Access the Online Archive
Search the Historical Archive of the Pirelli Foundation for sources and materials. Select the type of support you are interested in and write the keywords of your research.
    Select one of the following categories
  • Documents
  • Photographs
  • Drawings and posters
  • Audio-visuals
  • Publications and magazines
  • All
Help with your research
To request to view the materials in the Historical Archive and in the libraries of the Pirelli Foundation for study and research purposes and/or to find out how to request the use of materials for loans and exhibitions, please fill in the form below. You will receive an email confirming receipt of the request and you will be contacted.
Pirelli Foundation Educational Courses

Select the education level of the school
Back
Primary schools
Pirelli Foundation Educational Courses
Please fill in your details and the staff of Pirelli Foundation Educational will contact you to arrange the dates of the course.

I declare I have read  the privacy policy, and authorise the Pirelli Foundation to process my personal data in order to send communications, also by email, about initiatives/conferences organised by the Pirelli Foundation.

Back
Lower secondary school
Pirelli Foundation Educational Courses
Please fill in your details and the staff of Pirelli Foundation Educational will contact you to arrange the dates of the course.
Back
Upper secondary school
Pirelli Foundation Educational Courses
Please fill in your details and the staff of Pirelli Foundation Educational will contact you to arrange the dates of the course.
Back
University
Pirelli Foundation Educational Courses

Do you want to organize a training programme with your students? For information and reservations, write to universita@fondazionepirelli.org

Visit the Foundation
For information on the Foundation's activities and admission to the spaces,
please call +39 0264423971 or write to visite@fondazionepirelli.org

Industrial Mobilisation

The story of factories during the Great War sheds light on a little-known aspect of Italy’s industrial culture

Factories during war: industrial culture applied to weapons and everything else a soldier may need in the heat of the battle. Oddly, this is a relatively unexplored part of Italy’s manufacturing history. Yet, learning how factories coped with the production demands of war can be enlightening for many, including the managers and businesspeople who today are called to lead Industry 4.0. It’s a matter of being aware of the past, understanding what the present is rooted in and paying attention to those who came before. Which is precisely why it is useful to read Industriarsi per vincere. Le imprese e la Grande Guerra (Industrialisation for the victory. Businesses and the Great War), edited by Andrea Pozzetta and published just a few weeks ago.
The book is a crescendo of images and words that come together to form an interesting mosaic made up of portraits of factories and, more importantly, of women and men who fought the Great War from behind the scenes, working endless hours in order to keep the military production efforts moving.
The volume is an unprecedented iconographic journey about the extraordinary technical and productive mobilisation of Italian factories during the World War I emergency. Canteens, mess tins, canned meat, grey and green wool for uniforms, ammunition, shovels, ice axes all the way to vehicles – from bicycles and cars to aeroplanes and ships – create a fascinating fresco of day-to-day life during the hardships of war, full of previously unpublished documents, postcards and vintage photos. This carousel of items would soon become symbols of Italy’s war effort and shape the collective identity of generations of soldiers and civilians. However, these items are also the tangible manifestation of a thriving industrial culture. As Alessandro Barbero writes in the book’s preface: “This is not just a voyage through faded memories but a lucid commentary on Italy during the first World War: the Italy of our grandparents and great-grandparents, who were called to sustain the most daunting effort our country has ever had to face.”
Pozzetta begins with a description of the “factory of industrial mobilisation”, then proceeds to examine the relations between business culture, scientific research and the demands of war. The book then examines specific developments in the textile and food industries, as well as the inner workings of weapon and cannon production, and the aeronautical, shipbuilding and steel industries as well as the manufacturing of those objects belonging to the so-called “daily life of wartime.”
What emerges is a unique culture of production, which nevertheless represents a proud moment in Italy’s industrial history, and one which had a major impact on things to come. As Pozzetta explains: “Wartime innovation and technical experimentation led to the full-fledged boom of the aeronautics, automotive and mechanical engineering sectors, which in a matter of years would reshape the life and customs of an entire society. On the other hand, factories and workshops witnessed the very first, embryonic forms of welfare and the earliest formal talks between factory-owners and unions. Also, for the first time ever, women became a real presence in the industrial workplace.”
All in all, Industriarsi per vincere is a book that deserves to be read carefully if we hope to rediscover the long and winding road that led to Italy’s industry as we know it. And then there are the photos. Those hundreds of faces with eyes that pierce the page and arrive straight to our soul, like a stern warning we can’t afford to ignore.

Industriarsi per vincere. Le imprese e la Grande Guerra
Andrea Pozzetta (ed.)
Interlinea, 2018

The story of factories during the Great War sheds light on a little-known aspect of Italy’s industrial culture

Factories during war: industrial culture applied to weapons and everything else a soldier may need in the heat of the battle. Oddly, this is a relatively unexplored part of Italy’s manufacturing history. Yet, learning how factories coped with the production demands of war can be enlightening for many, including the managers and businesspeople who today are called to lead Industry 4.0. It’s a matter of being aware of the past, understanding what the present is rooted in and paying attention to those who came before. Which is precisely why it is useful to read Industriarsi per vincere. Le imprese e la Grande Guerra (Industrialisation for the victory. Businesses and the Great War), edited by Andrea Pozzetta and published just a few weeks ago.
The book is a crescendo of images and words that come together to form an interesting mosaic made up of portraits of factories and, more importantly, of women and men who fought the Great War from behind the scenes, working endless hours in order to keep the military production efforts moving.
The volume is an unprecedented iconographic journey about the extraordinary technical and productive mobilisation of Italian factories during the World War I emergency. Canteens, mess tins, canned meat, grey and green wool for uniforms, ammunition, shovels, ice axes all the way to vehicles – from bicycles and cars to aeroplanes and ships – create a fascinating fresco of day-to-day life during the hardships of war, full of previously unpublished documents, postcards and vintage photos. This carousel of items would soon become symbols of Italy’s war effort and shape the collective identity of generations of soldiers and civilians. However, these items are also the tangible manifestation of a thriving industrial culture. As Alessandro Barbero writes in the book’s preface: “This is not just a voyage through faded memories but a lucid commentary on Italy during the first World War: the Italy of our grandparents and great-grandparents, who were called to sustain the most daunting effort our country has ever had to face.”
Pozzetta begins with a description of the “factory of industrial mobilisation”, then proceeds to examine the relations between business culture, scientific research and the demands of war. The book then examines specific developments in the textile and food industries, as well as the inner workings of weapon and cannon production, and the aeronautical, shipbuilding and steel industries as well as the manufacturing of those objects belonging to the so-called “daily life of wartime.”
What emerges is a unique culture of production, which nevertheless represents a proud moment in Italy’s industrial history, and one which had a major impact on things to come. As Pozzetta explains: “Wartime innovation and technical experimentation led to the full-fledged boom of the aeronautics, automotive and mechanical engineering sectors, which in a matter of years would reshape the life and customs of an entire society. On the other hand, factories and workshops witnessed the very first, embryonic forms of welfare and the earliest formal talks between factory-owners and unions. Also, for the first time ever, women became a real presence in the industrial workplace.”
All in all, Industriarsi per vincere is a book that deserves to be read carefully if we hope to rediscover the long and winding road that led to Italy’s industry as we know it. And then there are the photos. Those hundreds of faces with eyes that pierce the page and arrive straight to our soul, like a stern warning we can’t afford to ignore.

Industriarsi per vincere. Le imprese e la Grande Guerra
Andrea Pozzetta (ed.)
Interlinea, 2018