COTONIFICIO CANTONI SARONNO [IT]

Exploration #250 Cotonificio Cantoni, sede di Saronno. The cotonificio Cantoni is one of the most important examples of the Italian textile industry of the 20th century. Founded in 1828 along the Olona river in Legnano, the company began as a small textile workshop and quickly developed into a large factory, becoming the largest cotton mill in Italy for a long time.

In addition to the historical one established in Legnano, the Cantoni family founded other cotton mills. They opened factories in Castellanza (1845), Cordenons (1865), Bellano (1870) and Legnano in the Olmina district (1960). Many other factories were incorporated by Cotonificio Cantoni thanks to a number of purchasing operations that the Legnano-based company made against some competing companies.

The Saronno factory became part of Cotonificio Cantoni in 1968 following the acquisition of De Angeli-Frua, an Italian textile company specializing in the production of dyed fabrics, founded in 1896 from the union of the factories (cotton mills and printing works) of Ernesto De Angeli and Giuseppe Frua. In addition to the Saronno site, De Angeli-Frua had factories in Fagnano Olona (formerly Stamperia e tintoria F.lli Tronconi), Ponte Nossa (formerly De Angeli-Frua) and Arluno (formerly Cotonificio Carlo Dell’Acqua), all of which came under the control of Cantoni. The Saronno site, founded in 1911 as a fabric printing works, continued to carry out the same activity after the takeover.

With a complete range of machinery, the company was able to arrive at the finished product from raw material. In total, in 1972, Cotonificio Cantoni’s facilities contained 2,724 looms, 235,002 spindles and 15 printing machines. The company also had a thermoelectric power station located within the historical Legnano factory and 8 hydroelectric plants.

Towards the end of the 20th century, the Italian textile industry began to suffer from competition from emerging countries, with low-cost production putting a strain on the sector’s historical companies. Even Cotonificio Cantoni was not immune to these challenges and, unfortunately, over the years, production decreased and the company faced periods of crisis. Added to this were the debts accumulated by Cantoni, which were attributable to excessive stocks in the warehouses of printed fabrics: it was precisely at this time that fashion changed, favouring plain fabrics.

The Saronno factory was closed in 2002. In 2020, work began on the reclamation of the 94,000 square metre area and the demolition of the warehouses to allow for the construction of a supermarket, residences, offices, a multi-purpose centre, a senior citizens’ centre and a public park.

CUCIRINI CANTONI COATS [IT]

Exploration #221. The origins of Cucirini Cantoni Coats (CCC) date back to the end of the 19th century when Carlo Niemack founded a cotton mill in the medieval town of Lucca. The company grew rapidly and in 1890 the small business was transformed into FIFC, Fabbriche Italiane Filati Cucirini, based in Milan.

In 1904 the Scottish company James and Peter Coats of Paisley, the main supplier of cotton to the Italian market and world leader in textile production, bought FIFC and from the union of the two companies came Cucirini Cantoni Coats. The new company was run by James Henderson, a young Scot who would only leave CCC in 1955, after running it for 45 years. James renovated the factory, which was equipped with the most advanced production processes and technologies, thus producing a product of inimitable quality. The production of yarns for domestic use is joined by that of products for industry.

Production increases, costs decrease and by 1915, the company had around 1,000 employees. The company was also a pioneer in communication and advertising and is the first to print the company name and brand name on every spool of yarn.

In the years before and after the Second World War, CCC is a leader in yarn production, introducing improvements and innovations. In its peak, the factory’s production reached over 4300 employees, and seven out of ten were women. The crisis came at the end of the 20th century, coinciding with the crisis in the Italian textile sector, until the final closure in 2007.

MANIFATTURA DI FERNO [IT]

Exploration #186. This textile company was founded in 1913 in the province of Varese. It specialized in the production of cotton fabrics for men’s shirts, as well as cotton–linen blends used for men’s and women’s shirts and coats.

The major crisis in the Italian textile industry led to its closure in the late 1990s. Since then, the site has been left in a state of neglect and abandonment. In 2024, plans were announced to demolish the complex and build a new supermarket.

ROCCHETTE 1 [IT]

Exploration #171. Lanificio Rossi (later abbreviated to Lanerossi) in Schio was one of the largest wool mills in Italy. Lanerossi was founded in 1873, transforming Industrie Rossi, established in 1817 by Francesco Rossi, into a limited company. Rossi was originally from Santa Caterina di Lusiana and handed over the management of the wool mill to his son Alessandro Rossi in 1849, who over the years transformed it into one of Italy’s leading industries.

Piovene doubled its population, the only municipality in the Vicenza area and possibly the Veneto. It became richer: the first car in Italy circulated in Piovene. It was 1893 and the Peugeot 3 was purchased by Gaetano Rossi. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Lanificio Rossi was the largest Italian wool company, with numerous factories in the Vicenza area. The ‘Rocchette 1’ factory was built for a capacity of 12,000 spindles in 1869 on the right bank of the Astico torrent.

Despite this, due to wrong management choices and financial speculation, the Lanerossi group experienced a period of crisis after the mid-nineteenth century. In 1987 the company was taken over by its competitor Marzotto from nearby Valdagno, who, however, no longer invested in the Lanerossi brand. The various plants were gradually dismantled.

LANEROSSI [IT]

Exploration #170. This wool mill has its origins at the end of the 19th century, in 1873 to be precise. In a short time it became one of the major national industries, so much so that at the beginning of the twentieth century Lanificio Rossi was the largest Italian wool company, with numerous factories in the region. Many other activities were set up in parallel with the factory: workers’ housing, schools, after-work clubs and many social works.

Lanerossi produced woolen fabric for various purposes and exported it all over the world. In spite of this, at the height of the economic boom, Lanerossi went through a period of crisis from 1955 to 1957, due to poor management decisions. In 1956, in order to revive and restructure the wool mill, Giuseppe Eugenio Luraghi was called in as president and managing director and in a very short time he was able to achieve prodigious results. The share price’s spectacular gains on the stock exchange led to a great deal of speculation on it, which initially caused the main shareholders to leave, and then the success of an acrobatic and unscrupulous stock market “climb”.

In the following decade, however, the linificio again experienced a period of severe crisis. In 1987, the group was acquired by its competitor Marzotto, who, however, no longer invested in the Lanerossi brand. The various factories were gradually closed and dismantled. This plant was closed in 2005 and emptied of all machinery, with the exception of the thermoelectric plant, which was finally demolished in 2021.

CARTIERA AQUILA [IT]

Exploration #132 Cartiera Aquila. This location has housed various activities during its history. As early as 1881 there was a spinning mill, although its date of construction is unknown. The date of 1881 is known because there is a document showing that the factory requested the construction of a bank wall along the river, so as to channel the water for spinning uses.

In 1920, the ownership changed and a cotton mill was set up, which only after ten years was closed and the mill converted into a paper mill. After the Second World War, in 1950, the entire property was acquired by the “Cartiera Vita Mayer“, which renamed it “Cartiera Aquila”. Following the bankruptcy of the Mayer paper mill in 1977, the plant was converted into a plastics company and renamed Trifenica Aquila.

The latter business closed at the end of the 1990s and since then the whole area has been in a state of complete abandonment. Over the years, weather has caused many structures to collapse, vegetation has taken over courtyards and some buildings, making them unreachable.

USINE S [BE]

Exploration #125. Usine S. was founded in the late 19th century and was specialised in the treatment and manufacture of wool. Its architecture is very nice, as are old factories. The place is well preserved and the decay is mainly only due to the passage of time. After being abandoned for almost a century, now the site has a second life as a museum (legal visit).

COTONIFICIO DI TORRE [IT]

Exploration #84. This was once a cotton factory, one of the largest cotton factories in the Triveneto (and perhaps, in the 19th century, among the largest in Italy). It was founded by Swiss and Austrian businessmen in 1839.

Initially, the factory was arranged on six floors and surmounted by a turret, where a bell rang out the work shifts, leaning against a second, more extensive, four-storey building, according to a vertically developed structure, similar to the contemporary English and German factories and the old Italian silk spinning mills. In 1895, after various changes of ownership in 1887 and 1889, it became the Società Anonima Cotonificio Veneziano, which belonged to the cotton manufacturer Emilio Cantoni of Milan.

Around 1900, the spinning mill complex was enlarged and renovated by demolishing the too-high vertical structures, replaced by a three- and four-storey building with a flat roof and clock tower supporting the water tank and stairs. In 1910 the complex was extended again but in 1916, despite modern fire precautions, the spinning mill was seriously damaged by fire. Activity resumed briefly in 1917, after restoration work on the structure, but in November of that year, during the retreat of Caporetto, the factory was set on fire by the Italian military so that it would not fall into Austrian hands. The complex was rebuilt again between 1919 and 1920, taking up the aesthetic-formal models of the old building.

In the mid-1930s, the factory was extended with the addition of a parallel body, arranged on two levels and joined to the main body by two canopies at each end. During the Second World War, the factory was requisitioned by German troops and suffered heavy devastation. In the 1950s the last expansion. The Torre factory ceased operations in 1984, the textile machines that furnished it sold to the Chinese in the late 1970s and the last workers were laid off in the early 1980s. It is now in a state of neglect and decay awaiting restoration.

(sources: http://www.storiastoriepn.it/ and https://www.comune.pordenone.it/).