Vittoriano
Second Section
The nationalization, which took place in 1905, marked a decisive turning point in the history of Italian transport. This led to the creation of the State Railways: their goal was to unify and make the entire rail transport system more modern and efficient. Large metalworking industries, such as Ansaldo, Breda, FIAT, and the Terni Steelworks, found a powerful engine for development in the State Railways.
During the First World War (1915–1918), the railway network became the heart of the war effort, ensuring the transport of troops to the front with the famous "troop trains" (tradotte). A few years later, in 1921, the train was transformed into a symbol of national mourning: the body of the Unknown Soldier, still preserved here in Vittoriano at the center of the Altar of the Fatherland, traveled along the tracks from Aquileia to Rome.
Between the two World Wars, the Fascist regime used the railways as a cornerstone of economic policy and the collective imagination, elevating them to a symbol of efficiency and modernity. The electrification of the network, the Direttissime (high-speed lines), the Littorine (diesel railcars), and popular trains sanctioned, among other things, the birth of mass tourism. In the arts and literature, the train continued to embody the ambivalence of modernity: a promise of progress and freedom for many, starting with the Futurists, but conversely, a paradigm of the contemporary man's alienation for others.
