Il V Congresso della Società Chimica Italiana del 1935 in Sardegna: tra fervore patriottico e paesaggio industriale

Starting in the 1920s, the national congresses organized by the Italian Chemical Society pursued a threefold objective: to deepen research topics through scientific sessions, to foster personal connections via social events, and to showcase Italy’s industrial heritage to numerous foreign guests. In 1935, the congress was held in Sardinia, marking one of the first occasions in which a large group of European attendees was introduced to the island’s natural, mining, and industrial resources—ranging from the Monteponi mine to the Coghinas plants—through an itinerary that traversed the island’s three provinces: Cagliari, Sassari, and Nuoro. The authors propose a reconstruction of a historically and economically specific yet emblematic context, through the words of the event’s protagonists and the analysis of the scientific themes discussed during the Congress. This reconstruction draws upon valuable and previously unpublished archival material—both textual and photographic—as well as on-site comparisons, adopting an industrial-archaeological perspective to examine the legacy of infrastructures once seen as symbols of autarkic, patriotic progress and modernity, and now often decommissioned or in a state of abandonment.