Page 65 - Industrial Plants

How it all started……

Northern Italy was always a place where engineering flourished. Let us recall that Leonardo da Vinci was –
among others – a superb engineer, who designed the system of irrigation and navigation via canals in the plain
of Lombardy, still in use today.
It was in a decree of Lodovico Sforza ‘il Moro’, the Duke of Milan (1480 – 1499), that engineers were
mentioned in a formal way for the first time: a distinction was made between the magistri fabrorum, engineers
and architects, and aestimatores and surveyors, establishing lower rates for the latter.
From the mid-sixteenth century onwards, the Government of Milan chartered the newly formed Board of
Engineers with the task of “licensing” engineers. This corporate body was responsible for protecting the
profession and verifying that the candidate possessed the necessary professional skills (gained through
internships) and the birthright (a member of a socially distinct family) required to practice the profession.
With the arrival of Napoleon, the Board of Engineers was suppressed and engineers received their scientific
training at universities. They were then required to perform an internship at the firm of a certified engineer.
The evolutionary ferment that swept across Lombardy in the 1830’s caused intellectuals who were attentive
to what was happening elsewhere in Europe to see intelligence as an economic factor on par with capital,
labour and infrastructure. In addition to intellectuals and economists committed to promoting the country’s
modernization process, business owners - increasingly aware of the needs of modern agriculture and very
interested in the growth of manufacturing activities - looked towards developing high quality technical and
scientific education and referred to it as “one of the main sources of progress”.
Upon its establishment, Politecnico became thus the hub of all educational and outreach initiatives in the
technical and scientific world, the dynamic center of applied research and a place where businesses could
turn to for third party experimentation and testing.
On November 29, 1863 – two years after the Unification if Italy - Francesco Brioschi, a politician, distinguished
mathematician and hydraulic engineer, then secretary general of the Ministry of Public Education, Rector of
the University of Pavia and Chairman of the board of the Scientific-Literary Academy, inaugurated the Istituto
Tecnico Superiore, the first technical university in Italy. Brioschi remained its Rector until his death in 1897.
The Istituto Tecnico Superiore was based on the model of the German and Swiss polytechnic institutes and
promoted a technical and scientific culture focused on specialization and on the ability to contribute to the
country’s development. Initially limited to three years of study (following a basic two-year program in Physical
Sciences, Mathematics and Natural Sciences in other universities) and only two areas of specialization (in Civil
and Industrial Engineering), in 1865, through the interaction with the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera, the
institute was joined by the School of Architecture.
For the severity with which it was managed and its strict disciplinary provisions, the Istituto Tecnico Superiore
was soon renamed by students the “Brioschi Asylum”. Attendance was mandatory and absences had to be
justified by parents or a doctor whose signature had to be authenticated by the mayor of their town of
residence. Students were required to attend classes, which were held from Monday to Saturday afternoon, to
participate in the laboratories, perform practical exercises, written tests, and to take “science journeys”,
educational trips to factories, industrial centres and civil constructions, in addition to attending international
industrial exhibitions and cities of art. During these visits, students observed the most innovative production
processes which were later discussed in class.
Graduation was accompanied by the custom of the portrait, and a group photograph of the year’s graduates
was first displayed in the windows of shops in the center of Milan.
There were only 25 first graduates at the end of the first program in 1865, but the attendance grew
progressively in subsequent years, coinciding with the Italian industrialization process. A key factor of success
was the collaboration and funding by numerous enterprises in Northern Italy. In many ways, Politecnico
became one of the main focal points of technical know-how, education and experimentation of the emerging
Italian industry.

signed by the two Rectors in front of respective country A look into the future

Presidents, Messrs. Xi Jinping and Sergio Mattarella; The world around us is evolving rapidly, even
as well as the Innovation Hub under development with disruptively, so it is forcing us all to adapt and to
Xi’an Jiaotong University and other important analogous change. Numerous social and geopolitical
initiatives in Shanghai and Chengdu. transformations are at play. Social and geopolitical

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