Abstract

The essay deals with the issue of modernization and administrative reforms in the Kingdom of Naples during the French Decade. It focuses on the policy of road construction and administrative reforms of Public Works, particularly emphasizing the politics of Joseph Bonaparte and of his Ministry of Interior, Miot. Indeed, the reforms in Public Works sector approved in those two years - amministrazione Ponti e strade - settled institutional and political preconditions on which the next government led by King Murat would have realized the general reform of Public Works sector, founding the "Direzione Ponti e strade, Consiglio e Scuola di applicazione" and marking an important step in Southern Italy's modernization.