Abstract

The aim of this work is to review the set of methodologies for the statistical mapping of industrial districts in Italy. Following the theoretical and empirical work of Giacomo Becattini, several attempts of mapping industrial districts have been carried out over the last decades. The adoption of an official statistical methodology has indeed fostered the quantitative study of the phenomenon and its scientific and political recognition. Nevertheless, many contributions constantly increased the methodological ground for mapping techniques and promoted the academic debate on their application to industrial districts.