Marine insurance firms, business networks, and the modernisation of the financial sector in Southern Italy (1820–1900)

Abstract

In this article, we study the trajectories of marine insurance companies within the Naples business network over the nineteenth century in connection with the business interests of local elites. First, we provide a detailed reconstruction of the marine insurance sector during the century, filling a gap in the literature. Second, backed by original historical and prosopographical reconstructions, the business network evolution of interlocking directorates shows how the shift of the local business system from the centrality of marine insurance companies towards banks is related to the strategic behaviours of local elites, aimed at preserving their power after the Italian unification. This interpretative perspective demonstrates the coherence of our findings with the ‘passive modernisation’ hypothesis in the Southern financial system.