Your challenge if you choose to accept it is to find a way to have France and Spain with the same population density in 2012 as Italy with a PoD in the decade following the Congress of Vienna in 1815.
Your challenge if you choose to accept it is to find a way to have France and Spain with the same population density in 2012 as Italy with a PoD in the decade following the Congress of Vienna in 1815.
Well, for a time, France was the most populous state in Europe for a time, but the simply didn't have the resources to maintain that massive population, and keep it growing.
I am less knowledgeable of French societal trends, but as for Spain, the erasure of the Al-Hambra decree would be a good start. In addition a protestant reformation would have done wonders to increase the population.