This work offers an expression of the life and thought of the nineteenth-century Italian political economist Carlo Cattaneo. This volume showcases pensiero come principio d'economia publica , Cattaneo’s pioneering vision of economic growth that emphasised the central role of intelligence and will in economic processes, the value of knowledge and innovation and the importance of liberty. This classic of Italian thought is framed by a long biographical sketch of Cattaneo’s life before, during and after the Italian Risorgimento and an afterword that demonstrates the continuing relevance of Cattaneo’s social, political and economic ideas to today’s ongoing debate about the importance of a free society.