Located in Capriate San Gervasio, 20 km from Bergamo and 37 from Milan, Crespi d’Adda represents an extraordinary example Of industrial city perfectly preserved and still inhabited, qualities that have earned him the recognition of World Heritage by UNESCO in 1995. This workers’ villagefounded in 1876 by the entrepreneur Christopher Benigno Crespi and completed by his son Silvio Benigno at the end of the 1930s, it arose between the beds of the Adda and Brembo rivers with the aim of hosting the workers of the Crespi cotton mill: a village ideal complete with housing facilities and public services (washhouse, after-work club, hotel, hospital, school, cemetery, theatre, church and bathrooms with swimming pool) for use by the families employed. Inaugurated in 1878, The cotton mill became the hub of the village’s social and working life, with the community revolving around the factory and its production rhythms; at its peak, it had around 4,000 workers and 70,000 spindles in operation.
Although the factory closed its doors for good more than twenty years ago, Crespi d’Adda continues to record significant numbers even today (although of a different nature): with over 33,000 visitors in 2023 and growing data for the current yearis in fact the second most visited industrial site in Italypreceded only by the Ferrari museum in Maranello and followed by the Alfa Romeo historical museum in Arese, the Lavazza museum in Turin and the Olivetti Historical Archive in Ivrea.
CRESPI D’ADDA HAS BECOME A POINT OF REFERENCE FOR INDUSTRIAL TOURISM, BUT IT WOULD BE WRONG TO THINK THAT ALL THE GOALS HAVE BEEN REACHED AND STOP. NOW IS THE TIME TO INVEST AND LOOK TO THE FUTURE.
George Ravasio
This success is the result of the commitment of theCrespi d’Adda Associationwhich includes around one hundred people including professional guides, collaborators and students, which together with the active participation of citizens, has undertaken an important path of promotion and valorisation since 1991 which combines historical memory and innovation: work that has transformed the site from a ‘sleeping’ place to an abandoned one a virtuous model of cultural management, economic regeneration and continuous planning. To lead its rebirth and to believe first in the historical, social and cultural value of Crespi d’Adda – where he was born and raised – is the President of the Giorgio Ravasio Association, also curator of the Participatory Multimedia Museum and the creator, together with Mauro Piantelli, Of Uninterrupted Productionsthe Festival of Literature of Work that since 2017 has been telling the world of work between past, present and future through a rich schedule of events.
THE VILLAGE AND ITS FUTURE
The village, characterised by a well-defined and regular urban layout, is made up of 55 workers’ housesalmost identical, arranged in a row from north to south and equidistant from each other. This square-plan solution, with two floors above ground and a vegetable garden, replaced the first four-storey multi-family residences – the so-called ‘palazzotti’ located to the west – since more hospitable and healthy. In the village, they stand out diverse ville: the two twins reserved for the chaplain and the village doctor, the four clerical ones, with small balconies and decorative features, and the nine single-family executive ones, larger and more prestigious, surrounded by green spaces with trees.
Finally, it stands out Villa Crespia neo-Gothic style castle with turrets and battlements, featuring forty-four rooms and three balconies overlooking a central square atrium. Surrounded by a large garden, this residence stands on a lot above the cotton mill, whose entrance is marked by two elegant symmetrical buildings of the management offices. The vast industrial complex, which extends over approximately 80,000 covered square meters, is dominated by a seventy-meter-high central chimney and an orderly series of warehouses characterized by eight-pointed terracotta decorations.
Crespi d’Adda – Video Walter Carrera
The factory suffered a significant setback in 1929entering a slow and gradual decline due to the economic crisis and the textile sector. Although various manufacturing companies maintained its activity from the 1930s to the 1970s, this definitively shuts down its engines in 2003marking the end of an era. A victim of degradation, the village of Crespi d’Adda has been rediscovered and enhanced since the 1990s thanks to a cultural revaluation project. The initiative, promoted by young university students (Enzo Galbiati, Andrea Biffi, Emilio Cornelli, Roberto Pedroncelli and Giorgio Ravasio) and supported by the community and local institutions, led to the inclusion of the village in the World Heritage List dell’UNESCO in 1995.
Recognized as one of the most significant industrial archaeology sites (third in Lombardy and fifth in the world), the workers’ village of Crespi d’Adda tells an important story in the social, economic and cultural history of our country. Emblem of the predominant philosophy among enlightened industrialists towards their workers, it is not only the guardian of historical memory, but also a place in constant evolution. projected towards the future thanks to new projects that keep its identity alive.
Since 2013, the year of the acquisition by the Bergamo entrepreneur Antonio Percassithe factory is undergoing careful restoration, approved by the Superintendence of Architectural and Cultural Heritage. It will soon become the operational headquarters of the group’s companies, hosting offices and laboratories dedicated to production and cultural activities, including a campus dedicated to innovation and art, also open to external partners, complete with a museum and exhibition spaces accessible to the public. This intervention will give the historic complex a new life, bringing work back to the center after years of inactivity.
GUIDED TOURS AND THE MUSEUM
The town, which has remained almost unchanged over time, is still home to a community of approximately three hundred peoplemostly descendants of those who lived in the village or worked there in the big factory. Visitors can immerse themselves in the stories of these families and relive their daily lives 150 years ago by participating in the guided tours organized by the Crespi d’Adda Association. These trails offer the opportunity to explore the village and the factory, as well as visiting the historical archive and the small multimedia museum set up inside the STI Nursery School building – today Unesco Visitor Centre – thanks to the precious participation of the same Crespese community that has made available materials, stories and period photos. It is It is also possible to access the nearby hydroelectric power planta jewel of industrial archaeology, founded in 1909 to meet the needs energy of the cotton mill and the village, now renovated and functioning.
dove: 18, 24042 Capriate San Gervasio BG
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