Ever wondered how people of Genoa felt when Rome fell in 476 AD? Their Empire for 700 years gone, roads decaying, long-distance trade ceased, traditional businesses collapsed, pirates appearing on the shores? People had to get by with what they could find. Genoa fell in hibernation not waking up until the 10th century AD.
The Genovese must have had similar feelings at the end of the French Empire in 1814. Seventeen years earlier, most embraced the ideals of “Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité” when Napoleon invaded and declared the Ligurian Republic. They got quickly disappointed. The French wanted money for their wars. The well being of the Genovese was not on the agenda
Italian caricature of Napoleon “The thief of Italy”
Losing their treasures and foreign investments was just the start. In 1800 the town was besieged by the Austrian Army for months and almost starved to death. In the hope of rescuing their sea-born trading business, the Ligurian Republic joined France in 1805 but to no avail. A year later the continental blockade was declared. It did not weaken the United Kingdom but destroyed the economy of all coastal towns in Europe. By 1814, Napoleon was out and Genoa broke. No business left, all savings gone, living on a rocky shore. How would they survive? Would Genoa again become a place left behind by history?
Europe in 1848
One thing had changed, though. In 1815, Genoa became part of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia. It was its only harbor and vital for the link to Sardinia. Business was not great but kept the 100’000 Genovese alive. Until 1830, the Government in Turin pursued a protectionist trade policy but then gradually opened Genoa to British Ships. Business started to wake up from 25 years of hibernation. The roads to Turin were rough. It took six days to travel from the capital to Genoa - crossing the Apennine on a donkey’s back took time. But at least Piedmont-Sardinia had direct access to the sea and did not have to go through Milan and Venice, which were under control of its arch-rival, the Austrian Empire. It was an open secret, that Turin supported the Italian unification and wanted to remove Austria from Italy. Something that actually happened in 1861 – we get to that in another blog.
Genoa’s harbor full of sail and paddle steamboats around 1860 – the new railway opened in 1853 is visible in front of the docks
Genoa’s strategic value led to an ambitious plan – linking the capital and harbor with a railway line. This new technology had just become available with the first public railway line between Liverpool and Manchester in 1830. Stephenson’s locomotive Rocket was not only a proof of concept, it demonstrated that transport could be revolutionized. Today, travelling by rail from Genoa to Turin takes a bit more than 2 hours. We can now spend 5 ½ days on other productive activities – that’s how GDP increases!
Northern Italy’s third railway line – built 1845 - 1853
Piedmont-Sardinia’s strategic interest in the railway line was so strong that it financed it from its own pockets. This was extraordinary. Railway projects were usually privately financed at the time. Approved in 1844, construction started in February 1845 and was completed nine years later in December 1853. The 169 km long route included 32 bridges and the 3.3 km long Giovi tunnel, at that time the longest tunnel in the world. Building the tunnel and the tracks leading up to it was challenging. Safe dynamite was not invented yet (happened in 1867). Using Black Powder caused many lethal accidents. Also, skilled engineers were rare. The Swiss Polytechnic Institute in Zurich opened its door in 1855. The Polytechnic University in Turin followed in 1859 only. Building this railway line was a real tour de force. With its 3.6% incline, the ramps leading up to the Giovi tunnel were so steep, that Stephenson’s atelier in England had to build special back-to-back locomotives called “Mastodons of Giovi” to push the carriages up the ramp. For comparison, the ramps on the steep old Gotthard line in Switzerland are 2.7 % only.
The specially built “Mastodons of Giovi”
The railway line was not an immediate commercial success. This had to wait for the industrialization of Northern Italy which only started with the unification in 1861. Larger manufacturing centers in Turin and Milan did not open until the 1880ies when the exploitation of the abundant waterpower became possible. But Genoa was Northern Italy’s only deep-sea harbor where big steamships could berth. The port of Venice was too shallow and had to be dredged first. It was also much further away from the Atlantic where all the commercial action happened. The base for a flourishing shipbuilding business was laid. Genoa got a new lease of life as Italy’s main harbor and shipyard. The town started growing and soon burst out of its confining walls.
Relatively quickly, railways were built everywhere in Italy. But Genoa stayed at the heart of the new spider net once it was established. Tomorrow we are going to see what other consequences this had.