Monteponi-Montevecchio Mines  / Institutional design and design of dissent:  strikes and accident prevention campaign

The narrative around the mines of Monteponi and Montevecchio, situated between the municipalities of Iglesias and Guspini in Sardinia, Italy, has always been one of a grandiose, cutting-edge system.

The mining history permeated the entire social and political fabric from the mid-19th century to the early 21st century, creating an eternal and still persistent conflict between the working class and the ruling class, between cutting-edge technological development and the precarious living conditions of miners, between a fascination with abandoned industrial archaeology and the current consequences for an exploited territory.

Sardinian mining history began in 1848 with the first concession granted to Giovanni Antonio Sanna in the Guspini area, in the locality of Genna Serapis - Gate of Serapis, the Greco-Egyptian deity protector of the subsoil. This toponym in the Sardinian language reveals the historical stratification of the landscape, recalling the Latin traces of the use of this location for mining purposes as far back as Roman times.

Mining activities in Sardinia finally ended in 2018 with the closure of the Nuraxi Figus mine. Specifically, the Monteponi-Montevecchio mining complex closed in the early 1990s, in May 1991 to be precise, after a 27-day strike, 143 years since its opening.

This historical context saw both the first labor movements that would lead to major national strikes (such as the Buggerru Massacre of 1904) and moments of great technological development for the Italian mining industry. At the same time, the companies owning the mine invested significantly in advertising and in benefits for miners and their families.

The living conditions of miners and sorters (women and children), initially overlooked, acquired a community value thanks to grassroots movements and growing awareness from the workers, making them a bargaining chip. The first strike in Montevecchio dates back to 1903, involving 1,500 workers and is less known than the Buggerru Massacre of the following year, which killed four miners. The latter is often identified as one of the strikes that led to the first national general strike in Italian history in September 1904.

In the first half of the 20th century, mines were microcosms of social life. Montevecchio is one virtuous example of a mining village, home to a large community that counted over 3,000 inhabitants. It was a society encompassing all social strata, with housing, schools, hospitals, postal services, a cinema, after-work entertainment, and a grocery store.

"The mine brought many deaths, but also a great deal of technology, social and cultural progress. It provided work, school, music, theater, and sports."

Over the years, there was a progressive succession of strikes demanding the right to workplace safety, minimum wage, the abolition of piecework, and a guaranteed working day that would not exceed eight consecutive hours in the tunnels.

Especially in the 1970s, limited-edition flyers, printed using mimeograph machines, draw on a stylistic model developed in the wake of the riots in France known as French May and replicated on a large scale by students and workers. The posters produced are mostly anonymous and hand-drawn, graphics designed to raise awareness and increase strike participation.

At the same time, and dating back to the same historical period, but with radically different aims in terms of dissemination and the identity of their promoters, several accident prevention campaigns were carried out by the Monteponi-Montevecchio Company, managed by the safety department of Montecatini Edison S.p.A. 

In particular, during the 1970 accident prevention campaign, six different posters were created to raise workers' awareness of the use of PPE (personal protective equipment) and to exercise caution in the workplace. A competition was held, involving the miners in choosing the poster. Among the posters submitted was "L'elmetto serve" (The Helmet Is Worth It) by Giulio Confalonieri, a mid-twentieth-century Milanese designer, an exponent of the Italian-Swiss school and a student of Gio Ponti and Max Bill. Confalonieri worked during that historical period as a graphic designer for various Italian industry brands. This collection of posters and postcards is preserved in the Municipal Historical Archives of Iglesias (Sardinia, Italy).

Knowing the fate that would follow those years, rather than a graphic representation of the new safety regulations, it almost seems like a diversion to distract attention from the fate of an industry that was already beginning to struggle and would soon close its doors, leaving a profound economic void after having guaranteed the promise of safe, though health-damaging, jobs for many generations.