An Alpine Energy Transition: The Piave River from Charcoal to “White Coal”

Abstract

Abstract This article analyzes the environmental history of the Industrial Revolution by examining the evolution of the usage and management of the waters of the Piave, a river stretching from the eastern Alps to the Venetian Plain. In the preindustrial period, the Piave played a fundamental role in defining the flows of raw materials and energy in the region, representing the main route for transporting timber—the most important resource of the time—from Alpine forests to lowland urban areas. The onset of industrialization, especially the development of a railway network, undermined both this role and the economic activities that had been based on the exploitation of Alpine forests. The subsequent rise of hydroelectricity transformed the Piave from a transport route to an energy source. This transformation caused, in a shift applicable to more than just the Italian case, a redefinition of the social and economic relationships between upland and lowland areas: after the energy transition, the Alpine region ceased to be a constituent part of an interdependent system and instead became a periphery to an urban core.