Before modern growth. Italy’s GDP 1660-1913

The aim of this work is to present annual series of GDP in Italy from 1660 to the Unification of the country in 1861. Given the lack of primary information on the product in the period we are dealing with, the elaboration follows an indirect method. Price and wage series are used to quantify agriculture in GDP. The non-agricultural GDP is reconstructed through urbanisation. The result is that per capita product declined from the 1730s to the 1880s. From the 1880s onwards, the Italian economy recovered rapidly and began its modern growth. The new GDP series 1660–1860, linked to the recently revised national accounts series from 1861 to 1913, makes it possible to place the beginning of modern Italian growth in a long-term perspective.