Where the stories begin

Publish date 29-07-2020

by Redazione Sermig

"The houses of this village are irregularly built,

but having a large district in the middle,

and in a meandering shape ". G. Grossi, Turin 1791.

 

 

The area in which the "Arsenale della Pace" is located and is growing is one of the most typical of Turin, but perhaps less deeply known. It is a place that, probably, with not too different characteristics, is also found in other cities.

Over time, it has experienced and undergone many transformations; it can be said that many "stories" connected in various ways, even if they are profoundly different from each other, originated and helped shape, in one way or another, the face of the city. "Urban", "military", "industrial" stories, but basically and above all, human stories.

 

 

The "Borgo del Ballo"

Borgo Dora has always been located outside the city walls, at a certain distance. Since post-Roman times, an area close to the Dora stream came to settle here, but fertile and not, like others, marshy, peasant families, little related to city life. In the fields for the game of the "bracelet ball", already widely practiced in Turin in Roman times, the name "Borgo del Ballo" probably originates (in dialect, the famous Balon); when the market of rag dealers and junk dealers begins, still very active today, the nickname "Strassborg" will be added: irony and sarcasm to accept a poverty that is often very hard. In the Middle Ages, a network of canals began to be reorganized or gradually excavated, fed by the waters of the Dora. They will be the main, specific source of life of the village, providing until a century ago, the only efficient source of energy known then: the hydraulic one.

 

 

The "Powder Factory"

The area between Piazza Borgo Dora and Via S. Pietro in Vincoli was formerly called the "region of the rezighe", since since the fifteenth century it has been occupied by sawmills fed by canals. In 1580, however, Emanuele Filiberto, while starting his own artillery production, in order not to depend on the supply of gunpowder from abroad, decided to transform part of the saws for timber into "plague to make dust". The first plagues were manufactured in 1588, and contracted out to private individuals under the direction of the Artillery Company. Thus was born the "Powder Factory and Nitri Refinery", as it was called then, which was later expanded several times, in 1673 and in 1717 (the millstones will become driven by horses). In 1728 it was rented by the Municipality to the General Intendence of Artillery, Factories and fortifications, and further expanded by order of Carlo Emanuele III who, in 1767, given the convenience of directly managing the plant, purchased the powder keg buildings. Overall, the military industry (the Arsenal, an artillery factory, in the south-west corner of the city near the Citadel, and the Powder / Refinery) was the big city company. He worked for a rather large army, on which the Duchy first and the Kingdom of Sardinia then founded his fortunes, thus dedicating a vast space in the state budget. At that time, as unfortunately partly also today, military art was therefore at the forefront of technological evolution. In particular, while in other regions other less complex activities, such as weaving, will drive industrial development, here, this will be the embryo of the metalworking industry, not so much creating an "induced" (no processing was subcontracted) as a mentality and knowledge techniques among the workers involved.

 

 

The Borgo is growing

The plant was enlarged once again on a project by Colonel Quaglia, and the Nitri Refinery was connected to the Powder Factory in a single architectural complex. A final extension was still made with Vittorio Emanuele I. But over the years the inhabited area had also expanded, and in a disorderly fashion. From the few hundred inhabitants in scattered huts and orchards of the first 700, to more than twenty thousand in the mid-800; three quarters of which at the time were estimated to live in conditions of absolute misery, in these mostly unhealthy houses, in the narrow streets that became narrow when the houses were raised by a second or third floor, to have spaces for the old inhabitants who grew up or for the new arrivals who got urban. Not surprisingly, in what was already a "risk area", stimulated by the needs of the people, the great initiatives of Cottolengo and Don Bosco will come to life.

The powder keg was now a danger. This was demonstrated by the terrible explosion of 1852: for a self-combustion, 24 tons of dust exploded; 24 were the dead and, in addition to many sheds, the nearest houses were destroyed and the Cottolengo and the cemetery in via S. Pietro in Vincoli were also damaged. On that occasion, sergeant steward Paolo sacchi distinguished himself for promptness and courage, who, endangering his life, tried to avert the outbreak of the main warehouse (another 44 tons of dust), throwing himself into the flames in the name of the Madonna Consolata to whose sanctuary then, having escaped the danger, went on a pilgrimage with the factory workers. The story goes - legend that, not finding another container before the arrival of buckets and pumps, he had used to draw water from Don Giovanni Bosco's hat, immediately rushed among the many to give help. For the act of heroism he was decorated with a gold medal and, very rare privilege, he found himself walking in the new street, next to the station, which the city had named after him.

 

 

L'Arsenal de Borgo Dora

La conséquence de la tragédie a été le transfert, déjà prévu depuis un certain temps, de l'usine de poudre vers un autre endroit en dehors de la ville, tandis que l'essentiel des travaux de l'Arsenal de Turin était transporté vers les usines de Borgo Dora. La construction de l'Arsenal de Borgo Dora avec le nom officiel d '«Arsenal des bâtiments d'artillerie de Turin» a été sanctionnée par Vittorio Emanuele II par un décret de mars 1862 et est née dans la zone déjà occupée par la Royal Powder Factory et la Raffinerie Nitro. L'Arsenal était dirigé par un colonel, alors que, comme par le passé, les ouvriers - techniciens et ouvriers - étaient pour la plupart des civils. Parallèlement aux processus traditionnels, la production d'articles de sellerie et de vêtements a commencé, qui est devenue l'une des activités typiques de l'usine. En 1891, le bâtiment adjacent, au bord de la rivière, ancien marché aux bestiaux puis abattoir municipal pendant quelques années, est annexé à l'Arsenal en tant qu'entrepôt. L'arsenal comprend désormais une superficie de 45 000 mètres carrés avec des dizaines de bâtiments où, au plus fort de l'activité, plus de 5 000 ouvriers engagés dans la construction d'armements lourds et légers ont trouvé du travail. Au tournant du siècle, la transition vers l'électricité comme force motrice était achevée; les uns après les autres, les canaux, insalubres et dangereux, ont été recouverts et ne sont plus visibles que dans les anciennes archives photographiques.

Les points les plus élevés de production de l'Arsenal, se sont manifestement produits pendant les guerres: celles coloniales d'Érythrée (1896) et de Libye (1911), dans la guerre des 15-18 et dans la Seconde Guerre mondiale, pendant laquelle endommagée par les bombardements de 1942. lors de la libération elle fut occupée par les partisans, et dans la période d'après-guerre, elle reprit pleinement son activité de production, pour ensuite tomber en désuétude: symbole non seulement d'une technologie qui évolue, mais nous voulons aussi espérer une nouvelle ère, dans lequel les hommes peuvent être plus libres de servir leur pays en paix. Ce n'est donc pas un "endroit ordinaire". Dernier dans l'ordre du temps, une autre histoire commence pour beaucoup ici: celle de l'immigration. D'abord, très substantiel, du sud de l'Italie, puis plus récemment, moins cohérent mais incisif, celui de l'Afrique du Nord. Le marché Balon bien connu, pour beaucoup aujourd'hui, est la recherche de l'objet curieux, le moment de «poésie» face à un passé - difficile - qui refait surface dans un objet aujourd'hui impensable ... Mais pour beaucoup de ceux qui la fréquentent, des deux côtés des modestes banquets, c'est encore la recherche de satisfaire, en quelque sorte, les besoins minimaux. Encore une fois, cette zone urbaine difficile, malgré quelques changements d'urbanisme, est la première «maison» pour beaucoup, peut-être la seule en perspective. Et c'est là que de nombreux problèmes, de nombreuses contradictions, de nombreuses tensions, de la micro-délinquance (et pas seulement), se manifestent et entrent dans le quotidien commun qui est souvent plus inconfortable que le folklore. Être ici n'est pas un hasard.

 

 

Bibliographie:

  • “Il Regio Arsenale di Torino nel ‘700: lavoro e tecnica”;
  • D. Rebaudengo: “Un saluto da Torino”, Della valle;
  • C. Bianchi: “Porta Palazzo e il Balon”, Piemonte in bancarella. 

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