This is the first social and cultural study of the principal "free" professions in Italy between unification and the First World War. It is a major contribution both to the history of the bourgeoisie in Italy and to the developing role of professions in modern European society. The first section discusses the formation of modern Italian engineering, notarial occupations, law, and medicine. The second section provides an analysis of the interrelation among the professions, the nobility and Parliament, and examines the social status of members of the professions.

This book tells the story of the principal European intellectual professions from the demise of the ancient regime to the rise of the European Union. A historical study which applies sociological concepts it creates a European-scale picture of the professions spanning over two centuries of change.

Uniting the legal, medical, engineering and accounting professions it provides a comparative historical and sociological exploration of 'Professional Europe'.

The book:

- comprehensively investigates the roots and origins of the four professions

-...