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Who were Cesare Beccaria and Pietro Verri in Milan’s Enlightenment period?

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People walk and shop inside the ornate Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan, Italy, with its glass-domed roof, decorative mosaics, and luxury store entrances. — Milan Shoppers in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Milan.

During the 18th-century Enlightenment in Milan, Pietro Verri and Cesare Beccaria were central figures in a circle of reformist intellectuals who sought to modernize society through rational thought and administrative change.12

Pietro Verri (1728–1797): A political economist, government official, and author, Verri was the driving force behind the Società dei Pugni and the influential periodical Il caffè ("The Coffeehouse"), which he directed from 1764 to 1766. As a public official, he worked to reform Milan’s fiscal system, notably by abolishing "tax farming" and simplifying tariffs.3
Cesare Beccaria (1738–1794): A collaborator of Verri, Beccaria became an international figure with the publication of his seminal work, Dei delitti e delle pene (1764). This treatise applied utilitarian principles to criminal justice, famously arguing against the use of torture and capital punishment. Later in life, he served on the Supreme Economic Council of Milan and lectured on public economy, contributing to early economic thought.12

Together, they represented the intellectual ferment of the era, advocating for rational governance and the protection of human dignity against the injustices of the old regime.12