Description
Book Synopsis On March 26th, 1923, in a formal ceremony, construction of the Milan–Alpine Lakes autostrada officially began, the preliminary step toward what would become the first European motorway. That Benito Mussolini himself participated in the festivities indicates just how important the project was to Italian Fascism. Driving Modernity recounts the twisting fortunes of the autostrada, which—alongside railways, aviation, and other forms of mobility—Italian authorities hoped would spread an ideology of technological nationalism. It explains how Italy ultimately failed to realize its mammoth infrastructural vision, addressing the political and social conditions that made a coherent plan of development impossible.
Trade Review “…a welcome contribution to the literature on Fascist public works, most of which focus on architecture or urban planning, few of which study road-building, one of the most prolific areas of public works under Mussolini’s regime… a much needed and valuable contribution to the history of motorway building in Europe.” • Journal of Transport History
“This book contributes authoritatively to the growing field of mobility history, and it also demonstrates how fruitful the history of technology can be to the study of social and political change.” • Journal of Modern History
“Based on prodigious archival research, Driving Modernity explores how the Italian autostrada project grew out of a somewhat fantastic idea by a coterie of Milan businessmen into an internationally recognized technological icon of Fascist Italy. This book speaks clearly and convincingly about the political values embedded in infrastructures.” • Thomas Zeller, University of Maryland, College Park
“Moraglio’s work is a deep dive into a grandiose and distinctively modern project in interwar Italy. Never before has the complex ideological character of these motorways been so clearly analyzed, from the moment of their conception to the widespread adoption of the automobile.” • Mathieu Flonneau, Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, LabEx EHNE
Table of Contents Acknowledgments
List of Figures and Tables
List of Acronyms
Introduction
Chapter 1. The Roads before the Motorways
Chapter 2. 1922: The Motorway from Milan to the Prealpine Lakes
Chapter 3. Motorway Mania in Italy in the 1920s
Chapter 4. The Ordinary Roads Problem
Chapter 5. From the Pedemontana Project to the Construction Suspension
Chapter 6. A Case Study: The Turin–Milan Motorway
Chapter 7. The 1930s: The European Utopia and the Nationalist Fulfillment
Chapter 8. The Bankruptcy and Legacy of the Motorways
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
