Steelworks Ferriere Pugliesi
(20th century)
For nearly fifty years of the 20th century life in Giovinazzo was strongly linked to the iron and steelworks which dominated the landscape and punctuated the daily rhythm of the town. Every morning at first light, the wail of the siren broke the silence of the night, announcing the beginning of a new shift. The roads filled up with workers, lorries and bicycles heading to the factory. The flames of the furnaces, visible from far away, illuminated the night sky with their flickering red light.
This spectacle was as majestic as it was oppressive, a conflicting sign of the lively industriousness of the town. During the day, the rhythm of life in Giovinazzo was interspersed with the sounds of the factory, the clang of metal, the roar of machinery and the incessant sound of the furnaces were the backdrop of a strong, industrious city, proud of its steeelworks despite the exhausting work it demanded.
In the 1920s, Giovinazzo had seen the birth of the Acciaiereie e Ferriere Pugliesi (AFP), a vast ironworks founded with ambition and determination which soon became a beacon of progress and innovation for the South of Italy. In the 1930s, under the direction of the Scianatico brothers, the industry expanded significantly, increasing production and consolidating its important role. At the end of the Second World War, AFP grew further with the introduction of steel. The 1960s saw another a period of growth and modern warehouses were built as well as furnaces for cast iron and steel. In the following decade, however, with the decline of the steel industry the factory began to struggle and the environmental impact and effects on the health of the local population began to become apparent.
In 1973, the factory closed for good. Any hope for a revival was crushed when in 1983 the Interministerial Committee for industrial policy ordered the decommissioning of the entire complex. The buildings were gradually demolished and the area reclaimed. All that remains of that glorious past is a solitary chimney stack, testament to Giovinazzo’s industrial revolution.
