In 1946, Agip identified a series of promising fields in the Po Valley. They were not full of oil as Enrico Mattei had hoped, but they did contain significant amounts of methane, a precious energy source. Mattei knew this gas had the potential to jump start Italian industry so he began building an extensive network of methane pipelines, more than a thousand kilometres long. In the 1950s, Eni built facilities that were of great importance and visual impact. These are the subjects of images captured by the great photographer Aldo Ballo and the Agenzia Publifoto team. A vast selection of these images can be seen in the collection, along with photos of other big projects from those years - refineries, office buildings, platforms and ships - tangible evidence of the company's significant developments after the Po Valley fields started producing