At the end of the 19th century, Sesto San Giovanni, on the outskirts of Milan, was one of northern Italy’s most important industrial centers. At first there were mostly mills, but over the years the city turned its focus to steel, with large factories owned by Marelli, Breda and Falck. The crisis of 1970s began to affect the economy, and production slowed. By the 1990s, the factories had begun to close. Not even the giants were invulnerable: ten years ago the Falck steel mill was demolished. The factories had covered a million and a half square meters of the city. Founded in 1906 by Giorgio Enrico Falck, it grew to become the largest private Italian steelmaker. In 1999, Gabriele Basilico, one of the country’s greatest urban landscape photographers, was called in to bear witness to the end of an era.
Laura Incardona
Read the full text of this article on the French version of Le Journal.
Gabriele Basilico – Domenica Regazzoni
L’usine et la ville
Until December 22th, 2012
Galérie BelVedere
Via Santa Maria Valle 5
20100 Milano
Italia
