Fabbriche (Factories)

Factories have radically transformed the appearance of Italy, turning it from a predominantly agricultural country into an industrialised nation. Antonio Galdo narrates these sites – from Milan to Marghera, from Pontedera to Torino, from Terni to Genoa – telling us about the lives of Alberto Pirelli, Pietro Barilla, Aristide Merloni, Pilade Riello and many others, a generation of entrepreneurs who often started with nothing yet founded some veritable industrial cities. We start in Milan, from the Pirelli plant in the Bicocca area, which ended up employing over 20,000 collaborators and featured services such as a company restaurant, a cultural centre, a library and staff accommodation, and became a neighbourhood in its own right. The area completely changed and, today, it's evolved into a multifunctional hub housing several companies, as well as the University of Milano-Bicocca and the Arcimboldi Theatre. We then move on to Sesto San Giovanni with Enrico Falck, Turin with Giovanni Agnelli and Battista Farina, Pedrignano where Pietro Barilla founded his company by the same name, Pontedera with Piaggio, as well as Valdagno with Count Marzotto's textile factory, Bagnoli and its Ilva steelworks, and many other cities and factories. This is the story of an Italy in constant transformation, between past and present.  

Fabbriche. Storia, personaggi e luoghi di una passione italiana (Factories. History, figures and sites of Italian passion)
Antonio Galdo
Einaudi, 2007