TITLE:
Antonio Lo Re: Mechanical Engineering in Agriculture
AUTHORS:
Cristina Romano, Luigi Traetta
KEYWORDS:
Antonio Lo Re, History of Machines, History of Agricultural Technology
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Historical Studies,
Vol.9 No.5,
December
10,
2020
ABSTRACT: In light of recent historiographic guidelines that
have identified machines as the prime means
by which the Industrial Revolution spread to the Italian countryside,
this article explains the works and studies of Antonio Lo Re (1857-1920). With his ability to
combine teaching, scientific research, and technological applications in a complex district like the Italian Captainate, Lo
Re played a leading role not only in the agrarian science of his times, but also in related technologies,
with particular attention to the machinery that the increasingly flourishing
European—and, to a more modest extent, also Italian—industry in the second half of the 19th century
devoted to agricultural production. Moreover, his manuals contain
valuable sketches and drawings useful in reconstructing
the history of agricultural machinery of the period.