Preserving and promoting the history of Italian shipbuilding as a cultural, industrial, and social heritage of the country, making it accessible and shared. With this goal, Fondazione Fincantieri is launching a publishing series dedicated to the history of the sector, with the first volume now available in bookstores.

The book “History of Italian Shipbuilding in the Modern Age. From Unification to the Giolitti Era (1861-1913)”, written by Professor Roberto Giulianelli and published by Laterza, inaugurates a cycle of five works retracing two centuries of evolution in Italian shipbuilding and the naval mechanical industry, highlighting its role in the country’s economic development.

The central theme of the volume is the analysis of the profound transformations that affected Italian shipbuilding from the Unification of Italy to the Giolitti era, a historical phase marked by productive modernization, technological innovation, and the redefinition of the national maritime vocation. The essay provides an overview of a rapidly evolving sector, called to face new opportunities and structural challenges in the context of industrial growth.

The series is part of the broader project of Fondazione Fincantieri, chaired by Fausto Recchia, dedicated to the recovery, protection, and enhancement of the Group’s historical heritage, consisting of documentary archives on civil and military shipbuilding and examples of industrial archaeology. Through research activities, cultural and educational initiatives, the Foundation promotes knowledge of the history of Italian shipbuilding as a tool for understanding the present and guiding the future.

“This series is part of Fondazione Fincantieri’s journey as a place of cultural development and responsibility towards the long history of industry. Through work on the archives—progressively made accessible, studied, and shared—a narrative takes shape that intertwines enterprise, society, and territories, restoring continuity to experiences that have spanned different generations,” commented Lorenza Pigozzi, EVP Group Strategic Communication Director at Fincantieri and member of the Foundation’s Board of Directors. “In this sense, the history of Fincantieri is also the history of the country: from the Unification of Italy to the present day, retracing its events means traversing the economic, social, and technological transformations that have marked contemporary Italy. In this perspective, memory is not an exercise in preservation, but a living practice of knowledge: a tool that allows us to understand the present, strengthen the bond with communities, and support innovation processes. For this reason, enhancing history means giving depth to our perspective and recognizing memory as an essential resource for shaping the future.”

The book is available in major bookstores and online platforms.

Roberto Giulianelli is a full professor at the “Giorgio Fuà” Faculty of Economics at the Marche Polytechnic University, where he teaches Economic History, Labor History, and the History of Industry and Consumption. For Laterza, he is also the author of the essay “Naval Mechanics: From Protection to Competition (1945-2002)” in “History of IRI. 5. A Singular Group” (edited by F. Russolillo, 2014).

Relaunched at the end of 2024, Fondazione Fincantieri acts as the custodian of the historical memory of the Italian naval mechanical industry and as a cultural platform oriented towards innovation and social impact. Its activities are structured along three complementary lines: the enhancement of historical and archival heritage, the promotion of research and education, and the strengthening of social cohesion in the territories where Fincantieri is present. Through publishing initiatives, research programs, collaborations with the academic world, and inclusion projects, the Foundation brings together industrial history, communities, and the future, interpreting memory as an active tool for knowledge, responsibility, and sustainable development.