Ascesa e crisi del notabilato in Puglia

Abstract

By recurring to specific spatial and temporal contexts, the purpose of this research study is to highlight the role of the notable classes, whose agency, during the Italian liberal age, seems to focus on a multi-level work (even at an institutional level) as the mouthpieces of local interests and needs, with a clear and often outspoken commitment (despite the diversity of their experiences) to the common good as well as to the creation of a real «comprehensive» Unification, putting their skills and knowledge at the service of the whole country. This role began to decline in the years between the nineteenth and the twentieth centuries, when the entire system became more complex due to the spread of organized associations and to the increase of government functions at both a local and central level.