L'architettura per la lavorazione dello zucchero. Le tecnologie costruttive per l'industria italiana del '900

At the end of the 19 th century, in Europe it took place a profound revolution in the industrial sector that led to the testing new materials and production techniques. The economic and cultural development of Italy was, at that time, synchronic with North European countries and its industrial sector was taking the opportunity to valorize the chain between linked production while was going to diversify them. Among them, an important sector (strongly encouraged by government policies by Bieticole Reforms) is constituted by the sugar production industry. In fact, in the first half of the 20th century, they were born about forty-five production plants, scattered throughout the national territory and marking the economy and the types of industrial architecture in a decisive way (which represent the multitude of innovations and new experimentations in construction techniques and purely Made in Italy materials. In particular, Southern Italy, albeit slow in incorporating the industrial cultures beyond the Alps, is characterized precisely by an important presence of sugar factories which, if on the one hand are the result of the agricultural vocation of the territory, on the other are also the unique expression of tradition and constructive innovation of the time. This research therefore finds its validation in the architectural and technological analysis of the Policoro sugar factory (1955), on the Ionian coast of Basilicata. This complex, in fact, has taken on a strong socio-industrial value during the production phase in order to become, today, an industrial cathedral whose memory must be preserved with an indepth knowledge process that will become a useful tool for the community for the recovery of this fragile heritage.