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The first electricity power stations and the earliest uses of electricity wrought great changes both on the natural environment and on human society, and altered the essential character of the prevalent conditions and culture that had existed before. Public lighting and the electrification of transport had become unambiguous symbols of human progress in the Europe and United States of the late 19th century and early 20th centuries This happened also for Italy, but a series of factors determined a different situation from the rest of the world.

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SILVIO LABBATE is Fixed-term researcher(University of Salento).He has a PhD in History of International Relations(University Sapienza).He is Adjunct professor(University of Salento). He has written the book "Il governo dell´energia. L´Italia dal petrolio al nucleare(1945-1975)" and many articles on the cold war in the Middle East and energy issues.

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