Happy Birthday Carbonia, City of Mines, Art and Culture!
To know the origins of my beloved city, you need to go back a good 76 years.
It was in 1936 that Benito Mussolini consented to the setting up of a city within the mineral basin of Sulcis, and he had the brilliant idea of building the city with the goal of obtaining the maximum possible from the coal reserves. In just two years, a workers’ village in the ‘mouth of a mine’ attracted labourers from various parts of Sardinia plus mainland Italy. During the first phase, temporary workers constructed the city, but subsequently, many workers decided to settle in Carbonia and work in the mines. The realization of the city was initially taken care of by the engineer Gustavo Pulitzer, but then given to the engineer Cesare Valle, plus the architect Ignazio Guidi, who was assisted by, then replaced by, Eugenio Montuori. A city was born with ordered architecture, simple houses and few decorative elements, iron and trachyte featuring in the main.
To co-ordinate everything, “the regime” decided to create the Italian Coal Office – L’Azienda Carboni Italiani.
For sure, at the beginning, there were more than a few problems… a predominantly male presence, many different dialects, and a sense of isolation.
The work in the mines, however, bonded the workers, making many feel less lonely. Together they ‘gave life’ to the mines which were utilized during the entire Second World War, and the post-war period; but then declined in importance until their closure in 1964.
Unfortunately, at that time, the mines were abandoned. Buildings, machinery and tools with which people had ‘given their all’ remained forgotten, until, under the auspices of the council administration run by Antonangelo Casula, a restoration plan was formulated, finances for it arriving from the European Community. The site became an object of intense interventions, of reconstruction and of re-working. It became a reality with the birth of the ‘Italian Centre for Coal-related Culture’, inaugurated on 3rd November 2006 in the presence of The Speaker of the House of Deputies, Fausto Bertinotti, the President of the Region of Sardinia, Renato Soru, the President of the Carbonia-Iglesias Province, Pierfranco Gaviano, and the Mayor of Carbonia, Salvatore Cherchi. The mine today is ‘a treasure’ utilized under the umbrella of culture, tourism, instruction and science.
The mineshafts, lamp rooms, and equipment rooms bear witness to the history of all those who in the tunnels worked, suffered, and often, lost their lives. The museum has collected a vast array of objects and documents which, “from coal-covered” and “sweaty, injured hands”, come to us, not to be forgotten, but to be remembered by ‘the elders,’ and to be made known to ‘the youngsters’, along with the origins of Carbonia…
… a city that ‘today’ is trying to rise again… a city where the young cannot find work… where the workplaces suffer and often slam shut their gates…where unemployment assumes a character truly alarming… where family poverty is steadily increasing… where the natural beauty of the surrounding land should save us from ‘a slow, certain death”…
A gift for your 76th birthday?
I know you would like to receive certain things: a warm embrace from your citizens, who, together, for you, could do so much, dedicating a little of their time to re-evaluating every corner of the city, just like they did in the past, when friendly hands lovingly looked after you, without asking anything in return, just for the pleasure of seeing you smile. Let’s appreciate you again.
Nadia Pische (traduzione di Elisabetta Basciu)
