Doing it Our Way. How the Cluster of Brescia Shaped the Postwar Resilience of Lombardy’s Steel Industry

This study analyzes the resilience of Lombardy’s steel industry after World War II, with a focus on the role played by the cluster of Brescia. The research investigates which repertoires of resilience shaped this regional production in a context marked by both contingent and structural challenges. Methodologically, the analysis adopts a historical perspective, combining archival sources, industrial reports, and official statistics to reconstruct the sector’s post-war transformations. The results indicate that the resilience of the steel industry in Lombardy was grounded in both endogenous and exogenous factors. Among the exogenous drivers, ECSC policies on scrap supply and market integration, Marshall Plan funding, and technological innovations— often developed in collaboration with machinery manufacturers such as Danieli—proved decisive. On the endogenous side, the productive capacity built before the war and the entrepreneurial dynamism of the so-called Bresciani enabled rapid and effective adaptation. Overall, the persistent tension between tradition and modernization made the steel industry in Lombardy a paradigmatic case of post-war industrial resilience.