloni, 99.
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Felisini, D. (2016). Alessandro Torlonia: A Passion for Business. In: Alessandro Torlonia. Palgrave Studies in the History of Finance. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41998-5_3
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