Son of Salvatore Genovese, a shoemaker, and Adriana Alfinito of San Mango, Antonio Genovesi was born in Castiglione, near Salerno[1] in 1713.

A follower of Vico's thought, and even more of Locke's, at least regarding his philosophy, Genovesi managed to keep his minister's functions only due to the intervention of the archbishop of Taranto, Celestino Galiani, and of Pope Benedict XIV himself.

It was in fact the beginning of a true cultural revolution, accomplished in the second half of the eighteenth century by the Enlightenment, a need of complete transformation of the burdens of the Ancien Régime in all its manifestations.

In this cultural atmosphere, the political thought of Filangieri was decisively of a reforming nature: he was called "an anglophile under French clothing" by Paola Zanardi, in her work on the influence of Hume in the Neapolitan Enlightenment.

Antonio Genovesi was influenced by the new Italian cultural landscape, and tried through studies and experimentation to describe the concept of public happiness, to be obtained by freeing mankind from its state of "obscurity".

He understood the state of cultural, material and spiritual decadence, aftermath of the Neapolitan golden age, and felt the need to intervene in order to restore the former glory of the arts, commerce and agriculture.

Through this work, Genovesi tried to show a way for reform in some key sectors: education, agriculture (mainly large properties), government protectionism towards commerce and industry.