Abstract

After the pioneering work by Luciano Cafagna, most Italian economic historians assume that silk industry has played a major role in modern economic growth in Italy. This article deals systematically with the different meanings of this statement. Silk helped to kick-start the growth in Lombardy in the first half of the 19th century, while its macroeconomic role in the development of the Italian economy after the Unification has been limited. However, it may have had important microeconomic spillovers throughout the century.