Abstract

This paper presents national and regional time-series estimates for the non-metallic mineral products industries in post-Unification Italy. This group is poorly documented in the sources: the time-series estimates are largely conjectural, but the present conjectures are reasoned and reasonable. In the main, kiln products appear to have represented a growing share of the industry, and cement production in particular grew particularly fast. The regional series evidence the industry's inevitable diffusion, with only comparatively minor exceptions. The processing of marble, and gypsum, was concentrated in the regions where the raw material was particularly abundant (respectively Tuscany and Sicily); cement production was energy-intensive, and much like the cotton industry it appears to have concentrated in Piedmont and Lombardy.