PUBBLICHE CALAMITA’ E LEGISLAZIONE D’EMERGENZA IN ITALIA TRA OTTO E NOVECENTO

The research of this work was based on the study of the main disastrous events that occurred in Italy at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth century (1861-1945). The aim was to rebuild the legislative history and the administrative history in terms of both poorly studied disasters with regard to natural disasters. The research was conducted by examining the legal texts, the chronicles of the era, the parliamentary debates, archival documents, magazine articles and monographs in order to have a broad overview on the subject. What has emerged is that the Italian state, for almost the entire second half of the nineteenth century, was absolutely unprepared for any emergency caused by a natural disaster, so the work was aimed to describe, through a long-term study, the evolving role of the state and of its structuring. The research, therefore, aims to provide a tool for analyzing the history of the legislation and of the Italian apparatus in the field of disaster trying to shed light on the important steps that have allowed the construction of modern civil protection. This was made possible by dividing the considered period in phases: the 60's and 70's, the 80's, the 90's and the early years of the twentieth century, the years included between 1908 and 1915 and from 1915 to the end of World War Two. This periodization revealed the following: that in the 60's and 70's, the Italian state was found to be totally absent because it lacked instruments and suitable equipment; that the 80's and 90's were, however, the years of the creation of the first organisms, of the first administrative tools designed for the specific needs arising from a catastrophe; that the early years of the twentieth century were those of the proliferation of special administrative apparatus, and finally, the earthquake of Messina and the subsequent years represented the fertile phase in which was thought the most appropriate and specific tools to deal with the emergency, and the apparatuses and procedures were constructed. Next to this first finding there emerged, afterwards, a second concerning the nature of the apparatuses and to that of the regulatory acts. Regarding the first aspect, there emersed with evidence the temporary and exceptional nature of the set up organisms to handle the post-disaster phases. The commissioners, the arbitral team, the commissions were, in fact, arisen for a limited time in order to perform functions and "extraordinary" tasks to deal with the single camality. Only since the earthquake in Calabria in 1905, the thinking of anchoring within the state apparatus, a stable organization specializing in disaster management, started. Regarding the second aspect, it was interesting to note, starting from the years '90 to the XIX century, the start of a new trend, framed in the production of legislative acts of an exceptional nature. To meet the emergency, even if it was already in the most difficult phase represented by rescue activities of the victims, the political power preferred, in fact, leaving more space to the Government. This meant ensuring a large autonomy to the executive so that it could handle all issues related to disasters and in particular, to enact decree laws on a lot of different fields of law. Through the studies of these factors, therefore, it was possible to make an important reconstruction of the process of formation of the Civil Protection organ, fundamental for a country like Italy constantly hit by natural disasters of all kinds. This precise process has allowed, finally, to identify the elements of continuity existing between the past history, characterized by the speciality of the considered organisms and the present history that is also marked by the specialities of the joints that make up today's Civil Protection.