The reclamation of the Pontine
The reading of the novel "Canale Mussolini" Antonio Pennacchi, which won the Strega Prize in 2010, sparked my interest in the events related to the thousands of immigrant families in the Agro Pontino in the '30s.
's work the Pontine reclamation was strongly desired by the fascist regime in view of a policy to deal with the problem of unemployment through public works using cheaper labor (winning choice also adopted by U.S. President Roosevelt after the crisis '29).
process management and remediation of the population was given an ounce, the National Opera Fighters, a body created during the First World War veterans to assist in their reintegration into civilian life.
From the Pontine Marshes will be able to decipher that 3000 farms, from 1932 (at reclamation still pending) were designed dall'ONC to as many rural households with at least ex-combatant.
The government along with the farm, callable in five years, provided everything necessary for the settlers, a wagon, farm tools and some livestock. The land promised to the soldiers after Caporetto so finally began to be distributed.
in the Pontine Marshes came mostly sharecroppers from the Veneto, whose wretched living conditions were further decreased following the currency revaluation of the lira (Quote 90).
The more discomfort to which the settlers had to face was that of malaria that took thousands of lives. The government ordered to cover up the problem that those who had experienced symptoms of the disease was taken to a hospital outside the Pontine Marshes before they die. The official register now so we can see that malaria had a few hundred victims. The problem was eliminated a few years later with the use of a pesticide now banned DDT, which was placed in the canals to kill the anopheles mosquito carries the disease.
After the reclamation were born in the Agro Pontino 14 villages built in the yards and points of departure were founded and opened five new cities in only 7 years Littoria, Sabaudia, Aprilia, and Pomezia Pontinia.
With the Second World War much of the reclamation work was destroyed. Because of lack of manpower ceased maintenance of the canals, after the armistice of 8 September 1943 the Germans decided to riallagare the area to find "scorched earth" to the Anglo-Americans. The latter in January 1944 with a naval bombardment razed to the ground and severely damaged Aprilia Tank and Littoria. The canals and other drainage works were later destroyed by bombing.
In the postwar years the intervention of the Fund for the South favored the establishment of several industrial companies in particular of the agro-food and chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Even agriculture and tourism have increased substantially and now the Pontine Marshes can be considered a region that has reached a good level of economic development.
Sources:
"Canale Mussolini" by Antonio Pennacchi
"The Pontine Marshes" Maria Pia Ercolini - Professor of Geography, IIS "Falcone" of Rome.
"The reclamation (1928-1939)" Pietro Incardona (published borghidilatina.it, site of the Cultural Villages of Latin America).
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