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History of Italian IT from 1927 to 1976. (Italiano)

The synthesis of the IT experiences of Universities and Businesses was manifested with an exhibition of electronic material and news related to the history of IT in Italy up to 1976 - bit@byte - presented in Rome in the months of October-November 2005 at the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Palazzina dell'Auditorio. To introduce the concrete quotes of the realities that founded the progressive technological growth that was taking place in the country, the phrase was reported: "Without experience nothing can be known sufficiently" (Roger Bacon, 1214-1292 approximately).

The information was mainly taken from a study by the Olivetti Foundation of 1993 in which accurate analyses are dedicated to the events concerning the Public Administration and those relating to the world of universities and businesses, as well as from the Proceedings of the Conference on Electronic Automation held in Rome in 1967, at the Accademia dei Lincei.

1927 Professor Mauro Picone founds the Institute of Numerical Calculation at the University of Naples. The Italian State Railways install one of the first computer centers in Italy.

1932 The INAC (National Institute for the Applications of Calculation) founded and directed by Mauro Picone operates at the CNR in Rome.

1935 IBM begins producing punched card machines in Milan.

1938 Olivetti installs a computer center in Ivrea.

1941 Gino Cassinis works at the Polytechnic of Milan and designs a center for research into the application of calculating machines.

1952 A computer center is started at the State Monopolies using first-generation computers for accounting, administrative and management services. The Postal Administration establishes the Ugo Bordoni Foundation in order to also operate in the computer research sector.

1954 An agreement is signed between Olivetti and the University of Pisa for the construction of the CEP (Pisan Electronic Calculator), a project also supported by Enrico Fermi. The first laboratories are installed at the Polytechnic of Milan, at the CNR in Rome, under the guidance of Giorgio Sacerdoti, the Ferranti calculator is installed.

1955 The Ferranti Mark I calculator is installed at INAC (among the first users of the Calculator were the Ministry of the Budget, the Air Force, the Institutes of Nuclear Physics of Rome, Milan and Turin, the Institute of Psychology of the CNR). The Ferranti-INAC calculator is called FINAC, whose memory had 832 words of 20 bits.

1956 The CNR organizes the international conference on the problems of automation. The problem of software protection is addressed for the first time by Professor Caligo with his speech entitled “Problems of collaboration and protection of intellectual property in programming”.

1957 Construction of the “zero machine” at the Olivetti electronic research laboratory in Barbaracina. A course on information technology culture is held at the Polytechnic of Milan, entrusted to Carlo Santacroce (IBM). The IBM Bendix D12 is installed at the University of Bologna, Faculty of Engineering, and in subsequent years the IBM 650 and the IBM 704 and 7094.

1959 The Elea 9003 is delivered by Olivetti to Marzotto (the first real Italian electronic calculator intended for mass production).

1960 The AICA (Italian Association of Automatic Calculation) is founded.

1962 The new IBM 1401 calculator is produced, followed by the 1400 series.

1963 Within the previous two years, 170 Elea 9003 and 6001 calculators are sold. Their memory was in ferrite cores (1 k of memory occupied the space of a square plate of about 20 centimeters on each side and 1 centimeter thick; a ferrite core - that is, a bit - was about 1 millimeter in size).

1964 The IBM/360 is released on the market.

1965 CINECA (Interuniversity Consortium of the North-East for Automatic Calculation) is established in Bologna. Olivetti presents what can be considered the first personal computer in the world without a display: the Programma 101, designed by Engineer Giorgio Perotto.

1966 At the University of Rome, work is carried out on the border between logic and programming. Bohm-Iacopini lay the theoretical foundations of structured programming. Studies are carried out to give greater speed to INAC. The new calculator is called CINAC.

1967 At the University of Rome, at the Faculty of Engineering, a subspecialization in automatic controls/calculators is introduced dedicated to logic design, computer schemes, and Assembler programming. A conference is organized in Rome, at the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, entitled "Electronic automation and its scientific, technical and social implications. De Finetti and Conversi participate in the coordinating committee. The conference concerns the history of electronic calculation, scientific and industrial applications, information

1969 The Treasury Ministry signs an agreement with ITALSIEL (from 1981 FINSIEL). In previous years, applications had been activated relating to the State General Provision Office, the DD.PP. Fund, and the Social Security Institutes. Important examples of integration between the databases of the State General Accounting Office and the Court of Auditors were implemented; the Treasury Electronic Centre has been fully operational since 1973.

At the end of the 1960s, the following mechanographic or electronic centres were present: Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry; State Company for State-owned Forests; Ministry of Foreign Trade; Ministry of Defence; General Command of the Carabinieri; General Command of the Guardia di Finanza; Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Posts; Ministry of Transport; Ministry of Industry and Commerce; Ministry of Justice; Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Ministry of Labour and Social Security; Ministry of Public Works; Ministry of Education; National Institute of Health; Ministry of Finance, where the first mechanizations of the IGE Office of Rome, of Monopolies, of the Land Registry; of the General Register of Shares were started.

In Pisa, the degree course in Information Sciences was established. In those years, a considerable computer know-how was concentrated in the Tuscan city, also thanks to initiatives such as the CNUCE, (National University Center for Electronic Calculation). STET acquired the electronics of IRI. The CSATA (Center for Studies and Applications in Advanced Technologies) was founded in Bari by the physicist Aldo Romano.

1970 The conference promoted by the Agnelli Foundation “Informatics, culture and Italian society” took place.

1971 The conference of the Olivetti Foundation “The social and political implications of scientific-technological innovation in the information sector” was organized.

1972 The “Camera 72” project was launched.

1974 The Società Informatica Friuli Venezia Giulia (later Insiel) is founded. In Rome, the specialization course in Computer Science is operational at the Faculty of Statistical Sciences, where Professor Carlo Santacroce has long been a lecturer in “Cybernetics and Information Theory”.

1975 The Italgiure project of the Court of Cassation is linked to the Court of Auditors' register.

1976 In February, ITALSIEL begins research and development work in relation to the automation of the electronic system of the Ministry of Public Education. In August, SOGEI, Società Generale d'Informatica, is founded, following the Legislative Decree of 30 January 1976, converted into law on 27 March 1976, which provided for the assignment of the information system of the Tax Registry to a specialized company with a majority state participation. The agreement was signed by the Ministry of Finance and Carlo Santacroce.

In the appendix of the historical chapter it was reported "There is no future if we are not able to evolve and save the memory. We leave this fragment of the history of Italian IT to visitors, as a sign of commitment to ever greater efficiency of the Public Administration, in order to promote the development of the country, the simplification of services, the quality of life".

Every story continues, and alongside technological evolutions and transformations, a picture is emerging with new advanced digital models including those that accompany Artificial Intelligence Systems with public and private synergies in a perspective of European harmonization of software products, data and services. Some of these elements can be found in www.isoiec25000.it