Produzione olearia e traffici commerciali nel Mediterraneo del lungo Settecento: una comparazione tra aree ad elevata specializzazione colturale (1709-1815)

Oil production and commercial trade in the Mediterranean in the 18th century: a comparison of highly specialised cultivation areas (1709-1815) Over the course of the eighteenth century the cultivation of the olive tree experienced a major development in many regions of Mediterranean Europe. It continually changed its altitude profile and geographical expansion. Firstly, this study aims to provide, an overview of the development of olive groves in the various areas of the Mediterranean in the period between the Spanish War of Succession and the Napoleonic era. This comprises the following locations: Andalusia to the South of France, Tyrrhenian to the Adriatic coast, Maghreb to the peninsulas and archipelagos of the Ionian and the Aegean Sea. Secondly this study aims to examine the planting and horticultural techniques used as well as the pressing and the conservation of the oil extracted. The reasons behind the dynamic expansion of Mediterranean olive groves were both out of convenience as well as a rapidly evolving market. The enormous investment of capital and labour in the Italian countryside were made in order to meet the growing demand of oil on the international market, mainly France (primarily Marseille soap manufacturers) and Northern Europe. In addition to the wider contextual examination as noted above, this study focuses on the importance of Porto Maurizio and the Ligurian Riviera (one of the main producers of olive oil) in connection to oil production in Europe. It examines the extent of traffic along trade routes, the definition and location of nodes (ports) which were key trade points for urbanised hinterlands and peripheral regional capitals. The research has allowed us to piece together an understanding of the corporate structures of the main oil companies operating in the western Ligurian territory, to ascertain their turnover and to better understand the relationship of the alliances both locally and on the French and Atlantic markets. The extensive research from a variety of sources has highlighted many unpublished aspects of an important peripheral mercantile and entrepreneurial market which until now has been rather unclear.