The invisible enemy. The factory and the city in Italy between memory and removal: the case of asbestos in Casale Monferrato and Broni

Journal title STORIA URBANA
Author/s Bruno Ziglioli
Publishing Year 2017 Issue 2017/154
Language Italian Pages 26 P. 49-74 File size 251 KB
DOI 10.3280/SU2017-154004
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The article compares the case of the Eternit cement-asbestos factory in Casale Monferrato to that of the Fibronit factory in Broni. The two towns were assailed by the drama of asbestos contamination, which will continue to affect workers and local inhabitants for a long time to come. In Casale, the memory of the factory and its consequences on the health of the inhabitants has taken the form of a concrete awareness, so much so that Casale has become an emblematic town on both national and international levels. However, the same cannot be said for Broni: here there has been a radical repression of the problem. This paper will demonstrate how tensions within the community open up a range of citizens’ viewpoints, which span from a hyper-visualization of the problem - the factory as an omnipresent cause of all the evils of the city - to its complete removal from the urban horizon, making any kind of intervention on public authorities extremely difficult.

Keywords: Asbestos, memory, environmental history, industrial disasters.

  • La difficile memoria dei disastri industriali in Italia Bruno Ziglioli, in STORIA E PROBLEMI CONTEMPORANEI 90/2023 pp.13
    DOI: 10.3280/SPC2022-090002

Bruno Ziglioli, Il nemico invisibile. La fabbrica e la città in Italia tra memoria e rimozione: il caso dell’amianto a Casale Monferrato e a Broni in "STORIA URBANA " 154/2017, pp 49-74, DOI: 10.3280/SU2017-154004