Cosmopolitan Networks in Commerce and Society 1660–1914

MONIKA POETTINGER
they could successfully exploit local opportunities in emerging sectors
such as cotton printing, silk production, and insurance. To guarantee
the long-term profitability of their ventures, foreign entrepreneurs
actively supported and financed technical schooling and specialized
training. They also encouraged the institutionalization of the
Chamber of Commerce as the political voice of the merchant elite. In
so doing they generated a social capital of technical innovation and
economic modernization which made the financing of first mechanical
ventures possible, although they generated less profit than the
traditional silk industry.
The presence in Milan of such an active group of foreign entrepreneurs
facilitated a successive chain migration that enriched Milan
with entrepreneurial talent in traditional and innovative sectors.
Kramer, Hartmann, Mylius, and all the other foreign entrepreneurs
who followed them during the nineteenth century thus achieved
what Cattaneo had thought almost impossible: an almost complete
change in the social and economic structure of Lombardy as a precondition
for industrialization. After unification, the erstwhile
Arcadia was by far the most advanced region of Italy, well prepared
to lead the development of the newborn state.
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