in the year Italy started that "exceptional" project many students in the South had still basic schools in almost open air: that "highway" was the result of a b

in the year Italy started that "exceptional" project many students in the South had still basic schools in almost open air: that "highway" was the result of a big lobby work by FIAT that wanted all Italians to have a car (their, FIAT, car), and it was something not really needed: oh, yes, it was a bit like the new deal in the US: big infrastructure to have jobs, in a typical Italian contest, a big favour to the Agnelli's family (owner of FIAT and rich industries before, during, and after the war). Fiat also lobby to remove public buses (filobus, tramway, electrical.. already in place in those years) from main cities: this, of course, to push for cars: not in Torino, their headquarter, but in many many big cities. To me that motorway is pretty much a sad opera, as sad as all investments made in Dodecanese when Italy took it (for free, without a single serious gunshot) from the Ottomans: there, too, some avveniristic operas.... sea planes bases, big restoration (the walls of Rodos... with a pretty 'exotic' taste, which I like a lot even if is considered a clear example on how not to restore antic city walls :), and of course planty of roads (pretty well done, sure) to serve well in case of military purpose: this in the '20ies when, once again, schools where even more misarable then the 50ies.