Analysing structural changes in corporate networks over the Italian political unification. The case of the business Neapolitan area

The contribution deals with the structural changes in the business network of a particularly significant Italian metropolitan area of business, Naples and its province, during the very troubled century over the Italian Unification, dated in 1861 (1808-1913), when Southern Italy moved from being the pre-unitarian kingdom of the Two Sicilies, a closed economic system under the absolute Bourbon monarchy, to being part of the new liberal nation state, Italy; and thus Naples moved from the status of capital city to the role of a peripheral city of the new state. It is especially concerned with the corporate cross-shareholding with a particular focus on secondary ownership relations across firms an important feature of corporate governance of the Italian variety of capitalism. It looks back to early 19th century. It analyses a limited metropolitan area.