This paper presents national and regional time-series estimates for the
non-metallic mineral products industries in post-Unification Italy. This
group is poorly documented in the sources: the time-series estimates are
largely conjectural, but the present conjectures are reasoned and reasonable.
In the main, kiln products appear to have represented a growing
share of the industry, and cement production in particular grew particularly
fast. The regional series evidence the industry's inevitable diffusion,
with only comparatively minor exceptions. The processing of marble, and
gypsum, was concentrated in the regions where the raw material was particularly
abundant (respectively Tuscany and Sicily); cement production
was energy-intensive, and much like the cotton industry it appears to have
concentrated in Piedmont and Lombardy.