“Young Europeans on the edge of Europe

Second transnational meeting in

Shetland Islands

20-28th March 2015

Istituto Magistrale Statale

“Carlo Baudi di Vesme”Iglesias

Sardinia (Italy)

Old Economy in Sardinia

Mining and Sheep-farming

Mining Production

Sardinia – First half of 900

Sardinia and the mining system in the 19th century

In the 19th century there was a big

development in the Sardinian mining

system which attracted a big

number of engineers and workers coming

from abroad.

• Coal Production

- Before 1935 about 49.000

metric tons

- After 1935

1 345 920 metric tons

• First War and Fascism At the beginnig of the First World

War, the mining basin of Iglesias entered a serious crisis. Many English,

French and Russian companies stopped their activity dissmissing many people. Since the‘30s the mining companies started losing

provisions of raw materials, except for coal, essential for the Italian industry.

Sheep-farming in Sardinia.

Sheep-farming has for centuries rapresented the main source of survival for a large part of Sardinians.

Breeding in

Sardinia involves

sheep, goats,

bovines and pigs.

Once characterized by a fulltime dedication of the shepherd to the animals, it is nowadays carried on

in a modern and technological way.

Pecorino cheese Pecorino cheese (or

simply Pecorino) is the name of the

most famous Sardinian

cheese made of sheep milk. It has been awarded in

1996 the European DOP certification

According to statistics three million sheep are today bred in Sardinia.

Tourism In 1971 an economic miracle in Sardinia happened. The tourist sector grew and the

island became one of the most popular destinations in Italy and Europe.

Population

Immigration ed emigration

The population of Iglesias in numbers

Yesterday

20456 inhabitants

Today

27400 inhabitants

Immigration

The 900s

The beginning of the XX century witnessed a great social unrest due to difficult working conditions.

Women and children were also employed in mines as you can see in

this picture. Here are women splitting

minerals from unuseful stones.

The foreign communities settled especially in the territory around Iglesias.

9.800 citizens out of 30.000 were miners, half

of whom foreigners.

It was during this period that Sardinia experienced a great

transformation which saw Iglesias as the main protagonist.

Many of them came from

Austria and

Germany and they brought a great

economic, social and cultural renewal.

Others came from the North

of Italy.

It all happened a century ago when “transumanza”, a

seasonal migration of flocks, herds and shepherds was a

common practice. So, they moved from the

mountains of the centre of Sardinia to

the plain.

But we also had an internal migration

It wasn't only the beginning of a big migration that later included entire

families.

Nowdays the population of Iglesias includes 15% of people originally from Desulo, a small village of shepherds in the centre of Sardinia.

Emigration

Former Emigration After the second post war

Since 1945 a lot of people migrated from

Sardinia.Immigrants are not

equally widespread in the island. 75% live in only three of the four provinces. Lately the economic crisis has

made it more difficult for immigrants to find

jobs.

Since the 1950s, a great population decline has been recorded due to a massive

emigration. This migrant flow has been going on until

nowadays and it is constantly increasing.

The main reasons of Sardinian emigration have been the

mining crisis which occured half a century ago, and today’s

economic depression and increasing unemployement.

Currently, over 500 thousand Sardinians live abroad, with a notable brain drain. The main destinations are the most prosperous European countries:

• Germany (27’000)

• France (23’000)

• Belgium (12’000)

• Switzerland (7’000)

• Netherlands (6’000)

Among the world countries, Argentina and Venezuela are the most popular destinations.

The New Economy

In addition to the traditional tourist and food industry, our land is witnessing a growing interest in green and blue economy…..

Wind Turbines in PortoscusoPortoscuso 23,3 km away

from Iglesias, hosts 39 wind turbines which produce 2.3 Mw each. It is the biggest

“Enel Green Power” energy power plant in Italy.

With a total of 90 MW capacity installed, it is going

to produce 185 millions kilowatt per hour a year.

Sheep wool, generally a discard product, has acquired a new purpose: lagging. Its aim is to isolate from heat and sound. This also has a few possibilities

to burn and it doesn’t catch mould, dust and bacteria.

It helps the environment because it absorbs and neutralizes

polluting gas, smog and a lot of damaging substances. Thanks to this property it can help reduce

the energy waste.

EDILANA 100% pure sheep wool native of Sardinia

Edilana group

This company founded in 2008 by Daniela Ducato has already

won two Italian prizes because of using rough materials for useful

purposes and for promoting green economy.

On March 9th 2015 Daniela Ducato was awarded the title of “Cavaliere del

lavoro”by the President of Italy. It is the highest Italian acknowledgment

in working world. She had already received the prestigious

EUWIIN*International Awards 2013 in Stockholm for being the best European

woman in the field of eco-friendly construction.

*European Women Inventors & Innovators Network (EUWIIN)