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Alessandro Agosta is a PhD student in historical sciences at the University of Tuscia in Viterbo, Italy. His research is focused on the environmental and social implications of the rural development in Italy of the second half of twentieth century, with a particular attention on water and soil pollution and the diseases of agricultural workers due to the massive use of chemical products as pesticides and fertilizers. These issues are also connected to the territorial socio-economical gaps generated by the public policies adopted in Italy after the 1950s that favored a geographical concentration of the agricultural development in limited lowland areas, causing the social and environmental degradation of vast mountain and hill areas. For these reasons, the research provides a case study of two regions in southern Italy: Basilicata and Puglia, which have been the object, since the 1950s, of an important environmental redefinition thanks to the agrarian reform and a large public infrastructure plan.
RCC Research Project: Evolving Agriculture. For a History of the Environmental and Social Sustainability of Agricultural Structures in Puglia and Basilicata in the Second Half of the 20th Century
Selected Publications:
- “The ‘disaggregate’ State.” [Lo Stato “disaggregato”]. Meridiana: Rivista di Storia e Scienze Sociali, no. 106 (2023): 267–77. https://doi.org/10.23744/5240.
- “Public Intervention and Unbalanced Development. The Impact of Land Reform and Irrigation Policies in Eastern Basilicata after World War II.” [Intervento Straordinario e Sviluppo Squilibrato. La Riforma Fondiaria nella Basilicata Orientale del Secondo Dopoguerra]. Meridiana: Rivista di Storia e Scienze Sociali, no. 105 (2022): 23–44. https://doi.org/10.23744/4874.