Carlo Ilarione Petitti count of Roreto (21 October 1790 – 10 April 1850)[1] was an Italian economist, academic, writer, counsellor of state, and senator of the Kingdom of Sardinia.

[1] In 1813 at Alessandria he married the noblewoman Maria Teresa Gabriella Genna of the counts of Cocconato[1] (1791–1826); the marriage produced four children: Alessandro (1813–1841), Agostino (1814–1890), Maurizio (1816–1852), and Giuseppe (1824–1886).

[1] After graduating in law from the University of Genoa in 1816, he entered the administration of the Kingdom of Sardinia, for which he had already worked on an unpaid basis, becoming vice-intendant general of Savoy[1] at Chambéry.

He was identified by Metternich, together with Vincenzo Gioberti, Massimo d'Azeglio and Cesare Balbo as one of the most eminent Piedmontese Liberals of the time and is regarded as one of the leading intellectuals in the cultural and political spheres of the Risogimento and was described by Gian Mario Bravo as one of the few who emerged not so much because of their aristocratic titles or through their political activities (though both did apply in his case), but above all because of his work as an academic, as an economist, and as a commentator and journalist.

His 1845 essay on the advantages to be gained by the development of railways received great attention in political circles both at home and abroad.