The Spread of Railroads in Italian Provinces: a GIS Approach

In a Geographical Information System (GIS), we built a complete digital geodatabase containing each railway line opened in Italy from 1839, when the first short trunk connecting Naples to Portici was opened, to 1913, when the national network was essentially completed. The data presented in this paper consist of an entirely new series on the railway extension in Italian provinces (NUTS 3 level) on annual bases. Given the importance of early infrastructural development for subsequent regional and urban growth, the proposed database aims at further stimulating the debate among regional economists interested in the Italian case. The article ends by suggesting directions for future research.