Paper short abstract:

The paper analyses the textile district of Biella, whose industrial ruins show signs of decline and dislocation as well as the social difficulties of its community. Experiences of environmental patronage reveal the need for a negotiation of the territory's identity, between textiles and eco-tourism.

Paper long abstract:

The arrival in the Biella area, a non-transit territory that opens up to the amphitheatre of the Alps, with 'obligatory' road access from the plain, sees a 'welcome' roundabout on the “Trossi road” consisting of an artwork with the words 'Biella Turismo' written on it. There are no roundabouts presenting the area in its connotation as 'Italian Manchester', a well-known textile district.

The most striking sign of the long process of industrialisation, that has seen the Biella area become one of Italy's most renowned wool centres, is the presence of large industrial sheds dotting the provincial roads, particularly the one up the Strona valley. Since 2005, the façade of one of the valley's main textile factories has had the words 'Change is inevitable' reproduced in large letters. Continuing up the mountain, we reach a natural park called 'Oasi Zegna', a sign of the environmental patronage of a local business family (salvage capitalism?) (Tsing 2015).

Driving along that road, I wonder what impact the industrial ruins have on the tourist who comes here to enjoy the alpine landscape. During the first decade of the 2000s, local residents witnessed plant closures, lay-offs and early retirements, and a significant decrease in the number of residents. Understanding the deindustrialisation process also means relating the elements of the social and cultural context to the geometry of the abandoned spaces (Strangleman, High 2013), reading them not as a static landscape of desolate smokestacks, but as a cultural drama of communities in transition (Dudley 1994).