It’s like so often happens on foreign motorways at the toll station. Once again, the crucial centimetres are missing to the reader. Then the German card doesn’t work, for whatever reason, and the driver behind starts to push.
How beautiful it must have been here, on the lakes of northern Italy, a century ago. As a car owner, you were almost alone. You paid not at the machine, but in cash at the service station. And at the barrier there was a guard in uniform who saluted in a friendly manner.
100 years ago, on September 21, 1924, the world’s first real motorway was opened here, between the city of Milan and Varese, 50 kilometers further north. Or rather: the first autostrada. Because the claim that is still heard today that Adolf Hitler invented the motorway is utter nonsense. In modern parlance: fake news, of the very old kind.
Only 57,000 cars on Italy’s roads – today more than 40 million
The idea actually came from the entrepreneur Piero Puricelli, who also built the legendary Monza race track and was later ennobled as a count. In 1921, the engineer founded a company called Società Anonima Autostrade, a kind of Italian motorway company. The principle: a toll road only for express traffic – i.e. without obstacles such as intersections, carts, carriages, bicycles or pedestrians. It was actually a very futuristic idea. At that time, there were hardly any cars on Italy’s roads: 57,000. By comparison: today there are more than 40 million.
At that time, most people were not keen on being mobile. They preferred to stay in their familiar surroundings. Anyone who wanted or needed to travel longer distances took the train. Horse-drawn carts were the main means of transport on the country roads, which were often still unpaved. In this respect, the first section of what would later become the Autostrada dei Laghi (Motorway of the Lakes), and later the A8, was a very daring undertaking.
“A ride on concrete as smooth as parquet”
Nevertheless, celebrities came: the first trip was made by the then King Vittorio Emanuele III in a vehicle made by the Lancia brand, which still exists today. The monarch also cut the ribbon, with six soldiers forming a guard of honor. The daily newspaper “La Tribuna di Roma” noted with appreciation: “A highly attractive trip on concrete as smooth as parquet. Without treacherous gullies or cyclists or anything like that that could be sent to the afterlife…” There were also reports about it in Germany: but not on a motorway, but on a “car-only road”.
Initially, the Italians assumed that 1,000 cars would travel the route every day. However, there were rarely more than a few dozen – which may also have been because the autostrada was closed at night. In 1925, the next section was opened, as far as Como on the lake of the same name. Today, this is the A9, which is also a popular tourist route.
First German motorway between Cologne and Bonn in August 1932
By the way: Hitler was in prison in Bavaria at the time, sentenced to five years for an attempted coup in November 1923. He didn’t even mention motorways until 1933: after seizing power, he published a program to build four-lane “Führer’s roads” across Germany. What was not disclosed was that the plans dated back to the 1920s. The first section of a “crossing-free motorway” was opened in August 1932, between Cologne and Bonn, today the A555.
Incidentally, there was a certain rivalry between the fascists in Berlin and Rome at the time. Italy’s dictator Benito Mussolini, in power since 1922, celebrated the opening of Milan-Varese: “The motorways are a great Italian achievement and a very concrete sign of our engineering spirit – not unworthy of the sons of ancient Rome.”
Race tracks also previously in the USA and Germany
The cultural historian Conrad Kunze (“Germany as a Autobahn”) sees things differently today. In his view, Mussolini was clearly inferior to Hitler in terms of money and propaganda. “What both were similar in was the attempt to monumentalize the road as a great historical work,” says the scientist from Berlin. “The only difference is that the German version was much bigger, more expensive, more deadly, faster and more famous – just as everything in the Third Reich was several sizes bigger than in Italy.”
For the sake of completeness: There are also experts who believe that the Autobahn is even older. In New York, the Long Island Motor Parkway had been in existence since 1908, but it was used almost exclusively as a race track – an expensive luxury for rich dandies. In Berlin, the Avus (automobile traffic and practice road) was inaugurated in 1921, and this too was primarily for the well-heeled: the quarterly ticket cost an enormous 1,000 marks. Neither of these had much to do with today’s Autobahn – a public road only for motorized traffic to get quickly from A to B.
Above all, Italy had already come up with the idea of building a widespread network of motorways. The first autostrada was not cheap, but overall prices were significantly lower: between 9 and 60 lire, depending on the size of the vehicle. Today, a one-way trip for cars costs a flat rate of 3.80 euros. This Saturday, however, the journey is free. To celebrate the day, cars from 100 years ago will be on the road.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:240921-930-238932/1
This is a message directly from the dpa news channel.
