In the summer of 1960 in Milan only 38% passed the Abitur. Brother Emman, pediatrician (and holy man), proclaims: “The apocalypse on July 14.” And the people flee to Mont Blanc Corriere Milano
Too many sighs. Outpourings on jazz background. On July 1, prosecutors confiscated the album The Jungle Chase. Outrage at the “common sense of decency”.
Summer 1960 in Milan it opens like this. May it not be a “too hot” summer. July 2 Corriere headline: “Mountains of suitcases in the main station». The holidays begin: 518 trains per day. Already full. Fashion: The “Jeanne Moreau style” (Truffaut’s muse) is coming. Parisian novelty for the rich Milanese by the sea: the swimsuit kilt. Sunday 3 July, meeting at Idroscalo. Competition “Beautiful Children of Italy”. Then pills of sporting globalization: enthusiasm for the “Harlem Globetrotters”, guests in the Vigorelli; Milan embarks on a tour to Sweden. Milan for children: a thousand on the way to the community summer camps.
Those who stay dive at the Lido
For those who stay al Lidoto visit two trams; plus a pool for toy ship battles. Everything flows, in the Milan summer 63 years ago (Mayor Virgil Ferrari, Social Democrat). All according to habit, until an epochal idiot figure emerges, while Italy is devastated by very violent clashes between workers, students and the police (as part of an anti-fascist mobilization against the Social Movement that will end with about twenty dead). different cities).
Sermons by Brother Emman
He preaches in Milan brother Emman. He was a pediatrician. It has been cleared up. The word dictated to him typed folders in red block letters. He foresees and announces the apocalypse: for July 14, 1960, 1:45 p.m.
Days before he fled with his sect to an altitude of two thousand meters at Mont Blanc.
wait there The catastrophe does not happen. And a few days later, Emman returns to his apartment via Casati, Porta Venezia area. Real estate prices in the neighborhood have not risen yet. But more and more in the rest of the city empty houses. An estimated 28,000. Don’t rent. Motivation: «Rent too high».
rental costs
Given the 2023 controversy over exorbitant student rents, this one from 1960 seems like the prelude to a cyclical return. However, 100 square meters in Via Montenapoleone cost a million lire a year at the time. In viale Papiniano, halfway
holiday escape
As the holidays approach, the homes of workers and employees begin to empty. On the weekend of July 16-17, 1960, 200,000 people left Milan. Especially by train. A new escape route will soon open up. After a few weeks the Milano-Serravalle line is over: the last 10 kilometers from Binasco to Famagosta are almost done.
Maturity: 16% rejected
Maturity now. In Milan, 38 percent are promoted. 16 percent declined. All the others, delay (repair was planned). July 1960 is the month of successive economic and social changes: the commune municipal gas; the pasta increases by 10 lire; Two hundred thousand Milanese women benefit from equal pay with men. The wage increases from 6.5 to 16 lire per hour. The municipality is also extending the opening hours of the bathing resorts “In favor of the workers”: 200,000 visitors in public pools in two months, 140,000 in Idroscalo.
The night trains
For those who can afford it, the latest innovations are the “Auto Couchettes Express». Trains with sleeping cars to Northern Europe. And the car is also loaded on the train. When it is inaugurated in 2022 the Milan-Linate undergroundIn 1960, an agreement between Sea and Alitalia resolved the paralysis of the “Forlanini». domestic flights begin.
But vacations were not yet spent by plane.
Half a kilometer long trains
August is approaching: more than depopulation, desertification. From the weekend of July 30th to 31st: 35 special trains arrive and 50 depart from Central Station. Convoys with up to 22-23 wagons. Headlines: “Half a kilometer long trains». The lines from France and Germany southward reach “paroxysmal peaks of crush”. The Questura issues 5,000 passports daily. Crowds at the counters. On Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th August, the cash registers in Centrale set the all-time collection record: 127 million. Other exceptional trains were set up “with great applause”. 22 children lost in crowd within 48 hours (found by police). The lost property office stacks the suitcases outside. Saturday evening, danger to public order: 10,000 people on platforms 5 and 6, from where trains to Puglia depart. Four planned convoys. Push. fainting. Contested standing places. Seven emergency trains put together in a few hours. Everything for Bari. The situation is similar towards Veneto. The transit of emigrants returning from Switzerland, France and Belgium heats up the rush. In the end, 400,000 Milanese left the country. Another 300,000 will depart by train the following weekend, August 13th and 14th.
The Counter-Exodus
An emergency plan is being deployed on the streets together with the Red Cross. The traffic police use 300 patrols. In the three days leading up to August 15, police estimate the number of departing and arriving cars at 350,000. Milan had almost a million and 600,000 inhabitants in 1960.
If you add up the runs, you imagine a ghost town. In the first 15 days of August The collection of the railways reaches a billion. But it’s a time of transition: Milan’s bank holidays are shifting from block trains to car trains. At that time, the 500,000th car was registered. Another Corriere headline: “The number of cars has suddenly doubled on holiday.”
The counter-exodus is even more intense. Biblical: 700,000 passengers return to Centrale on August 20th and 21st.
The Olympic games
The Olympic Games begin in Rome: during the week, the Milanese are nailed together in front of the television. Especially in bars. Queues in front of TV shops. A little girl in Segrate is baptized Olimpia. On August 27th, two desert foxes and five pythons arrived at the zoo in the park in Via Palestro. The only places that have never closed are those of striptease. Stars of the season: Dodo d’Hambourg at the Teatro Nuovo, Coco Chippendale at the Masks.
June 26, 2023
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