CONCA SILVIA ANTONIA

CURRENT POSITION
2022-Present Associate Professor in Economic History, University of Milan

PREVIOUS POSITIONS
2006-2021 Assistant Professor in Economic History, University of Milan
2001-2005 Research Grant Holder in Economic History, University of Milan

EDUCATION
1996-2000 PhD in History of European Society (curriculum Economic History), final assessment: “excellent”; University of Pavia. Supervisor: Prof. Angelo Moioli
1993 Laurea (four year Degree, MA equivalent) in Lettere moderne (Modern Literature, curriculum and thesis in History), cum laude, University of Milan

ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS
2026 Italian National Scientific Qualification as Full Professor in Early Modern History
2021 Italian National Scientific Qualification as Associate Professor in Early Modern History
2018 Italian National Scientific Qualification as Full Professor in Economic History
2014 Italian National Scientific Qualification as Associate Professor in Economic History

TEACHING ACTIVITIES AND FELLOWSHIPS
2020-2026 Economy and history of globalization, Economic and social history of Early Modern Age (undergraduate courses), University of Milan
2018-2020 Economy and history of globalization, Economy and economic policy History (undergraduate courses), University of Milan
2017-2018 Economic History (held in English, graduate course in Environmental and Food Economics); Economy and economic policy History (undergraduate courses), University of Milan
2015-2017 Economic History (held in English, graduate course in Environmental and Food Economics); Global Economic History (held in English) and Economy and economic policy History (undergraduate courses), University of Milan
2007-2015 Economic History (undergraduate courses), University of Milan
2009-2012 Business History and Economic History (in English for PhD Students) at the
Graduate School in Social, Economic and Political Sciences, University of Milan
2000-2004 Contract Lecturer – Economic history (undergraduate courses), University of Milan-
Bicocca and University of Milan
2025 Oct Visiting professor, Universitet Heidelberg (Germany), Centre for European Historical and Cultural Studies (ZEGK), Department of History, Historisches Seminar (Teaching Mobility Erasmus+, 2 ECTS)
2017 Nov Visiting Fellow at the Graduate School of Economics and Management, Takehoku University, Japan
2012 Sept Fellowship at Peking University, China – Teaching ‘European Studies’ to master and PhD students in collaboration with the European University Centre (EUC), School of Government and Centre for European Studies at Peking University

SUPERVISION OF GRADUATE STUDENTS AND POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWS
2017-2019 Supervisor of Catia Brilli, Research Grant Holder in Economic History, whose grant was funded by PI’s projects, Department of Historical Studies, University of Milan (2017/03- 2019/07).
2019-Present Faculty Member and Graduate Student Advisor of PhD course in History, University of Milan
2013-2017 Faculty Member and Graduate Student Advisor of PhD course in History, culture, social and institutional theories, University of Milan
2006-2013 Faculty Member, Secretary and Graduate Student Advisor of PhD course in Business History & Management, Graduate School of Social, Economic and Political Sciences, University of Milan
2010 Member of the PhD Selection Board for student admissions, Graduate School of Social, Economic and Political Sciences, University of Milan

SUPERVISION OF UNDERGRADUATE DISSERTATIONS AND MASTER’S THESES
She has supervised 100 undergraduate dissertations, 10 Master’s degree theses, and 2 pre-reform four-year degree theses at the University.

ACADEMIC RESPONSABILITIES
2017- 2022; 2023-2025 Member of the Faculty Committee of the Humanities
2016-2021 Member of the Department Committee (Giunta), Department of Historical Studies
2010-2012 Member of the Department Committee (Giunta), Department of History of Society and Institutions
2023–Present – Erasmus+ Traineeship Coordinator for the Bachelor’s Degree Programme in Publishing, Communication Cultures and Fashion Studies
2021–Present Tutor responsible for Internships and Placements for the Master’s Degree Programme in Publishing, Communication Cultures and Fashion Studies
2023–Present Member of the Erasmus+ Traineeship Selection Committee for internship placements in Publishing, Communication Cultures and Fashion Studies (academic years 2023/2024, 2024/2025, 2025/2026)
2020–2024 Member of the Erasmus+ Selection Committee for study-abroad mobility programmes (academic years 2020/2021, 2021/2022, 2022/2023, 2023/2024) for Humanities for Communication Studies.
2016-2021 Member of the Library Council, Library of Historical Sciences and Documentar sources [Biblioteca di Scienze della Storia e della Documentazione storica]
2012-2021 Member of the Joint Commission for the Undergraduate Course in Political Sciences
2013-2016 Member of the Working Group for Undergraduate Courses held in English, in the Committee for International programmes and staff mobility
2010-2011 Member of the Selection Boards for job assignments such as Librarians, Computer technicians, Administrative office, Department of History of Society and Institutions,
2007-2012 Member of the Selection Board for foreign students’ admission, Faculty of Political Sciences


RESEARCH PATHS AND AREAS OF STUDY

Research and scholarly interests focus on the following areas:

Economic history and the history of economic policies in Italy and Europe during the Early Modern period
History of industry and business enterprises from the eighteenth to the twentieth century
The contribution of the nobility to entrepreneurship, investment, and economic development from an international comparative perspective, particularly in the nineteenth century
Business and industrial history of the agri-food sector
History of corporate welfare in Italy and entrepreneurs’ social initiatives
History of water systems, water management institutions, and waterways (canals, navigable canals, and rivers)

Her research has aimed to reconstruct and define some of the distinctive and original features of industry, trade, and credit in Lombardy between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. She has studied firms, entrepreneurs (including entrepreneurial nobility), waterways, commercial and credit networks, particularly in the textile sector. Several works are based on a distinctive research methodology developed during her doctoral studies: a prosopographical approach combining cadastral records with notarial documents. This method made it possible to identify a selective entry point into notarial sources and to reconstruct “from within” both entrepreneurial developments and the networks supporting business systems, especially during the nineteenth century. Through notarial records, she also investigated the monetary and credit-related issues faced by Lombard industrialists and private bankers in the nineteenth century, as well as the contribution of the Lombard nobility to economic development.
In particular, the essay Dal catasto al notaio (2000) illustrates the research methodology, while the article on the entrepreneur Francesco Turati, Strategie d’impresa nella Lombardia ottocentesca (2001), and the monograph Cotone e imprese (first published by Marsilio in 2004 and later revised, updated, expanded to the whole of Lombardy, and republished by Routledge in 2016) present its findings. Besides revealing the technological advancement of early industrial plants and other structural features of firms of the period, the archival records highlighted the asymmetric and hierarchical nature of inter-firm relations, as well as commercial and credit relationships and the varied strategies pursued. Research based on notarial sources also proved fundamental for subsequent publications on cotton and silk firms (including Cotone e macchine, 2006, and Reti e strategie nel setificio, 2009) and on nineteenth-century Lombard monetary and credit issues reconstructed in Il progetto della banca di sconto e d’emissione del Regno Lombardo-Veneto (2007). For this latter work, and in order to investigate the activities of the patriot, economist, and financier Enrico Cernuschi, she also conducted research in Geneva (Charles-François Brot Collection, University of Geneva), Roubaix (Centre des archives du monde du travail), and Paris, at the Bibliothèque Nationale, the Archives Nationales, and the Archives de la Ville de Paris. The extensive corporate archives preserved by Dalmine formed the basis of her essay on managerial elites in the twentieth century (2006), while later studies, in addition to continuing to draw on notarial documentation and governmental and administrative sources, also relied on private papers (held at the Catholic University of Milan in the case of the essay on the Visconti di Modrone family) and contemporary printed sources (in contributions on entrepreneurial associations in the decades following Italian Unification and on entrepreneurs’ social initiatives).
In recent years, her interests have focused primarily on three internationally relevant research strands, around which she has organized several panels and scholarly meetings, including at the World Economic History Congresses held in Kyoto in 2015 and Boston in 2018. The first line of research concerns the contribution of the nobility to economic development in the nineteenth century; the second investigates the characteristics and evolution of agri-food enterprises between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; the third falls within the field of corporate welfare history. Among the outcomes of these studies is the special issue co-edited with Takeshi Abe for the journal Business History, entitled Noblemen-Entrepreneurs, which collected ten articles published online between 2019 and 2022. Within this issue, she co-authored with C. Brilli the article Agriculture and Nobility in Lombardy. Land, Management and Innovation (1815–1861) (2019). The printed monographic issue, published in 2022, also included the introduction co-authored with Takeshi Abe, Noblemen in Business in the Nineteenth Century: The Survival of an Economic Elite? In 2023, the special issue was republished as the Routledge volume Nobility and Business in History. Investments, Innovation, Management and Networks, co-edited with Takeshi Abe.
Within the agri-food field, noteworthy publications include studies on the pasta industry (2015), the dairy sector (Enterprises, Trade and Industry in the Lombardy Dairy Sector. The Origins of Locatelli and Galbani (1860–1914), 2017; La produzione casearia in Lombardia: prodotti, mercati, imprese nell’Ottocento, 2019), and wine history, including the co-editorship of the two Palgrave Macmillan volumes A History of Wine in Europe, 19th to 20th Centuries (2019), in which she authored the essay Wine Production, Markets and Institutions in Italy between the 19th and Early 20th Centuries: A Historical Survey, as well as the chapter “Wine Trade. The Expansion of the International Markets” in Volume 6 of the series A Cultural History of Wine for Bloomsbury, edited by Kolleen Guy. In the field of welfare and social initiatives, mention should be made of the volumes co-edited with P. Battilani and V. Varini, Il welfare aziendale in Italia (Il Mulino, 2017), and with V. Varini, Il welfare in Italia tra pubblico e privato. Un percorso di lungo periodo (FrancoAngeli, 2020), both containing her own contributions on the origins of Italian corporate welfare.
Her scholarly activity has also been devoted to economic history and the history of economic policies in Early Modern Europe and to the Industrial Revolution, taking into account the most recent historiographical developments. The volume La trasformazione economica dell’Europa (Cuem, 2008) was followed by the essay Crescita e trasformazioni tra età moderna e rivoluzione industriale (published in Società e storia, 2011), both focused on the main historiographical and conceptual issues in light of the international historiographical debate. Within the same field, she published Profitti del potere. Stato ed economia nell’Europa moderna (Laterza, included in the series Storia dell’economia mondiale edited by Valerio Castronovo in 2019). An expanded edition of Profitti del potere, updated with new chapters and revised historiographical and bibliographical references, was published by Routledge in 2019 under the title A History of States and Economic Policies in Early Modern Europe. She also contributed two chapters on the Industrial Revolution to the volume Il mondo globale. Una storia economica (Giappichelli), translated into English in 2019 as The Global Economy: A Concise History (Routledge).
The outcome of her long-term research activity is also represented by the Routledge-edited volume Leading the Economic Risorgimento. Lombardy in the 19th Century. The book collects seventeen essays by some of the foremost scholars of nineteenth-century Lombard economic history. She authored the opening essay, Lombardy’s Development in the Long 19th Century, which analyses the characteristics and evolution of regional economic development throughout the century, as well as contributions on the food industries, the cotton sector, and the chapter Noblemen in Business, which provides an overview of the contribution of the Lombard nobility to economic development.
She is currently preparing a monograph on Italian agri-food history, as well as two book chapters for Bloomsbury and Routledge.

GRANTS AND PARTICIPATION IN FUNDED RESEARCH GROUPS
2022–Present Co-Principal Investigator of the project L’anagrafe dei diplomati della Scuola di medicina veterinaria di Milano (1812–1933), coordinated by Stefano Twardzik, Mauro Di Giancamillo, and Silvia A. Conca, and funded by the Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences and the Department of Historical Studies of the University.
2016-2019 Transition Grant 2015-2017 Linea 1B “Unimi per ERC Starting e Consolidator” (Plan of Support to the excellent researcher 2015-2017, University of Milan) for the shortlisted Research Project Proposal for ERC Consolidator Grant (First Step Evaluation ‘A’); Amount of the Grant: 80,000 euro.
2016-2018 Winner of the Grant funded by Cariplo Foundation and Lombardy Region for the improving of the Lombardy research system and the enhancement of the researcher competitiveness on ERC grants (Oct. 2016 - Oct. 2018). [Title of the project: The contribution of nobility to the economic development. Investments, capitals and networks in Nineteenth-Century Lombardy]. Amount of the Grant: 84,000 euro.
2016-2018 Grant (1,500 euro) for the enhancement of the research, reserved to Senior member with international publications in 2015, Department of Historical Studies, University of Milan;
2006-2009 Principal Investigator, FIRST 2006-2007: 2007-2008: 2008-2009; research project designed by the PI and funded three times by the University of Milan), Accumulazione e strategie nel setificio [Enterprise Strategies and capital accumulation in the Italian silk sector (18th-20th centuries)]
2008-2010 Member of the Local Research Unit, University of Milan, PRIN 2007 (funded by the Italian Ministry of Education, Universities and Research, MIUR), Ruoli professionali [Professional roles from early modern to contemporary age], coordinator Prof. Maria Malatesta (University of Bologna, Italy);
2000-2005 Member of the research programme, funded by Cassa di Risparmio di Milano [Savings bank of Milan], Un archivio storico [A virtual historical archive: the registry of Milanese bankers, 1815- 1961],
2003-2005 Member of the Local Research Unit, University of Milan, PRIN 2003 (funded by the Italian Ministry of Education, Universities and Research, MIUR), Mercati e intermediari finanziari [Markets and Financial Institutions in Italy from XVI to XX century: between Development and Regulation].
2000-2002 Member of the Local Research Unit, University of Milan, PRIN 2000 (funded by the Italian Ministry of Education, Universities and Research, MIUR), Istituzioni corporative [Crafts, profession groups and labour associations models in early modern and modern Italy]

RESEARCH AND SCHOLARLY ACTIVITIES ABROAD IN COLLABORATION WITH RESEARCH GROUPS AND INSTITUTIONS
2017 Visiting Fellow at the Graduate School of Economics and Management, Tohoku University, Sendai (Japan), where she carried out research, collaborative activities, and teaching. During this period, she also took part in the activities of the Graduate School of Economics at Kokushikan University, Tokyo (11–24 November 2017).
2015 As part of her research on the European nobility, she spent a period of study and research at the University of Cambridge (22 September–20 October 2015), where she was invited to participate in the activities of the Clare Hall Group in the History of Economic Analysis.

NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTIONAL EVALUATION ACTIVITIES
2026 Expert Foreign Reviewer for the National Science Centre (Narodowe Centrum Nauki), Kraków, Poland (OPUS project).
2025 Expert Evaluator and Rapporteur for the European Commission (European Research Executive Agency – REA) within the Horizon Europe 2021–2027 Programme, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions – Postdoctoral Fellowships (HORIZON-MSCA-PF 2025).
2024 Expert Evaluator for the European Commission (European Research Executive Agency – REA) within the Horizon Europe 2021–2027 Programme, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions – Postdoctoral Fellowships (HORIZON-MSCA-PF 2024).
2023 Expert Evaluator for the European Commission (European Research Executive Agency – REA) within the Horizon Europe 2021–2027 Programme, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions – Postdoctoral Fellowships (HORIZON-MSCA-PF 2023).
2025 ANVUR Research Quality Assessment Evaluator (VQR 2020–2024).
2021 ANVUR Research Quality Assessment Evaluator (VQR 2015–2019).

MEMBER OF EDITORIAL BOARDS
Member of the Editorial Board of the Series Geostoria del territorio [Territorial Geohistory] for the publisher FrancoAngeli (Milan).

REVIEWING ACTIVITIES
Member of the Reading Committee of the Revue française d’histoire économique/French Economic History Review, https://www.cairn.info/revue-francaise-d-histoire-economique.htm. Peer review coordinator in Economic History and Economics for the Journal on-line “Glocalism: Journal of Culture, Politics and Innovation”; peer reviewer for Routledge, Mediterranea. Ricerche storiche, Storia e problemi contemporanei, Storia in Lombardia, Revista de Historia Industrial-Industrial History Review.

CURRENT MEMBERSHIPS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES
Member of SISEM (Italian Society for the Early Modern age History) SISE (Italian Society of Economic Historians), Società Storica Lombarda (Lombardy Historical Society). Affiliate of EBHA (European Business History Association), EHS (Economic History Society), EURHO (European Rural History Organisation), IEHCA, Institut Européen d’Histoire et des Cultures de l’Alimentation.

SELECTED MAIN PUBLICATIONS (from 2004)
AUTHORED BOOKS
2019. Silvia A. Conca Messina, A History of States and Economic Policies in Early Modern Europe, London-New York, Routledge, an updated and expanded version in English of 2016, Profitti del potere. Stato ed economia nell’Europa moderna [Profits from power. State and economy in early-modern Europe], Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2016 [ISBN 9780367135102]
2016. Silvia A. Conca Messina, Cotton Enterprises: Networks and Strategies. Lombardy in the Industrial Revolution 1815- 1860, London-New York, Routledge, 2016 [ISBN 9781138940789];
2016. Silvia A. Conca Messina, Profitti del potere. Stato ed economia nell’Europa moderna [Profits from power. State and economy in early-modern Europe], Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2016 [ISBN 9788858122013];
2008. Silvia A. Conca Messina, La trasformazione economica dell’Europa. Dal Seicento alla rivoluzione industriale [The economic transformation of Europe. From Seventeeth Century to the Industrial Revolution], first edition: Milano, Cuem, 2008; second edition: Milano, Unicopli, 2012, 260 pp. [ISBN 9788860012142];
2004. Silvia A. Conca Messina, Cotone e imprese. Commerci, credito e tecnologie nell’età dei mercanti-industriali. Valle Olona 1815-1860, Venezia, Marsilio, 2004, 383 pp. [ISBN 8831785990];
2004. Silvia A. Conca Messina, I fallimenti a Milano dal 1821 al 1845. La statistica del 1846, [Failures in Milan between 1821 and 1845. The statistics of 1846], Brescia, C.l.u.b., 2004 (with cd-rom), 129 pp. [ISBN: 9788890516740];

EDITED BOOKS
2023. Silvia A. Conca Messina and Takeshi Abe, Nobility and Business in History. Investments, Innovation, Management and Networks, Abingdon-New York, Routledge [ISBN 9781032449562]
2022. Silvia A. Conca Messina (ed.), Leading the Economic Risorgimento. Lombardy in the long 19th century, London-New York, Routledge. [ISBN 9780815370765] DOI: 10.4324/9781351058711
2020. Silvia A. Conca Messina, Valerio Varini (eds.) Il welfare in Italia tra pubblico e privato. Un percorso di lungo periodo [Corporate welfare in Italy between public and private in the long run], Milan, FrancoAngeli. [ISBN 9788835106159]
2019. M. Cavallera, Silvia A. Conca Messina, Blythe A. (eds.) Le vie del cibo. Italia settentrionale (secc. XVI- XX), Roma, Carocci (preface and chapter) [ISBN 9788843076352]
2019. Silvia A. Conca Messina, Stephane Le Bras, Paolo Tedeschi, Manuel Vaquero Piñeiro (eds.), A History of Wine in Europe, 19th to 20th Centuries, Volume I; Winegrowing and regional Features; Volume II: Markets, Trade and Regulation of Quality, London, Palgrave Mcmillan. [Vol. I: ISBN 9783030277710] [Vol. II: ISBN 9783030277932]
2017. Patrizia Battilani, Silvia A. Conca Messina and Valerio Varini (eds.), Il welfare aziendale in Italia [Corporate welfare in Italy between enterprise identity and public image. An historical perspective], Bologna, il Mulino, 2017 [ISBN 9788815267771].

EDITOR OF JOURNAL SPECIAL ISSUES
2019-2022. Silvia A. Conca Messina and Takeshi Abe (guest editors), “Noblemen-Entrepreneurs in the Nineteenth Century. Investments, Innovation, Management and Networks” in Business History (published online 2019-2021, now in print Vol. 64 2022)
2020. Silvia A. Conca Messina, editor of the special issue on Globalization, Market and Economic Policies, «Glocalism. Journal of Culture, Politics and Innovation», Issue 2020: 2. [ISSN 2283-7949]https://glocalismjournal.org/issue-2020-2-globalization-market-and-economic-policies/

JOURNAL ARTICLES AND CONTRIBUTIONS IN BOOKS
2026. Silvia A. Conca Messina, "Wine Trade. The Expansion of the International Markets", Vol. 6 of the series "A Cultural History of Wine", edited by Kolleen Guy, Bloomsbury, in print. [ISBN: 9781350339699]
2024. Silvia A. Conca Messina, « Un nouveau marché de la soie ? La régulation d’un système informel dans l’Italie du XIXe siècle », in Manuela Martini et Catherine Virlouvet (éditeurs), L’émergence de nouveaux marchés, Paris: Institut de la gestion publique et du développement économique, pp. 137-152. [ISBN: 9782111621145]
2024. S. Twardzik, M. Di Giancamillo, Silvia A. Conca Messina, “The project of a register of graduates at the Milan School of Veterinary medicine (1812-1933)”, in (a cura di) I. Zoccarato, A. Grandis, M.P. Marchisio, Proceedings of 45th international congress: [Brescia] August 31st - September 3rd 2022, Brescia: Fondazione iniziative zooprofilattiche e zootecniche, pp. 287-298. [ISBN: 978-88-97562-34-4]
2023. Silvia A. Conca Messina & Takeshi Abe, Nobeconomy: Nobility and Business in History, in Silvia
A. Conca Messina & Takeshi Abe, Preface to Nobility and Business in History. Investments, Innovation, Management and Networks, Abingdon-New York, Routledge, pp. xi-xii [ISBN 9781032449562]
2022. Silvia A. Conca Messina, Lombardy’s Development in the Long 19th Century, in Silvia A. Conca Messina (ed.), Leading the Economic Risorgimento. Lombardy in the 19th Century, London-New York, Routledge, pp. 3-36.[ISBN 9780815370765] DOI: 10.4324/9781351058711-2
2022. Silvia A. Conca Messina, Lombardy’s Food Industries in the Italian Context: An Overview (1870–1914), in Silvia A. Conca Messina (ed.), Leading the Economic Risorgimento, London-New York, Routledge, pp. 61-89.[ISBN 9780815370765] DOI: 10.4324/9781351058711-5
2022. Silvia A. Conca Messina, The Cotton Industry (1815-1914), in Silvia A. Conca Messina (ed.), Leading the Economic Risorgimento, London-New York, Routledge, pp. 121-144. [ISBN 9780815370765] DOI: 10.4324/9781351058711-8
2022. Silvia A. Conca Messina, Noblemen in business, in Silvia A. Conca Messina (ed.), Leading the Economic Risorgimento, London-New York, Routledge, pp. 217-241. [ISBN 9780815370765] DOI: 10.4324/9781351058711-14
2022. Silvia A. Conca Messina, Takeshi Abe, Noblemen in business in the nineteenth century: the survival of an economic elite?, in «Business History», Vol. 64, Issue 2 (in corso di stampa) https://doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2021.1972974 [ISSN 0007-6791/1743-7938].
2021. Catia Brilli, Silvia A. Conca Messina, A rentier class? Milanese nobility and the economy in post-unification Italy, in «European Review of History: Revue européenne d’histoire», 2021, Vol. 28, Issue 1, pp. 1-27, DOI: 10.1080/13507486.2020.1787354 [ISSN: 1350-7486/1469-8293]
2020. Silvia A. Conca Messina, Globalization, market and economic policies: editorial, in: «Glocalism. Journal of Culture, Politics and Innovation», 2020: 2, pp. 1-3, DOI: 10.12893/gjcpi.2020.2.8 [ISSN 2283-7949]
2019. Silvia A. Conca Messina, Catia Brilli, Agriculture and nobility in Lombardy. Land, management and innovation (1815-1861), in «Business History», 2019, pp. 1-25, DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2019.1648435, [ISSN 0007-6791/1743-7938]
2020. M. Vaquero Piñeiro, P. Tedeschi, Silvia A. Conca Messina, “Retard et renouveau de la viniculture italienne au milieu du XXème siècle, 1945-1963”, in Regards croisés sur les transformations des filières et des acteurs de la vigne et du vin. Actes du colloque, Reims, Epure (Press Universitaire de Reims) [in print].
2020. Silvia A. Conca Messina, “Turati, Francesco Antonio”, (1802-1873), in Dizionario biografico degli italiani, Roma, Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, 2019, vol. 95.
2020. Silvia A. Conca Messina, “Attrarre, formare e trattenere le risorse umane: evoluzione dell’impresa e paternalismo industriale in Italia nel XIX secolo” [human resources, enterprises and paternalism in Italy in the 19th Century], in Il welfare in Italia tra pubblico e privato. Un percorso di lungo periodo (con V. Varini), Milano, FrancoAngeli, pp. 99-120. [ISBN 9788835106159]
2020. Silvia A. Conca Messina, V. Varini, “Assistenza pubblica e welfare d’impresa in Italia. Un percorso di lungo periodo” [Public and corporate welfare in Italy”], in Il welfare in Italia tra pubblico e privato. Un percorso di lungo periodo, Milano, FrancoAngeli, pp. 7-16. [ISBN 9788835106159]
2019. Silvia A. Conca Messina, “La produzione casearia in Lombardia: prodotti, mercati, imprese nell'Ottocento” [Dairy production in Lombardy: products, markets, enterprises in the 19th century], in Marina Cavallera, Silvia A. Conca Messina, Blythe A. Raviola, eds. Le vie del cibo. Italia settentrionale (secc. XVI-XX), Roma, Carocci, pp. 301-324. [ISBN 9788843076352]
2019. Silvia A. Conca Messina, “Il settore agroalimentare italiano: una storia di successo” [The Italian agribusiness: a success story] in Marina Cavallera, Silvia A. Conca Messina, Blythe A. Raviola, eds. Le vie del cibo. Italia settentrionale (secc. XVI-XX), Roma, Carocci, pp. 11-14. [ISBN 9788843076352]
2019. Silvia A. Conca Messina, “Wine Production, Markets and Institutions in Italy between Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries: A historical survey”, in S. A. Conca Messina, S. Le Bras, P. Tedeschi, M. Vaquero Piñeiro (eds.), A History of Wine Production and Consumption in Europe, Volume I, London, Palgrave Mcmillan, pp. 177-212. [ISBN 9783030277932].
2019. Silvia A. Conca Messina, Stephane Le Bras, Paolo Tedeschi and Manuel Vaquero Piñeiro, “Terroir, institutions and improvements in European wine history: an Introduction”, in S. A. Conca Messina, S. Le Bras, P. Tedeschi, M. Vaquero Piñeiro (eds.), A History of Wine, Volume I and Colume II, London, Palgrave Mcmillan, pp. 1-18. [Vol. I: ISBN 9783030277710] [Vol. II: ISBN 9783030277932]
2019. Silvia A. Conca Messina, “The Industrial Revolution: technology and society”, in The Global Economy: A Concise History, edited by F. Amatori and A. Colli, New York-Torino, Routledge-Giappichelli, pp. 47- 61 [ISBN 9780367265083]
2019. Silvia A. Conca Messina, “Why Europe? Why Britain?”, in The Global Economy: A Concise History, edited by F. Amatori and A. Colli, New York-Torino, Routledge-Giappichelli, pp. 65-72 [ISBN 9780367265083]
2017. Silvia A. Conca Messina, “Alle origini del welfare aziendale. Industria, manodopera e opere sociali degli imprenditori nell’Italia dell’Ottocento [At the origins of corporate welfare. Industry, workforce and social issues in 19th-Century Italy]”, in Patrizia Battilani, Silvia A. Conca Messina e Valerio Varini (eds.), Il welfare aziendale in Italia fra identità e immagine pubblica dell’impresa. Una prospettiva storica [Corporate welfare in Italy between enterprise identity and public image. An historical perspective], Bologna, il Mulino, pp. 37-94 [ISBN 9788815267771]
2017. Silvia A. Conca Messina, “Salmoiraghi Angelo Andrea Maria Luigi” (1848-1939), biographical profile in Dizionario biografico degli italiani, Roma, Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, 2017, vol. 89, pp.729-734 [ISBN 9788812000326]
2017. Silvia A. Conca Messina, “Perché l’Europa? Perché l’Inghilterra? [Why Europe? Why Britain?]” in Il mondo Globale [The global world], eds Franco Amatori and Andrea Colli (Co-authors Guido Alfani, Franco Amatori, Andrea Colli, Gianluca Podestà, Marina Romani, Luciano Segreto), Turin, Giappichelli, 2017, 61-70. [ISBN 9788892107595] [An English Edition by Routledge is forthcoming].
2017. Silvia A. Conca Messina, “La Rivoluzione Industriale: tecnologia e società [The Industrial Revolution: Technology and Society]” in Il mondo Globale [The global world], eds Franco Amatori and Andrea Colli (Co-authors Guido Alfani, Franco Amatori, Andrea Colli, Gianluca Podestà, Marina Romani, Luciano Segreto), Turin, Giappichelli, 2017 pp. 47-60. [ISBN 9788892107595] [An English Edition by Routledge is forthcoming].
2017. Silvia A. Conca Messina, “Enterprises, Trade and Industry in the Lombardy Dairy Sector. The Origins of Locatelli and Galbani (1860–1914)”, in Claudio Besana, Rita D’Errico e Renato Ghezzi (eds.), Cheese Manufacturing in the Twentieth Century. The Italian Experience in an International Context, Bruxelles, P.I.E. Peter Lang, 2017, pp. 321-335. [ISBN 978-2-8076-0122-2]
2015. Silvia A. Conca Messina, “Ponti Andrea”, (1821-1888)”, biographical profile in Dizionario biografico degli italiani [Italian Dictionary of Biography], Roma, Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, 2015, vol. 84.
2015. Silvia A. Conca Messina, “Pasta in global and local context. A difficult challenge for Italian Enterprises”, Revue française d’histoire économique/The French Economic History Review, n. 3, I, 2015, pp. 102- 115 [ISSN 2426-4062]
2014. Silvia A. Conca Messina, “Nobiltà e affari. I Visconti di Modrone tra terra, industria e impieghi mobiliari (1836-1902)”, [Nobility and business. The Visconti di Modrone family between land, industry and capital investments (1836-1902)], in Gianpiero Fumi (ed.), I Visconti di Modrone. Nobiltà e modernità a Milano secoli XIX-XX), Milan, Vita e Pensiero, 2014, p. 93-130. [ISBN 978-88-343- 2643-5]
2013. Silvia A. Conca Messina, “Welfare aziendale, relazioni industriali ed economia nel secondo dopoguerra. Per una comparazione tra l’esperienza italiana e quella tedesca” [Corporate welfare, industrial relations and economy after World War II. A comparison between Italian and German experience], in A. Cova and M. Minesso (eds.), Welfare in Italia nel secondo dopoguerra. L'assistenza (1945- 1968), monographic number of Bollettino dell’archivio per la storia del movimento sociale cattolico in Italia, n. 1-2, Milan, Vita Pensiero, 2013, pp. 103-114.[ISSN 0390-8240]
2012. Silvia A. Conca Messina, “Dal cooperativismo alla difesa degli interessi. Forme dell’associazionismo imprenditoriale italiano nel ventennio postunitario”, [Entrepreneurial associationism forms in the two decades after Unification], Storia in Lombardia, year XXXII, n. 1, 2012, pp. 23-46. [ISSN 1828-2008]
2012. Silvia A. Conca Messina, “Tra azienda e comunità locali. Opere e provvidenze sociali dei cotonieri lombardi nel XIX secolo [Between enterprise and local communities. Lombardy cotton entrepreneurs and their social action in the 19th Century]”, in Luigi Trezzi and Valerio Varini (eds.), Comunità di lavoro. Le opere sociali delle imprese e degli imprenditori tra Ottocento e Novecento, Milano, Guerini e Associati, 2012, pp. 79-96. [ISBN 978-88-6250-466-9]
2011. Silvia A. Conca Messina, “Crescita e trasformazioni tra età moderna e rivoluzione industriale. Nuove prospettive di storia economica dell’Europa”, [Development and transformation between early modern age and Industrial Revolution. New perspectives on Economic History of Europe], Società e storia, n. 133 (2011), pp. 551-608. [ISSN 0391-6987]
2009. Silvia A. Conca Messina, “Reti e strategie nel setificio: la famiglia-impresa Gnecchi Ruscone (1773-1900)”, [Networks and strategies in silk industry: the family-firm Gnecchi Ruscone (1773-1900)], in F. Amatori and A. Colli (eds.), Imprenditorialità e sviluppo economico. Il caso italiano (secc. XIII- XX), Milan, Egea, 2009, pp. 1209-1249. [ISBN 9788823842410]
2007. Silvia A. Conca Messina, “Il progetto della banca di sconto e di emissione del Regno Lombardo-Veneto. Problemi, proposte e trattative (1853-1859)”, [The project of the discount bank in the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia. Problems, proposals and negotiations (1853-1859)], in «Società e storia», n. 116 (2007), pp. 321-355. [ISSN 0391-6987]
2006. Silvia A. Conca Messina, “Cotone e macchine. L’innovazione e la trasmissione tecnologica nell’industria cotoniera lombarda dell’Ottocento (1820-1860)”, [Cotton and machinery. Technology innovation and transfer in the Lombardy cotton industry] in Michèle Merger (ed.), Transferts de technologies en Méditerranée, Paris, Presses de l’Université Paris-Sorbonne, 2006, pp. 415-430. [ISBN 9782840503743]
2006. Silvia A. Conca Messina, “Gli uomini e i gruppi dirigenti tra mercato e regolamentazione (1906-1960)”,[Directional groups between market and rules (1906-1960)] in F. Amatori, S. Licini (eds.), Dalmine 1906- 2006. Un secolo di industria, Quaderni della Fondazione Dalmine, n. 5, Dalmine, 2006, pp. 233- 261. [ISBN 8873520057]
2005. Silvia A. Conca Messina, “Mercanti-industriali dell’Ottocento: i cotonieri della Valle Olona dalla Restaurazione all’Unità” [Merchant-industrialists in 19th century: cotton entrepreneurs in Olona Valley between Restoration and Unification], Annali di storia dell’impresa, n. 15-16, 2004-2005, pp. 367-396. [ISSN 1120-9445]
2004. Silvia A. Conca Messina, “Enrico Cernuschi imprenditore e finanziere (1821-1896). Tra politica, affari, cultura economica”, [Enrico Cernuschi entrepreneur and financier (1821-1896)], in Giuseppe Bognetti e Angelo Moioli (eds.), Enrico Cernuschi. Milanese e cosmopolita, Milan, FrancoAngeli, 2004, pp. 53-90. [ISBN 8846458370]

LAST ORGANISATION OF SESSIONS AND INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC MEETINGS
2025 Co-organiser (with R. Ramon-Muñoz and A. Duarte Rodrigues) of the session at the Seventh Biennial Conference of the European Rural History Organisation entitled “Quality over Time and across Regions: Evidence from the Olive Oil Sector". Presentation of the nineteenth-century section of the paper (with R. D’Errico), “Conquering Quality: The Transformation of the Italian Olive Oil Sector from the 19th Century to the Present Day”*, University of Coimbra, 9–12 September.
2021 Member of the Organising Committee (with C. Besana, R. D’Errico, and S. Magagnoli) of the International Meeting “Eating on the Move (Nineteenth to Twenty-First Centuries)”*, organised by ICREFH (International Commission for Research into European Food History), Rome, 7–10 September.
2019. Co-organiser of the session Preserved food in the XIX – XXI centuries. Consumption, production, supply chains, Rural History Conference, Paris, 10-13 September (co-organiser C. Besana, A.M. Locatelli, H. Moraes de Vodopives).
2018. Organiser of the session The Struggle for Food: from Malthusian Tension to OGMs at the 18th World Economic History Congress Wave of Globalization, Boston, 29 July-3 August.
2017. Organiser of the session International food markets and local production systems in the 19th-early 20th centuries, European Rural History Organisation International Conference, University of Leuven, Belgium, 11-14 September.
2016. Co-organiser of the international Workshop: Nobility and Economy in the 19th Century. Asian and European cases and context, 29 August, University of Milan (co-organiser Takeshi ABE, Osaka University/Kokushikan University, Japan)
2016. Co-organiser of the session: A cross-border élite: Nobility and business in European and Asian contexts at the 20th Annual Congress of the European Business History Association 2016
/1st World Congress on Business History, 25-27 August, Bergen, Norway (co-organiser Takeshi ABE, Osaka University/Kokushikan University, Japan)
2015. Co-organiser of the session: La France et l’Italie fromagères: une comparaison entre économies et territoires (1870-2000), Première Conférence Internationale d’Histoire et des Cultures de l’Alimentation de l’IEHCA (Institut Européen d’Histoire et des Cultures de l’Alimentation), 26-27 March, Tours, France (with Claudio Besana, Catholic University of Milan; Rita d’Errico, Roma Tre University; Anne-Line Brosse, Claude Delfosse, Erik Thevenod-Mottet de l’Université Lumière Lyon 2, France)
2015. Corresponding Organiser (and participant): Nobility and Business. The Contribution of the Aristocracy to Economic Development in the 18th- 19th Centuries, at 17th World Economic History Congress, Diversity in Development, 3-7 August, Kyoto, Japan (co-organiser Takeshi ABE, Osaka University/Kokushikan University, Japan)
2015. Corresponding Organiser (and participant): Production, Trade and Business organization in the Dairy sector between early Industrialization and Globalization, at 17th World Economic History Congress, Diversity in Development, 3-7 August, Kyoto, Japan (co-organisers: Claudio Besana (Catholic University of Milan), Francesco Chiapparino (Polythecnic University of Marche) and Rita D’Errico (Roma Tre University).

SELECTED PARTICIPATION IN NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL MEETINGS
2025 Speaker and discussant at the ICREFH (International Commission for Research into European Food History) Symposium on “Food Safety in Europe, 19th–21st Centuries”. The paper, presented with R. D’Errico, was entitled “Food Safety in Italian Table Olive Oil from the 19th Century to the 1960s”; she presented the section devoted to the nineteenth century. Université Sorbonne, Paris, 2–5 September.
2024 Speaker at the 2nd SISAm National Conference, “Italian Environmental History from Antiquity to the Contemporary Age: Themes, Sources and Methods”, with the paper “A Precious Resource: Water Management and Water Uses in Milan between Irrigation, Industry and Services (18th–19th Centuries)”. University of Naples Federico II, Naples, 26–28 September.
2023 Speaker at the international conference "The Water Cultures of Europe and the Mediterranean, 1500–1900", with the paper “Managing the Urban Water System in Milan: the ‘Naviglio Interno’ between Local Nobility and State Control (1755–1796)”. Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, 14 September.
2023 Speaker at the IV International Congress Rural Report/SEHA, “Food Sovereignty: Production and Supply Dynamics in the Long Term / Soberania alimentar. Dinâmicas de produção e abastecimento na longa duração”, with the paper “Winegrowing and Landowner Nobility: the Challenge of Vine Diseases in 19th-Century Lombardy”. University of Coimbra, 6 September.
2023 Speaker at the conference "L’émergence de nouveaux marchés", organised by the AFHE (Association française d’histoire économique), in partnership with CIHAM, HISOMA, LARHRA, Triangle de Lyon, and with the support of the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Université Lumière Lyon 2, and the IUF, with the paper “From Informal Rules to Regulation: the Creation of the Silk Market System in Italy (1815–1914)”. Lyon, 29–31 March.
2022 Speaker (with Stefano Twardzik and Mauro Di Giancamillo) at the 45th World Association for the History of Veterinary Medicine Congress (WAHVM), with the paper “The Project of the Graduates Registry of the Milan Veterinary Medicine School (1812–1933)”. Brescia, 1st September.
2021. Discussant and chair at the 6e Conférence Internationale d’Histoire et des Cultures de l’Alimentation de l’IEHCA/online, session Eating at the Factory. Workers’ Meals and Industrial Canteens in a Transnational Perspectives (20th Centuries), Tours, 31 May-4 June.
2019. (with C. Brilli) A rentier class? Nobility and the Industrial Development of Milan in Post- unification Italy, paper presented at the EHS (Economic History Society) Annual Conference, Detroit, 5-8 June.
2019. (with M. Vaquero Piñeiro, Paolo Tedeschi) Atraso y renovación de la vinicultura italiana a mediados del siglo XX, Regards croisés sur les transformations des filières et des acteurs de la vigne et du vin. Colloque organisé dans le cadre du programme de recherche Univigne, Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne, Reims, 23-25 January.
2018. From migration to cruise holidays. Sailing the oceans in the 19th and early 20th centuries, EBHA Conference, Università Politcnica delle Marche, Ancona, 6-7 September.
2018. (with C. Besana e R. D’Errico) The Italian Canning Industry in the 19th and 20th centuries. At the 18th World Economic History Congress Wave of Globalization, Boston, 29 July-3 August.
2018. (with C. Besana e R. D’Errico) The Food Preservation Industry in Italy since the 19th Century. At the preconference The Struggle for Food: from Malthusian Tension to OGMs: and Beyond (19th-21th Centuries), for the World Economic History Congress di Boston 2018, University of Milan, 8-9 March.
2018. (with Catia Brilli), Business, Investments and Innovation: New Insights on Nobility in Northern Italy (19th century). At the 43rd Annual Economic and Business History Society (EBHS) Conference, Jyvaskyla, Finland, 30 May-2 June.
2018. (with Catia Brilli), Nobility and Agricultural Innovation. Agri-business, management and investments in Northern Italy (1815-1861), at the EHS (Economic History Society) Annual Conference, Keele University, England, 6-8 April.
2018. The Italian way of industrialization: the case of the agricultural and food industries, at the preconference of the World Economic History Congress in Boston 2018: Economic Paradigm and performance in the long run (18th to 21th century): Académie des Sciences d’Outre-Mer (organizzato con l’Université Paris-Sorbonne, Paris IV e il CNRS), Paris, 29 March.
2017. Angelo Salmoiraghi e la nascita dell’ottica industriale in Italia, ASSI Conference, Bocconi University, Milan, 6-7 October.
2017. Growth of international markets and transformation of local production systems in the Italian agri-food sector (1861-1914), Rural History Conference, Leuven, 11-14 September.
2017. (with Luigi Lorenzetti), The transformation of dairy processing in the Alpine area from late 19th Century to World War II Rural History Conference, Leuven, 11-14 September.
2017. (with Catia Brilli, Roberto Tolaini), Agri-business and nobility in Northern Italy. Land, investments and markets (1815-1861) 21st Annual Congress of the European Business History Association, Vienna, 24-26 August http://ebha.org/public/C7:paper_file:155
2017. (with Claudio Besana, Rita D'Errico) The origins of 'excellence'. The debate on the quality of milk and cheese between XIX and XX centuries). 3e Conférence Internationale d’Histoire et des Cultures de l’Alimentation/Third International Conference on Food History and Food Studies organised by IEHCA, Institut Européen d’Histoire et des Cultures de l’Alimentation e l’Université François-Rabelais, Tours, 1-2 June.
2016. (with Roberto Tolaini) Nobility and Economy in 19th Century Northern Italy at the International Workshop Nobility and Economy in the 19th Century. Asian and European cases and context, 29 August, Università degli Studi di Milano [participant and co-organiser of the session]
2016. (with Roberto Tolaini) Opening a debate: Nobility and economic transformation in 19th century Northern Italy at the 20th Annual Congress of the European Business History Association 2016 /1st World Congress on Business History, Bergen, Norway, 25-27 August [participant and co-organiser of the session] http://ebha.org/public/C3:paper_file:104
2016. (with Claudio Besana) The promotion of quality in Italian charcuterie from 1945 at the Second International Conference on Food History and Food Studies, Université François- Rabelais, (organised by the IEHCA (Institut Européen d’Histoire et des Cultures de l’Alimentation) in partnership with the University of François-Rabelais and the Equipe Alimentation (LÉA), Tours, France, 26-27 May [participant and co-organiser of the session]
2016. (with Claudio Besana) Gorgonzola Cheese. From the success of the early 19th century to the protection of tipicality in the 1970s at the "Rencontres d'histoire franco-italiennes Produits laitiers, territoires et marchés", organised by Teresma, Université Bordeaux Montaigne, Bordeaux, 1st April [invited]
2015. Nobility and Economy in 19th Century Italy: Investments, Enterprises and Innovations, at the XVIIth World Economic History Congress, Diversity in Development, Session on Nobility and Business. The Contribution of the Aristocracy to Economic Development in the 18th- 19th Centuries 3-7 August, Kyoto, Japan. [corresponding organiser of the session]
2015. Italian Dairy Enterprises: Industry, Markets and Business Organisation (19th-20th Centuries), at the XVIIth World Economic History Congress, Diversity in Development, Session on Production, Trade and Business organization in the Dairy sector between early Industrialization and Globalization, , Kyoto, Japan, 3-7 August. [corresponding organiser of the session]
2015. Family business in Lombardy dairy sector (late 19th-early 20th century), at the Première Conférence Internationale d’Histoire et des Cultures de l’Alimentation [First International Conference on Food History and Food Studies], IEHCA (Institut Européen d’Histoire et des Cultures de l’Alimentation), Tours, France, 26-27 March [co-organiser of the session]
2014. Riconsiderare la nobiltà europea. Investimenti, imprese, innovazioni nella società industriale [Riconsidering European nobility. Investments, enterprises, innovation in the industrial society] seminar, University Ca’ Foscari of Venice, 27 November
2014. Dal sistema inglese all’”american system of manufacturing”. La Crystal Palace Exhibition e l’avvio del trasferimento tecnologico dagli Stati Uniti all’Europa (1851-1876), [From the English system to the “American system of manufacturing”. The Crystal Palace Exhibition and the beginning of technology transfer from the United States to Europe (1851- 1876)], at the international congress Dalle Exhibitions all’Expo. Le Americhe e l’invenzione dell’evento globale, Università degli studi di Milano, 23-24 October
2014. Pasta between local and global context. A hard challenge for Italian enterprises, paper presented at the Preconference for the XIIth Congress of the CISH, Globalization, national patterns of development and strategies of firms (XIXth-XXIth century), Université Paris Sorbonne (Paris IV), 18-19 September
2013. Entrepreneurs and innovation in Lombardy (1796-1859), paper presented at the 17th European Business History Association (EBHA) Congress, Innovation and growth, Uppsala University, 22-24 August
2012. Il Welfare aziendale e l'economia italiana nel secondo dopoguerra. Un profilo comparativo, [Corporate welfare and Italian economy after WWII. A comparative perspective] at the congress Welfare in Italia nel secondo dopoguerra. L'assistenza (1945-1968), University of Milan and Catholic University, Milan, 27-28 November
2012. Trade, war, fiscal state and economic policy in early-modern Europe. A way of development, seminar, School of Government, Peking University, 29 September.
2012. Perché l’Europa? Le origini dello sviluppo e la recente storiografia dell’età moderna, [Why Europe? The roots of development and the recent historiography], seminar within the cycle Meetings on economic and social history, Bocconi University, 5 March
2011. Tra azienda e comunità locali. Opere e provvidenze sociali dei cotonieri lombardi nel XIX secolo, al convegno Le opere sociali delle imprese e degli imprenditori tra Ottocento e Novecento [Between enterprises and local communities. Welfare and cotton Lombardy entrepreneurs (19th and 20th centuries)], Milano, University of Milan-Bicocca and Fondazione Pirelli, 17-18 February
2011. I Visconti di Modrone imprenditori tessili nell’Ottocento [Visconti di Modrone as textile entrepreneurs in the nineteenth century], at the conference I Visconti di Modrone. Economia e società a Milano tra età moderna ed età contemporanea, Milan, Catholic University of Milan, 8 February
2010. Controllo delle acque e sviluppo industriale: il caso del fiume Olona, [Control of water sources and industrial development: the Olona river] at the international meeting Controllare il territorio. Norme, corpi e conflitti tra medioevo e prima guerra mondiale, University of Milan, Abbiategrasso-Milan, 15-16-17 September.
2010. Crescita e trasformazioni strutturali tra età moderna e rivoluzione industriale. Nuove prospettive di storia economica dell’Europa, [Economic development and structural transformations between early modern age and Industrial Revolution. New perspectives on European economic history], seminar, University of Pisa, 12 May.
2009. Manufacturing, trade, consumption. Firms and goods in Lombardy between 18th and 19th century, European Business History Association (EBHA) and Business History Conference (BHC) on Fashions: Business Practices in Historical Perspective, Bocconi University, Milan, 11-13 June.
2008. Reti e strategie nel setificio: la famiglia-impresa Gnecchi Ruscone (1815-1900) [Networks and strategies in silk industry: the family-firm Gnecchi Ruscone (1815-1900)], at the four-year congress by the Italian Society of Economic Historians (SISE): Imprenditorialità e sviluppo economico. Il caso italiano (secc. XIII-XX) [Entrepreneurship and economic development. The Italian case (XIII-XX centuries)], Bocconi University, Milan, 14-15 November.
2006. The territorial dynamics of cotton enterprises in Lombardy, at the 14th International Economic History Congress, Helsinki, Session 28, The territorial Dynamics of Industrialization, August 2006, published online at www.Helsinki.fi/iehc2006/papers1/Conca.pdf. [paper proposal selected by the Scientific Committee]