Senior officials in the central agricultural administration (Italy, 1861-1943)

The data were compiled primarily from "Linda Giuva and Maria Guercio (eds.), L’amministrazione centrale dall’Unità alla Repubblica. Le strutture e i dirigenti, vol. III, I ministeri economici (Bologna: il Mulino, 1992)", supplemented with additional biographical and institutional sources.

The dataset can be used for prosopographical and institutional analysis of educational backgrounds, career trajectories, administrative continuity, institutional reorganization, and the changing role of specialized expertise within the state apparatus. Overall, this dataset supports the argument, substantiated by an extensive body of literature, that technicians faced persistent difficulties in gaining access to the state administrative structures of the Kingdom of Italy.

At the same time, the evidence collected so far suggests the growing importance of specialized technical training, alongside the persistence of more general administrative and bureaucratic career patterns. It includes both well-known figures linked to academic and scientific institutions and lesser-known “bureaucratic technicians” whose role has received limited historiographical attention. The dataset is a work in progress.

The number of officials identified is subject to change because the main source does not cover other ministries relevant to this survey, including Public Works, Finance, Public Education, and the Interior. Completing the survey and reconstructing the profiles of senior officials will require further research, particularly in the holdings of the Archivio Centrale dello Stato in Rome. Missing information, especially on educational background, should be interpreted as not yet identified rather than as evidence that an official lacked specialized training.