This volume provides an overview of current research in the history of Italian technology in the long run, from the early Middle Ages to the 20th century. The contributors focus on different aspects of Italian creativity in a local, transnational and global dimension, tracing the trajectory from primacy to relative decline. The themes range from the creation and establishment of new technologies in laboratories or enterprises, the processes of learning, diffusion, and copying and the institutions involved in the generation of a national technological capability and innovation system. Comparative studies are included in order to illustrate special features of the Italian case. The industries covered in this volume range from silk, iron and steel production, to electricity generation and telecommunications.

Special Issue: Italian Technology from the Renaissance to the 20th Century
Edited by Anna Guagnini and Luca Mola

Included in this volume:
Inventors, Patents and the Market for Innovations in Renaissance Italy
The Microcosm: Technological Innovation and the Transfer of Mechanical Knowledge in the Habsburg Empire of the Sixteenth century
Diamonds in Early Modern Venice: Technology, Products and International Competition
A Global Supremacy. The Worldwide Hegemony of the Piedmontese Reeling Technologies, 1720s-1830s
Raw Materials, Transmission of Know-How and Ceramic Techniques in Early Modern Italy: a Mediterranean perspective
Anabaptist Migration and the Diffusion of the Maiolica from Faenza to Central Europe
A Bold Leap into Electric Light. The Creation of the Società Italiana Edison, 1880-1886
Keeping Abreast with the Technology of Science. The Economic Life of the Physics Laboratory at the University of Padua, 1847-1857
Mechanics “Made in Italy”: Innovation and Expertise Evolution. A Case Study from the Packaging Industry, 1960-98
Telecommunications Italian Style. The shaping of the constitutive choices (1850-1914)
Beyond the Myth of the Self-taught Inventor. The Learning Process and Formative Years of Young Guglielmo Marconi
Technology Transfer, Economic Strategies and Politics in the Building of the First Italian Submarine Telegraph
Lights and Shades: Italian Innovation Across the Centuries
European Steel vs Chinese Cast-iron: From Technological Change to Social and Political Choices (4th Century BC-18th Century AD)
The Italian National Innovation System. A Long Term Perspective, 1861-2011