Italy modem chemical industry

In the early 1920 s, the modem chemical industry came into existence in Italy. Guido Donegani transformed the Montecatini firm from a mining venture into a verticalized chemical firm, having as a base the know-how acquired with the development of the process for ammonia synthesis by G. Fauser SNIA entered the field of artificial fibers. Separate statistics for the chemical industry have been available since 1922 its growth in the 1922-1935 period paralleled that of industry as a whole (20). 

Three historical epochs are considered from antiquity until the birth of Italy as a nation in 1860 from 1860 until 1950, when Italy became an industrial society in the modem sense and from 1950 up to the present time. A concise survey of chemical technology and of engineering education is given for the first period, while parallel sections are dedicated to industrial and academic development for the next two. The historical account reveals the very strong interference of industrial and academic developments, with closely parallel times of growth and stagnation. Political and cultural influences are discussed. 

This volume is devoted to the various European chemical industries that flourished, and even sometimes failed, during the 1850-1914 period. The emphasis is on the new clusters of innovations, such as synthetic, or artificial, dyestuffs and pharmaceuticals, the role of scientifically trained chemists in analytical work and research, and their central roles within modem organisational structures such as the corporate research laboratory, and the diffusion of chemical industry to Denmark, Poland, Italy and Sweden. 

The first case is an integrated approach based on chemical analyses, risk assessment, and in vitro assays for the investigation of the toxicity of a leachate produced by a modem industrial landfill in Italy. 

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