ENEL opens a treasure trove of digital assets among them fantastic historical geothermal pictures

Larderello in 1900 (source: Picture by ENEL, archiviostorico.enel.com)

Italian power company ENEL has released a treasure trove of digital assets of historic value that is absolutely stunning from as early as 1900 to present day.

Enel has digitized its photographic, audiovisual and documentary heritage by bringing together thousands of resources in a single portal, archiviostorico.enel.com, to guide citizens, researchers, businesses and public administrations to discover the history of energy. It is possible to access material of high historical value and works of authorship: over 14 thousand photographs, including those of the Alinari brothers and Guido Parisio, and 800 films, including the documentaries of the Istituto Luce and famous directors such as Ermanno Olmi . Ample space in Larderello and geothermal with digital photos and videos, in addition to those present at the Museum of Geothermal.

Enel launched the digital archives this week via the website  archiviostorico.enel.com with thousands of documents, photographs, films, technical drawings, books, magazines that tell the birth and development of the electricity industry. A journey through time to discover energy, the characters who made its history, as well as the technological and industrial advances of a constantly evolving market.

The geothermal/ renewable energy section can be found here: https://archiviostorico.enel.com/it/dettaglio-tematica.html?thematic=Rinnovabili&type=image

The site provides access to over 14,000 photographs, from the most recent taken at Enel’s plants in Italy and around the world, to those of high documentary value taken from historical collections. Among these, there is also ample space for Tuscan geothermal energy which boasts a centuries-old history full of charm, between culture and energy, between history and current events: over a thousand geothermal shots are available online, as well as videos and historical documents (https://archiviostorico.enel. com/en/search-results.html?key=Larderello). This is obviously in addition to the much more numerous material present at the Geothermal Museum which can be visited with all the safety measures in Larderello, at Palazzo De Larderel in piazza Leopolda 1 (info and timetables: Geothermal Museum by Enel in Tuscany)

With this action, the company digitizes a large part of its archival heritage, making it available to everyone: citizens, researchers, companies, public administrations to retrace the history of energy in Italy together, involving the new generations. The material in the archive is organized according to a narrative path that is divided into four thematic areas: Renewables, Electrification, People and Digitization and favors the dimension of discovery.

Through stories that unite present and past with a single common thread, the salient historical moments that have marked the life of the company and its protagonists, but also small curiosities, as well as the values ??that have inspired the action and strategies of the Group’s business.

For example, you can view the snapshots of the Giulio Parisio collection, a Neapolitan photographer and artist of the first half of the last century, who with his 2500 photos documented the electrification of the South. It is also possible to consult all the visual material of the Lardello collection, where shots of the Alinari brothers’ studio are collected that offer an insight into the industrial evolution of the Tuscan geothermal area, from the chemical production of borates in the nineteenth century to the generation of electricity. .

The Archive includes photographic and audiovisual documents and artifacts, created from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day, of the over 1200 electricity companies active throughout Italy and then merged, with the nationalization of 1962, into Enel. A heritage that, in addition to outlining the origins of the electricity industry in Italy, documents the company’s commitment to the electrification of the entire national territory and to the country’s industrial development.

Among the material available in the digital archive, the 800 films, shot from the early 1900s to the present day, stand out, which include productions made by the Istituto Luce and documentaries signed, among others, by famous directors such as Ermanno Olmi. In addition to these, 130,000 documents from the history of Enel and the history of electricity in our country are available online.

The creation of the digital archive is part of the broader process launched by Enel to make its documentary heritage fully accessible and usable.

A journey that began with the opening and then redevelopment of the historical archive of the Naples office. More than 13,000 linear meters of documents, 200,000 photographs, thousands of technical drawings, books and specialized magazines, period equipment as well as hundreds of artifacts and films are currently kept here, bearing witness to the history of the Italian electrical industry. A documentation that has been recognized by the Archival Superintendency for Lazio of “considerable historical interest” and a “source of unique value and immeasurable interest in the history of electricity and national and international economic history from the beginning of the last century onwards “.

Source: Amiata News/ Enel Press Release