Far from the passive property. An entrepreneurial landowner in the nineteenth century Papal State

Relying on various primary sources, this article aims to explore the experience of the Roman Prince Alessandro Torlonia as entrepreneurial landowner during the nineteenth century. The analysis of two specific cases in different areas of the Papal State will be used to identify the peculiar features of Torlonia agrarian entrepreneurship that granted him high profitability. His experience is even more interesting if considered in the light of the backward context of the country, on the economic periphery of Europe; at the same time it suggests a reconsideration of the consolidated vision of absolute immobilism of the area.