Decadent Infrastructure? Representations of Water in the Kingdom of Naples in the Early Nineteenth Century

In 1809 Joachim Murat, king of Naples from the previous year, ordered a detailed survey aimed at obtaining a clear picture of the situation in the kingdom, its natural, physical, demographic, social and economic conditions: the “Statistica”. As this article explores, the views of the provincial editors of the Statistica reveal a kingdom divided by its hydraulic infrastructure, from areas of sophistication in the Abruzzi provinces and Terra di Lavoro to areas of quite basic standards in the Calabrian provinces, to areas of scarcity in Molise. There is a tendency to concentrate on what is lacking rather than what works: decay, abandonment and poor maintenance are frequent themes. Despite this, what is also striking is the ability of loca lcommunities throughout the kingdom to achieve a level of self-sufficiency, making a virtue of necessity by growing and milling their own food (with or without the aid of irrigation), producing their own cloth (linen, wool), and treating their own illnesses (mineral springs).