Likes are a perfectly acceptable currencyCan I pay with like for this story 🤔🤣😂😜
Likes are a perfectly acceptable currencyCan I pay with like for this story 🤔🤣😂😜
Glad you like it! I would say that Verona's population will boom, but I am not sure if it will come close to challenge Milano or Torino. If my figures are correct, 1848 Verona has 53000 inhabitants, while Milan has 190000 and Turin has 160000 (Venice should be around 114000). Closeness to other major centers and easy access through rail, in time, could also encourage people to just work in Verona and live nearby (unless residence in the Confederal District gives some kind of privilege). AFAIK, to the present day, Verona has a population of around 250000, realistically I would say that ITTL 2021 Verona had at least double this size, but I wouldn't say much more than that (Washington DC has around 670k inhabitants as we speak). Probably @LordKalvan can give a better answerVerona as a capital in modern times is an awesome and original idea.
Another major population centre far in the North of Italy? Or would you say it would lead to significantly smaller Torino, Milano or other big cities of the North?
Also, depending on where the border with Austria is finally going to be drawn, more Italianisation of parts of South Tyrol as it is fairly close by?
Thank you.Verona as a capital in modern times is an awesome and original idea.
Another major population centre far in the North of Italy? Or would you say it would lead to significantly smaller Torino, Milano or other big cities of the North?
Also, depending on where the border with Austria is finally going to be drawn, more Italianisation of parts of South Tyrol as it is fairly close by?
Thank you.
The choice of Verona may look unusual, but - as Prince Ferdinando said - there are very good practical reasons behind it.
I do agree with @Tarabas: the Greater Verona will not grow beyond 650-700 k, although the Confederal District of Verona will likely have a population close to one million.
A nice plus is that the new capital can be built on modern lines, preserving the old city, and a second plus is that most of the area surrounding the old city is government property. The Confederation is going to make some serious money, since the real estate price will grow pretty fast.
I anticipate that both Veneto (in particular Vicenza) and southern Lombardy (Mantua and Cremona) will greatly benefit from a capital district close by.
If anything, Turin should also benefit: the capital of Sardinia is still there. Milan should not be really affected: its growth will follow the economic development of Lombardy, although there is also a little plus since Milan too will be a regional capital.
The shores of Lake Garda will see a boom of tourism, and a summer house on the lake will become a must for all those with the money to buy it.
The big loser, in terms of population, will be Rome obviously: I certainly do not see this as a loss. IOTL the urbanistic development of Rome post 1870 was a nightmare, and its ultimate legacy is a sprawling, unmanageable city. In 1948 Rome will be a much smaller city than IOTL, but a much more beautiful one.
There should be benefits for Florence too, and Naples (but that is a story which has yet to be told). Palermo will bloom under the dynasty of Savoia-Sicily.
There are going to be three areas with significant linguistic minorities: Cisalpine Tyrol (if it is taken) with German and Ladino speakers, the County of Gorizia, with Slovene speakers mainly in the North, and obviously French-speaking Savoy (potentially a fourth one in Dalmatia, but here I do anticipate a slow but constant increase of Venetian dialect). A forced or even a state-driven Italianization is not in the cards: there never was such a policy in Savoy, and there is not going to be anything of the kind in the Cisalpine Tyrol or in the County of Gorizia. The reasons for my optimism should be quite obvious: the annexation of these area came early enough (and I would add in a much less contentious way), and there will be provisions in the Confederal Constitution for the protection of linguistic minorities. This said, it is probably unavoidable that Italian will be at least a second language (but this is not different from Italian becoming the prestige language everywhere in Italy, relegating dialects to a secondary role).
Hear, hearAbout urbanism, an earlier development of modern sensibilities would be one hell of a boon for Italy - and I wonder if other countries could follow suit as well, instead of mowing down their historical heritage with reckless abandon; not just in Europe, but also in other continents, and especially in those countries lucky enough to avoid direct colonization.
Hear, hear
However, I think that not every building needs necessarily to be preserved, and that the demands of modernization will impose better access to the old city centers.
A reasonable compromise between preservation and modernization should be the ideal goal, with a dash of greed because nothing happens without an incentive.
The progressive urbanization of the population cannot be simply wished away, but it must be addressed with some thoughtfulness.
While I certainly agree with you on the disasters produced by Musso or Ceasescu, the damp and overcrowded tenements of the center of Paris are not missed by anyoneI was thinking more along the lines of the "let's demolish it even though it makes no sense to do so except in the mind of a sociopath" mentality that led Mussolini to bulldoze half of Rome and Ceausescu to do the same to half of Romania, not to mention the contemporary-to-Ferdinando's rearrangement of Paris along "fuck the poors" lines.
Wasn't he inspired by Turin, by the way?While I certainly agree with you on the disasters produced by Musso or Ceasescu, the damp and overcrowded tenements of the center of Paris are not missed by anyone
Thank you, Baron Haussman 👍
Was he? I admit my ignorance in the matter, but it sounds a bit surprising, I would go as far as saying "un-French"Wasn't he inspired by Turin, by the way?
I read it somewhere, might be in Eco's "Foucault's Pendulum", now I could not find it anywhere; admittedly, some sites say that is the other way around. I need to look further into the matter, though...Was he? I admit my ignorance in the matter, but it sounds a bit surprising, I would go as far as saying "un-French"
Piacenza has asked for annexation to Sardinia, while Parma, Reggio and Modena are (informally) united as "Cispadanian Duchies", under a Provisional Government.May I ask about the situation in Emilia? I'm a bit fuzzy about it. (Romagna I guess it depens about how stuff goes down in Rome).
I have to admit that I am very much surprised by the news that Savoy was home to significant coal deposits.Quick question: I have always been curious about the possibility of an Italian unification without the French help in order to keep the Savoy region and Nizza, so I checked what kind of natural resources were available in those region and I found out that there were a lot coal deposits in Savoy but I found nothing regarding the availability and the richness of those deposits... Considering that Italy have always been starved of coal, could the possession of those deposits change the speed and the type of industrialization of the Italian region? Does any of you have any references ?
Yes, I had seen that map, but Savoy was never included among the coal fields of France, and there is no report of mining activities ever.Only Wikipedia image for coal deposit in France
Coal-mining region - Wikipedia
en.m.wikipedia.org
I do agree with you. I found some studies regarding coal mining in France before and after WWI, and even when the depots in Pas-de-Calais or Lorraine were under German control (or worse, when the Germans actively destroyed those before retreating) there is not a single mention of Savoy...Yes, I had seen that map, but Savoy was never included among the coal fields of France, and there is no report of mining activities ever.
It makes me think that either the coal seams were inaccessible or not commercially viable (or possibly the quality was poor).
The only area with significant coal mines in Italy was in Sardinia, in the Sulcis coal fields: even those mines were marginal, since the coal contained over 3% Sulphur.
This is all I could dig up...Quick question: I have always been curious about the possibility of an Italian unification without the French help in order to keep the Savoy region and Nizza, so I checked what kind of natural resources were available in those region and I found out that there were a lot coal deposits in Savoy but I found nothing regarding the availability and the richness of those deposits... Considering that Italy have always been starved of coal, could the possession of those deposits change the speed and the type of industrialization of the Italian region? Does any of you have any references ?
Thanks for the links. It looks like that there was coal mining in Savoy during WW1, since the French government imposed a maximum price not to be exceeded, but unfortunately there is no indication of production or coal quality, at least from the first quick glance at the links.Hello,
This is all I could dig up...
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