"To console and alleviate the human mind": Ferdinando Galiani's attempted re-publication of Serra in the 1750s

It is very well known that Antonio Serra's Breve trattato delle cause che possono far abbondare li regni d'oro e d’argento dove non sono miniere, of 1613, was first "discovered" by the Tuscan born mathematician-agron-omist Bartoleomo Intieri, who developed a strong interest in political economy just after Naples became an independent state in 1734. Together with Celestino Galiani, Intieri had ridden out in 1734 to be the first to welcome Charles of Bourbon to his new Kingdom. In the following years, the two men discussed the future of the Neapolitan state, its economic development, and financial disorders, the record of which is preserved in a series of letters by Intieri to Celestino Galiani of the late 1730s