I treni e l'unificazione d'Italia. L'epoca delle costruzioni ferroviarie

The physical construction of modern Italy began in 1861, with the foundation of the Kingdom of Italy. The historical period coincided with the early industrial development of north-western Italy, and so the new infrastructure system developed in response, on the one hand, to the need to join together all the fragmentary pieces that formed the country and, on the other, to the general tendency to strengthen those areas that were economically and industrially stronger even before unification. The system that was being created in the 1860s by the Italian State before unification suffered continuous interruptions and was substantially without transverse connections, those with more difficult construction caused by the need to cross the Apennines. Within five years, from 1861 to 1866, the size of the railway system doubled, going from little more than 2,000 km to more than 4,000. The management of railway was entrusted to limited companies. The government guaranteed the company a contribution for each kilometer of railway built. In 1863 the tracks extended down the Adriatic coast as far as Brindisi, in order to attract the transit of the India Mail London- Brindisi-Bombay, the most important trade of the world. In 1863 Rome was linked to Naples, in 1864 the line from Bologna to Florence via Pistoia was opened, in 1866 Rome was linked to Florence and Ancona and in 1867 with Pisa. In 1874 the Genoa-Pisa line were completed as far as the frontier with France; later, in 1879 the Naples-Foggia line went into operation. In the same period some of the longer tunnels were opened. Those of Fréjus was realised between 1857 and 1871. The Gottardo tunnel came into being in 1882 and the Sempione tunnel in 1906. The opening of the alpine passes effectively permitted the connection of Italy to central Europe, flinging open the doors to more and more easily reachable markets. In last twenty years of the 19th century, in Italy began the strong development of the secondary railways, with a generalised movement to promote the branching out of the railway, as an instrument of progress. With the completion of the main lines, the outlying centers began to clamor for the trains that, in an agricultural society without for the moment the automobile, seemed the only tie with civilised life capable of bringing economic development and political and social modernisation. Italy was a country with an ancient infrastructure and numerous lively towns. These towns were often, in their municipal activity, the protagonists of the completion and management of a secondary railway system on the peninsula. The development of narrow gauge technology, that allowed narrower curves and steeper slopes thereby reducing the need for great engineering works, and the achievement of particular gripping systems like the rack railway, made it possible to link by rail the many small towns and villages located in the hills and on the slopes of mountains.

Se si rileggono i testi dei patrioti del Risorgimento, si trovano frequenti accenni alle “strade ferrate”, come allora si chiamavano, ritenute indispensabili per collegare gli Italiani, divisi fra i diversi Stati preunitari. Abolizione dei dazi, libertà del commercio, circolazione delle idee furono associati all’idea di nazione italiana, trovando la realizzazione “fisica” nelle ferrovie, che dovevano unire il territorio della penisola dalle Alpi alla Puglia e alla Calabria. Al momento dell’unità d’Italia, non esisteva una rete ferroviaria nazionale, sebbene il Piemonte di Cavour avesse sviluppato un cospicuo reticolo di strade ferrate, che misuravano 850 km. Seguivano, per l’estensione dei binari, il Lombardo-Veneto con 607 km, il Granducato di Toscana con 323 km, lo Stato Pontificio con 132 km, il Regno delle Due Sicilie con 128 km, il Ducato di Parma con 99 km, il Ducato di Modena con 50 km. Molti tratti erano in corso di costruzione, ma non si aveva una rete interstatale, perché gli Stati preunitari avevano operato separatamente l’uno dall’altro. Con l’eccezione della tratta da Torino a Bologna, in corso di completamanto nel 1860, per il resto le reti erano state pensate per servizi interni a ciascuno Stato. Per mettere in comunicazione gli Italiani delle diverse regioni e creare un mercato nazionale, i governi post-unitari dedicarono dunque alle ferrovie i maggiori investimenti per lavori pubblici. Nell’arco di un decennio, si completò l’ossatura fondamentale della rete, con 6.600 km nel 1871, anno in cui fu anche inaugurata la galleria del Fréjus di 13,6 km, la più lunga del mondo, che poneva l’Italia sulla rotta della “Valigia delle Indie”, il più intenso traffico mondiale di merci fra l’Inghilterra e la popolosa colonia delle Indie britanniche. Negli anni ’70 furono estesi i collegamenti e nel 1879 fu approvata la legge sulle ferrovie complementari - destinate a completare la rete della penisola e delle isole maggiori - che aprì un cinquantennio di costruzione di ferrovie secondarie, con la ramificazione della rete. Allo stesso tempo, fu estesa la rete delle strade ordinarie, che dovevano servire soprattutto a collegare i centri minori con le stazioni ferroviarie, trasformando le mulattiere in carreggiabili.