Le riforme agrarie austriache e la gelsibachicoltura nel paesaggio lombardo

The territory of northern Milan, particularly in the Varese and Brianza area, between the 18th and 19th centuries represented one of the largest areas of Italy where the cultivation of mulberry trees and the breeding of silkworms was developed. A series of economic, legal and environmental motivations favoured a real agrarian revolution and a consequent transformation of the landscape. In this context, the Verri family played an important role: Pietro, the firstborn, was interested in protecting the role of the majorate and convinced that the nobility should only have the role of directing and controlling investment decisions, and Carlo, the most combative of the three younger brothers, directly interested in the management of investments and the practical application of new scientific theories and the operational techniques that derived from them. Carlo, who became independent after a long battle against Pietro, will thus be responsible for the management of his properties, located in the territory of Biassono, and author of some of the most essential Italian agronomy treatises of the early 19th century, the result of direct experimentation carried out by him in the field, particularly in mulberry cultivation. This essay describes the events of this transition from the old regime embodied by Pietro Verri to the nascent entrepreneurial bourgeoisie, of which Carlo appears to be one of the forerunners. Based on archive documents, the appearance of the resulting agricultural landscape is reconstructed, taking the territory of Biassono as a true case study.