The success of the nobility in perpetuating their leadership and influence in public life in the second half of the nineteenth century depended to no small extent on their ability to also remain a part of the wealthy upper class within Piedmontese society. Much as elsewhere in Europe, inclusion in the hereditary nobility of Piedmont had traditionally implied wealth, if only because an aristocratic way of life presupposed a certain level of affluence. As a high court official expressed it in the 1840s, a respectable aristocrat needed “a patrimony sufficient to sustain with splendor the decorum of the noble title.”

Such wealth, however, became even more essential in an era when nobles no longer enjoyed corporative privileges. To begin with, a sizeable unearned income made possible the extensive leisure time that titled ladies and gentlemen required in order to occupy honorary offices and take part in the activities of voluntary political, religious, philanthropic, cultural, and recreational associations and clubs. More concretely, wealth was a prerequisite for old aristocratic families who wished to play the roles that gave them the greatest prestige and influence in the decades after 1848, namely those as organizational founders, patrons, and financiers.

This chapter will examine the issue of aristocratic wealth by addressing the following questions: How rich were Piedmontese nobles? What was the range of wealth-holding within the nobility?