Thesis etd-06162021-180710 |
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Thesis type
Tesi di laurea vecchio ordinamento
Author
MARTINI, MARIA LETIZIA
URN
etd-06162021-180710
Thesis title
Per una storia economica del territorio di Bagni di Lucca nella seconda metà del Novecento
Department
FILOLOGIA, LETTERATURA E LINGUISTICA
Course of study
LETTERE
Supervisors
relatore Prof. Macchia, Paolo
Keywords
- Bagni di Lucca
- geografia
- manifatture locali
- novecento
- storia economica
- terme
Graduation session start date
12/07/2021
Availability
None
Summary
Il presente studio intende approfondire alcuni degli aspetti storico-economici del comune di Bagni di Lucca, cittadina termale della Media Valle del Serchio, non rinunciando ad offrire una sintesi geografica del territorio. In particolare, il punto di vista che abbiamo privilegiato riguarda le manifatture locali e la loro evoluzione nella seconda metà del Novecento, in ragione del preminente ruolo economico da esse assunto, nel corso del periodo considerato ed almeno fino ai primissimi anni Duemila, rispetto alla tradizionale industria termale, la quale ha ispirato nel tempo, e contrariamente alle vicende produttive del comune, un’apprezzabile letteratura. Bagni di Lucca si presenta attualmente come un territorio “cristallizzato”, che indugia malinconicamente in una memoria di cui si è resa protagonista e virtuosa. Essa lascia intravedere, pur nella situazione di stallo demografico e socioeconomico in cui versa, un milieu locale di straordinaria ricchezza, che, se compreso e valorizzato adeguatamente da parte dei soggetti locali, potrebbe trovare nuovi margini di crescita e di espressione. La cittadina, che nella prima metà del XIX secolo conobbe il culmine della fama a livello europeo, costituì una meta turistica irrinunciabile da parte di nobili, diplomatici, intellettuali e ricchi borghesi, e non solo per le rinomate virtù terapeutiche delle sue acque termominerali, ma anche perché essa venne prescelta quale sede di residenza estiva dalla corte principesca di Lucca e, successivamente, da quella granducale. Con l’unificazione politica della Toscana, ed il conseguente forfait da parte degli abituali frequentatori aristocratici, iniziò la lunga e graduale flessione dell’attività turistica locale, che, incapace di rimodernarsi nel tempo, faceva leva, all’indomani del secondo conflitto mondiale, su strutture ricettive deteriorate e palesemente obsolete. La fragilità dell’equilibrio economico del centro, determinata essenzialmente dalla sua vocazione monofunzionale (ed aggravata, per di più, dal progressivo stato di abbandono in cui versava l’agricoltura, un tempo preziosa attività integrativa) indusse la popolazione a cercare, attraverso soluzioni di tipo individuale, nuove fonti di sostentamento alternative al turismo, attingendo ad un humus variegato di risorse che, seppur formatosi all’ombra dell’economia termale, si presentava storicamente ben radicato e diffuso sul territorio. In particolare, le attività di base che permisero all’economia locale di rilanciarsi con successo, grazie all’introduzione di nuove tecnologie e di una nuova organizzazione del lavoro, furono le seguenti: la fabbricazione di statuine e di manufatti in gesso, la produzione di carta e di cartone, infine l’estrazione del tannino dal legname di castagno. Già nei primi anni Sessanta del Novecento, l’analisi della struttura sociale della popolazione di Bagni di Lucca evidenziava una tendenza in atto che, in brevissimo tempo, sembrò manifestare un carattere irreversibile: il 52% circa degli attivi, infatti, era rappresentato da operai e manovali, nel quadro di un contesto economico sempre più spiccatamente orientato sull’industria. Bagni di Lucca, che da esclusiva ed elitaria stazione termale si stava trasformando in una dinamica cittadina operaia, fu dunque in grado, grazie ad una sapiente combinazione di tradizione e modernità, di ristrutturare con successo la propria economia. Il nostro studio non ha la pretesa di essere esaustivo, né di misurarsi in senso stretto con i contenuti specialistici delle discipline storico-economiche ed archeologico-industriali. Il suo intento è piuttosto di sottolineare l’importanza antropogeografica di determinate attività produttive, le quali, radicate nella storia, nella tradizione e nel complesso delle risorse ambientali ed umane del territorio esaminato, hanno intrapreso, in una fase storica di crescita economica, la via dell’adeguamento ai tempi, gettando un ponte tra un sostrato di acquisizioni tecniche e di usi sociali consolidati da un antico retaggio, e nuove possibilità di aggiornamento e di sviluppo. A fianco del termalismo (ma soprattutto, a partire dal secondo dopoguerra, in alternativa ad esso), tali industrie hanno agito, pertanto, come fattori microeconomici di identità territoriale, grazie anche ai quali si deve, in virtù dei sistemi e dei valori del lavoro che hanno generato, la variegata ricchezza del milieu locale.
This study aims to examine some of the historical and economic aspects of Bagni di Lucca, a spa town in the Media Valle del Serchio, without renouncing to offer a geographical synthesis of the territory. In particular, the point of view we have privileged concerns the local factories and their evolution in the second half of the 20th century, because of the prominent economic role they assumed, during the period considered and at least until the very early years of the 2000s, with respect to the traditional spa industry, which has inspired over time, and contrary to the productive events of the municipality, an appreciable literature. Bagni di Lucca currently presents itself as a "crystallised" territory, lingering melancholically in a memory of which it has become a protagonist and virtuous. In spite of the demographic and socio-economic stalemate in which it finds itself, it allows us to glimpse a local milieu of extraordinary richness, which, if properly understood and valued by the local players, could find new margins of growth and expression. The town, which in the first half of the 19th century reached the peak of its European fame, was an essential tourist destination for nobles, diplomats, intellectuals and rich bourgeoisie, not only for the renowned therapeutic virtues of its thermal mineral waters, but also because it was chosen as a summer residence by the princely court of Lucca and later by the grand ducal court. With the political unification of Tuscany, and the consequent withdrawal of the usual aristocratic visitors, the long and gradual decline of local tourism began, which, unable to modernise over time, relied on deteriorated and clearly obsolete accommodation facilities in the aftermath of the Second World War. The fragility of the economic balance of the centre, essentially determined by its monofunctional vocation (and aggravated, moreover, by the progressive state of abandonment in which agriculture, once a valuable supplementary activity, was found) induced the population to seek, through individual solutions, new sources of sustenance alternative to tourism, drawing on a varied humus of resources which, although formed in the shadow of the thermal economy, was historically well rooted and widespread in the territory. In particular, the basic activities that allowed the local economy to successfully relaunch itself, thanks to the introduction of new technologies and a new organisation of work, were the following: the manufacture of statuettes and plaster artefacts, the production of paper and cardboard, and finally the extraction of tannin from chestnut wood. Already at the beginning of the 1960s, an analysis of the social structure of the population of Bagni di Lucca highlighted a trend that in a very short time seemed to show an irreversible character: about 52% of the active population was represented by workers and labourers, in the context of an economic context increasingly oriented towards industry. Bagni di Lucca, which was transforming from an exclusive and elitist spa resort into a dynamic working-class town, was therefore able to successfully restructure its economy thanks to a skilful combination of tradition and modernity. Our study does not pretend to be exhaustive, nor does it attempt to measure itself in a strict sense against the specialist contents of the historical-economic and archaeological-industrial disciplines. Rather, its intention is to underline the anthropogeographical importance of certain productive activities which, rooted in the history, tradition and complex of environmental and human resources of the area examined, have undertaken, in a historical phase of economic growth, the path of adaptation to the times, building a bridge between a substratum of technical acquisitions and social customs consolidated by an ancient heritage, and new possibilities for updating and development. Alongside the spa industry (but above all, since the second post-war period, as an alternative to it), these industries have therefore acted as microeconomic factors of territorial identity, thanks also to which, by virtue of the work systems and values they have generated, we owe the varied richness of the local milieu.
This study aims to examine some of the historical and economic aspects of Bagni di Lucca, a spa town in the Media Valle del Serchio, without renouncing to offer a geographical synthesis of the territory. In particular, the point of view we have privileged concerns the local factories and their evolution in the second half of the 20th century, because of the prominent economic role they assumed, during the period considered and at least until the very early years of the 2000s, with respect to the traditional spa industry, which has inspired over time, and contrary to the productive events of the municipality, an appreciable literature. Bagni di Lucca currently presents itself as a "crystallised" territory, lingering melancholically in a memory of which it has become a protagonist and virtuous. In spite of the demographic and socio-economic stalemate in which it finds itself, it allows us to glimpse a local milieu of extraordinary richness, which, if properly understood and valued by the local players, could find new margins of growth and expression. The town, which in the first half of the 19th century reached the peak of its European fame, was an essential tourist destination for nobles, diplomats, intellectuals and rich bourgeoisie, not only for the renowned therapeutic virtues of its thermal mineral waters, but also because it was chosen as a summer residence by the princely court of Lucca and later by the grand ducal court. With the political unification of Tuscany, and the consequent withdrawal of the usual aristocratic visitors, the long and gradual decline of local tourism began, which, unable to modernise over time, relied on deteriorated and clearly obsolete accommodation facilities in the aftermath of the Second World War. The fragility of the economic balance of the centre, essentially determined by its monofunctional vocation (and aggravated, moreover, by the progressive state of abandonment in which agriculture, once a valuable supplementary activity, was found) induced the population to seek, through individual solutions, new sources of sustenance alternative to tourism, drawing on a varied humus of resources which, although formed in the shadow of the thermal economy, was historically well rooted and widespread in the territory. In particular, the basic activities that allowed the local economy to successfully relaunch itself, thanks to the introduction of new technologies and a new organisation of work, were the following: the manufacture of statuettes and plaster artefacts, the production of paper and cardboard, and finally the extraction of tannin from chestnut wood. Already at the beginning of the 1960s, an analysis of the social structure of the population of Bagni di Lucca highlighted a trend that in a very short time seemed to show an irreversible character: about 52% of the active population was represented by workers and labourers, in the context of an economic context increasingly oriented towards industry. Bagni di Lucca, which was transforming from an exclusive and elitist spa resort into a dynamic working-class town, was therefore able to successfully restructure its economy thanks to a skilful combination of tradition and modernity. Our study does not pretend to be exhaustive, nor does it attempt to measure itself in a strict sense against the specialist contents of the historical-economic and archaeological-industrial disciplines. Rather, its intention is to underline the anthropogeographical importance of certain productive activities which, rooted in the history, tradition and complex of environmental and human resources of the area examined, have undertaken, in a historical phase of economic growth, the path of adaptation to the times, building a bridge between a substratum of technical acquisitions and social customs consolidated by an ancient heritage, and new possibilities for updating and development. Alongside the spa industry (but above all, since the second post-war period, as an alternative to it), these industries have therefore acted as microeconomic factors of territorial identity, thanks also to which, by virtue of the work systems and values they have generated, we owe the varied richness of the local milieu.
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