Keywords

• The evolution from steam to electric locomotive is a key part of the process of modernization of the rail transport. In this respect Italy played a leading role in Europe. The process of railway electrification began in the last decade of the Nineteenth Century thanks to the work of private companies and it was eventually developed by the National Railway (namely â€
• œ
• Ferrovie dello Statoâ€
• 
• ). In 1940 about 60% of the entire Italian rail network was electrified. The development of railway electrification was particularly significant during the fascist period (mainly in the Thirties). On the one hand
• the Regime tried to increase the demand for electricity
• because the market
• dominated by powerful and influential companies
• was seized by a crisis of overproduction. On the other hand
• the Regime tried to stem the decline in rail traffic caused by the economic crisis and the increasingly fierce competition of road transport. At the same time
• the achievements in this area and the subsequent improvement of the rail service
• the increase in speed of the routes and the reduction of distances
• albeit limited âˆ
• ’
• with rare exceptions âˆ
• ’
• to Northern and Central Italy
• were skillfully exploited by fascist propaganda
• which was trying to depict the National Railway
• a company no longer in the black
• as the crowning achievement of the fascist Regime