The Friulian Presence in Hungarian Industry with Particular Regard to the Meat Industry of Debrecen in the 19th century

Emigration has been a crucial experience for the inhabitants of the Italian Friuli region, at least since the 13th century when Friulian peddlers started journeying from country to country. When it grew into a mass phenomenon in the 19th century, an increasing number of Friulian workers arrived in Hungary, and were involved in industrial activities as both entrepreneurs and employed labour. They gained a leading role in the Hungarian meat industry with the establishment of salami factories that created the conditions for the spread of a new product, the salami. In Debrecen, two Friulian families pursued this activity with numerous Friulian workers and one of them, the Vidoni company, became the third-largest salami factory in Hungary. The activities of the Friulian factories are considerable not only for Hungarian industrial history, but also because they shed light on the migratory processes and broaden the horizon of historical knowledge on Hungarian-Italian relations.