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This open access library edition is supported by Knowledge Unlatched. Not for resale. Driving Modernity This open access library edition is supported by Knowledge Unlatched. Not for resale. Explorations in Mobility Series Editors: Gijs Mom, Eindhoven University of Technology Mimi Sheller, Drexel University Georgine Clarsen, University of Wollongong The study of mobility opens up new transnational and interdisciplinary approaches to fields including transport, tourism, migration, communication, media, technology, and environmental studies. The works in this series rethink our common assumptions and ideas about the mobility of people, things, ideas, and cultures from a broadly understood humanities perspective. The series welcomes projects of a historical or contemporary nature and encourages postcolonial, non-Western, and critical perspectives. Volume 1 Atlantic Automobilism Emergence and Persistence of the Car, 1895–1940 Gijs Mom Volume 2 The Devil’s Wheels Men and Motorcycling in the Weimar Republic Sasha Disko Volume 3 Driving Modernity Technology, Experts, Politics, and Fascist Motorways, 1922–1943 Massimo Moraglio This open access library edition is supported by Knowledge Unlatched. Not for resale. Driving Modernity Technology, Experts, Politics, and Fascist Motorways, 1922–1943 5 Massimo Moraglio Translated from Italian by Erin O’Loughlin berghahn N E W Y O R K • O X F O R D www.berghahnbooks.com This open access library edition is supported by Knowledge Unlatched. Not for resale. Published in 2017 by Berghahn Books www.berghahnbooks.com © 2017 Massimo Moraglio Originally published in Italian as Storia delle prime autostrade italiane (1922–1943) in 2007 by Nuova Trauben Edizioni, Turin The translation of this book has been funded by SEPS: Segretariato Europeo per le Pubblicazioni Scientifi che, Via Val d’Aposa 7, 40123 Bologna, Italy, [email protected], www.seps.it Additional fi nancial support provided by the Institut für Berufl iche Bildung und Arbeitslehre at the Technische Universität Berlin All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purposes ofcriticism and review, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, in- cluding photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without written permission of the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Moraglio, Massimo, author. | O’Loughlin, Erin, translator. Title: Driving modernity : technology, experts, politics, and fascist motorways, 1922 - 1943 / Massimo Moraglio ; trans- lated from Italian by Erin O’Loughlin. Other titles: Storia delle prime autostrade italiane (1922-1943) . English Description: New York : Berghahn Books, [2017] | Series: Explorations in mobility ; Volume 3 | “Originally published: Storia delle prime autostrade italiane (1922-1943) in 2007 by Nuova Trauben Edizioni, Turin.” | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifi ers: LCCN 2016053583 (print) | LCCN 2017006980 (ebook) | ISBN 9781785334498 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781785334504 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Express highways--Italy--History. | Express highways--Economic aspects--Italy--History. | Transporta- tion and state--Italy--History. | Puricelli, Piero. | Italy--Politics and government--1922-1945. Classifi cation: LCC HE363.I83 E94613 2017 (print) | LCC HE363.I83 (ebook) | DDC 388.1/22094509041--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016053583 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN: 978-1-78533-449-8 hardback ISBN: 978-1-78533-472-6 open access ebook An electronic version of this book is freely available thanks to the support of libraries working with Knowledge Unlatched. KU is a collaborative initiative designed to make high quality books Open Access for the public good. More in- formation about the initiative and links to the Open Access version can be found at knowledgeunlatched.org This work is published subject to a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial No Derivatives 4.0 International license. The terms of the license can be found at https://creativecommons. org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. For uses beyond those covered in the license contact Berghahn Books. This open access library edition is supported by Knowledge Unlatched. Not for resale. To Erin, Julian, and Owen This open access library edition is supported by Knowledge Unlatched. Not for resale. This open access library edition is supported by Knowledge Unlatched. Not for resale. Contents 5 Acknowledgments ix List of Figures and Tables x List of Acronyms xii Introduction. 1 Chapter 1. The Roads before the Motorways 27 Chapter 2. 1922: The Motorway from Milan to the Prealpine Lakes 41 Chapter 3. Motorway Mania in Italy in the 1920s 65 Chapter 4. The Ordinary Roads Problem 84 Chapter 5. From the Pedemontana Project to the Construction Suspension 99 Chapter 6. A Case Study: The Turin–Milan Motorway 116 Chapter 7. The 1930s: The European Utopia and the Nationalist Fulfillment 131 Chapter 8. The Bankruptcy and Legacy of the Motorways 150 Conclusion. 164 Bibliography 177 Index 191 This open access library edition is supported by Knowledge Unlatched. Not for resale. This open access library edition is supported by Knowledge Unlatched. Not for resale. Acknowledgments 5 This volume is the outcome of research that started many years ago, and that involved many colleagues and scholars. There is a long list of people who helped me on the topic of Italian motorways, including Lando Bortolotti, Francesco Cassata, Valentina Fava, Andrea Giuntini, and Federico Paolini, whose works unveiled a lot to me. I am also grateful for the suggestions I received from Hans-Liudger Dienel, Mathieu Flonneau, Peter Merrimann, Gijs Mom, Reiner Rupp- mann, Frank Schipper, Bruce E. Seely, Laurent Tissot, Helmuth Trischler, Thomas Zeller, and so many others. I would also like to thank many archival institutions and their staff members: Archivio di Stato di Roma; Archivio Storico Fiat; Touring Club Italiano’s Centro di documentazione; Centro di documentazione del Museo dell’Automobile di Torino; Archivio Autostrade per l’Italia; Archivio Autostrade Torino-Milano; Archivio di Stato di Torino; Archivio storico della Città di Torino; and Archivio generale della Provincia di Torino. Special thanks go to the Segretariato europeo per le Pubblicazioni scientifiche (SEPS), which has contributed to the translation of this book. Special thanks also go to the Institut für Berufliche Bildung und Arbeits- lehre at the Technische Universität Berlin, which generously backed the publication of this book. I nonetheless remind readers that the author is fully and solely responsible for the contents of this volume. M.M. This open access library edition is supported by Knowledge Unlatched. Not for resale. Figures 5 Figure 0.1. Italian motorways built from 1922 to 1943. Author elaboration from Aipcr/Piarc 1909–1969 (Paris: Aipcr/Piarc, 1970). Courtesy of World Road Association. 26 *Figure 2.1. First Milan–Lakes project, 1922. Piero Puricelli, Rete stradale per autoveicoli Milano–Lago di Como Milano–Varese Milano–Lago Maggiore. Relazione (Milano: Umberto Grioni, s.d. [1922]). Courtesy of Autostrade per l’Italia S.p.A. 49 *Figure 2.2. Second Milan–Lakes project, 1923. Le autostrade da Milano ai Laghi (Milano: Società anonima Autostrade, 1923). Courtesy of Autostrade per l’Italia S.p.A. 49 *Figure 2.3. Celebration for Benito Mussolini during the inauguration of the Milan–Lakes works, 1923. Piero Puricelli, Le autostrade e la Milano–Laghi (Milano: Bestetti e Tuminelli, 1925). Courtesy of Autostrade per l’Italia S.p.A. 53 *Figure 2.4. Inauguration of the Milan–Lakes motorway, 1924. Puricelli, Le autostrade e la Milano–Laghi. Courtesy of Autostrade per l’Italia S.p.A. 54 *Figure 2.5. Milan–Lakes motorway, 1924. Puricelli, Le autostrade e la Milano–Laghi. Courtesy of Autostrade per l’Italia S.p.A. 56 *Figure 2.6. Milan–Lakes motorway, 1924. Source: Puricelli, Le autostrade e la Milano–Laghi. Courtesy of Autostrade per l’Italia S.p.A. 56 Figure 3.1. Bergamo–Milan motorway, late 1920s. Author’s collection. 76 Figure 3.2. Bergamo–Milan motorway, late 1920s. Author’s collection. 77 This open access library edition is supported by Knowledge Unlatched. Not for resale. Figures xi Figure 5.1. Draft of the Pedemontana motorway, 1928. Italo Vandone, “L’autostrada Pedemontana Torino–Trieste,” Le Strade 5 (1928), 133–135. Courtesy of Touring Club Italiano. 102 Figure 6.1. Turin, starting point of Turin–Milan motorway, early 1930s. Autostrada Torino–Milano Archive. Courtesy of SATAP, S.p.A. 126 Figure 6.2. Turin–Milan motorway, early 1930s. Autostrada Torino–Milano Archive. Courtesy of SATAP, S.p.A. 127 *Figure 7.1. First “European” motorway network, drafted by Puricelli, 1927. Piero Puricelli, “Che cos’è un’autostrada e dove occorre,” in L’autostrada Bergamo–Milano (Bergamo: Istituto italiano d’arti grafiche, 1927), 3–7. Courtesy of Autostrade per l’Italia S.p.A. 135 Figure 7.2. Puricelli’s 1934 European motorway network, as presented at the PIARC conference. Piero Puricelli, “La rete autostradale europea,” Le strade 12 (1934), 732–733. Courtesy of Touring Club Italiano. 144 *Figures 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6, and 7.1 are not available in the open access edition due to rights restrictions. This open access library edition is supported by Knowledge Unlatched. Not for resale. Acronyms 5 AASS Azienda autonoma statale della strada (National Road