COSTELLAZIONI PRODUTTIVE IN CALABRIA. TRACCE MATERIALI E PROCESSI DI PATRIMONIALIZZAZIONE

This paper aims to investigate the transformations that occurred in Calabria - beginning with the Sila Plateau - from the 1920s onwards, following the implementation of an extensive electro-irrigation-industrial program. Conceived within the framework of comprehensive land reclamation initiatives, this intervention revolved around the construction of two large artificial lakes, designed both for hydroelectric power generation and to foster a process of regionalscale industrialization. More specifically, the study seeks to examine the productive constellation - the system of material traces and interrelations emerging from this project - which encompasses not only the lakes themselves, but also a complex network of dams, hydroelectric power stations, penstocks, as well as roads, railways, transmission pylons, and manufacturing facilities. The result is a landscape profoundly redesigned and transformed, one that narrates the story of an industrial development plan that was never fully realized. The sole exception is represented by the electrochemical plants of Crotone, the only major industrial hub within this constellation. Active from 1927 until their decommissioning in the early 2000s, these plants are today perceived less as integral components of the Sila’s electric landscape of energy transition