“Young Europeans on the edge of Europe
Second transnational meeting in
Shetland Islands
20-28th March 2015
Istituto Magistrale Statale
“Carlo Baudi di Vesme”Iglesias
Sardinia (Italy)
Old Economy in Sardinia
Mining and Sheep-farming
Mining Production
Sardinia – First half of 900
Sardinia and the mining system in the 19th century
In the 19th century there was a big
development in the Sardinian mining
system which attracted a big
number of engineers and workers coming
from abroad.
• Coal Production
- Before 1935 about 49.000
metric tons
- After 1935
1 345 920 metric tons
• First War and Fascism At the beginnig of the First World
War, the mining basin of Iglesias entered a serious crisis. Many English,
French and Russian companies stopped their activity dissmissing many people. Since the‘30s the mining companies started losing
provisions of raw materials, except for coal, essential for the Italian industry.
Sheep-farming in Sardinia.
Sheep-farming has for centuries rapresented the main source of survival for a large part of Sardinians.
Breeding in
Sardinia involves
sheep, goats,
bovines and pigs.
Once characterized by a fulltime dedication of the shepherd to the animals, it is nowadays carried on
in a modern and technological way.
Pecorino cheese Pecorino cheese (or
simply Pecorino) is the name of the
most famous Sardinian
cheese made of sheep milk. It has been awarded in
1996 the European DOP certification
According to statistics three million sheep are today bred in Sardinia.
Tourism In 1971 an economic miracle in Sardinia happened. The tourist sector grew and the
island became one of the most popular destinations in Italy and Europe.
Population
Immigration ed emigration
The population of Iglesias in numbers
Yesterday
20456 inhabitants
Today
27400 inhabitants
Immigration
The 900s
The beginning of the XX century witnessed a great social unrest due to difficult working conditions.
Women and children were also employed in mines as you can see in
this picture. Here are women splitting
minerals from unuseful stones.
The foreign communities settled especially in the territory around Iglesias.
9.800 citizens out of 30.000 were miners, half
of whom foreigners.
It was during this period that Sardinia experienced a great
transformation which saw Iglesias as the main protagonist.
Many of them came from
Austria and
Germany and they brought a great
economic, social and cultural renewal.
Others came from the North
of Italy.
It all happened a century ago when “transumanza”, a
seasonal migration of flocks, herds and shepherds was a
common practice. So, they moved from the
mountains of the centre of Sardinia to
the plain.
But we also had an internal migration
It wasn't only the beginning of a big migration that later included entire
families.
Nowdays the population of Iglesias includes 15% of people originally from Desulo, a small village of shepherds in the centre of Sardinia.
Emigration
Former Emigration After the second post war
Since 1945 a lot of people migrated from
Sardinia.Immigrants are not
equally widespread in the island. 75% live in only three of the four provinces. Lately the economic crisis has
made it more difficult for immigrants to find
jobs.
Since the 1950s, a great population decline has been recorded due to a massive
emigration. This migrant flow has been going on until
nowadays and it is constantly increasing.
The main reasons of Sardinian emigration have been the
mining crisis which occured half a century ago, and today’s
economic depression and increasing unemployement.
Currently, over 500 thousand Sardinians live abroad, with a notable brain drain. The main destinations are the most prosperous European countries:
• Germany (27’000)
• France (23’000)
• Belgium (12’000)
• Switzerland (7’000)
• Netherlands (6’000)
Among the world countries, Argentina and Venezuela are the most popular destinations.
The New Economy
In addition to the traditional tourist and food industry, our land is witnessing a growing interest in green and blue economy…..
Wind Turbines in PortoscusoPortoscuso 23,3 km away
from Iglesias, hosts 39 wind turbines which produce 2.3 Mw each. It is the biggest
“Enel Green Power” energy power plant in Italy.
With a total of 90 MW capacity installed, it is going
to produce 185 millions kilowatt per hour a year.
Sheep wool, generally a discard product, has acquired a new purpose: lagging. Its aim is to isolate from heat and sound. This also has a few possibilities
to burn and it doesn’t catch mould, dust and bacteria.
It helps the environment because it absorbs and neutralizes
polluting gas, smog and a lot of damaging substances. Thanks to this property it can help reduce
the energy waste.
EDILANA 100% pure sheep wool native of Sardinia
Edilana group
This company founded in 2008 by Daniela Ducato has already
won two Italian prizes because of using rough materials for useful
purposes and for promoting green economy.
On March 9th 2015 Daniela Ducato was awarded the title of “Cavaliere del
lavoro”by the President of Italy. It is the highest Italian acknowledgment
in working world. She had already received the prestigious
EUWIIN*International Awards 2013 in Stockholm for being the best European
woman in the field of eco-friendly construction.
*European Women Inventors & Innovators Network (EUWIIN)