Reconstructing the demographic evolution of Piedmont from 1612 to 1900

The object of this work is to examine the specific demographic profile of the Piedmont region in Northern Italy, embracing a long period from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century. The approach of this study is basically based on macro serial data and aggregative methods. These data largely comprise census information and parish series of baptisms and burials and are used to estimate the regional population’s size and the main fertility and survival trends. The analysis covers a crucial and critical period from the last catastrophic cycle of the seventeenth- century plague to the beginning of the Italian demographic transition in the late nineteenth century. As a general conclusion, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries Piedmont was characterized by a «high-pressure» demographic regime, with high birth and death rates, and a critical sensitivity to short-term economic crises. The study also shows the coexistence of different territorial patterns in the regional demographic evolution.