Crespi d'Adda

Cristoforo Benigno Crespi built a cotton mill on the Adda from 1878 and around it a whole town for the workforce: identical houses each with a garden, plus a school, church, hospital, theatre, baths, shop and cemetery, laid out on a grid facing the factory, with the owner's neo-medieval castle at the head of the main street. Workers were housed by family and the town was designed to keep them there. Production continued until 2004. UNESCO listed it in 1995 as an exceptionally complete example of the company towns built in Europe and America during industrialisation, and it is still inhabited.

History

In 1869 the textile manufacturer Cristoforo Benigno Crespi of Busto Arsizio bought the valley between the Brembo and the Adda to build a cotton mill, and from 1878 a village grew beside it with a clinic, school, theatre, cemetery, wash-house and church, planned by the architect Ernesto Pirovano, who with the engineer Pietro Brunati ran its building for about fifty years; it was the first village in Italy with modern public lighting. In 1889 Cristoforo's son Silvio, who had spent time in Oldham in England, joined the factory as director. The Great Depression and fascist tax policy forced the family to sell the whole town to the textile firm STI, and after several more owners the factory, which at its peak employed 3,200 people, stopped production in 2004; most of the houses were sold off, and the village is still largely inhabited by descendants of the workers. It has been a World Heritage Site since 1995 (Wikipedia, Crespi d'Adda).

What's there

• The workers' houses - identical family homes with gardens on a grid.
• The owner's castle - a neo-medieval residence facing the town.
• The full provision - school, church, hospital, theatre and baths.
• The cemetery - graves laid out with the owner's mausoleum above them.

When to go

April to October; guided tours run mainly at weekends and must be booked. The factory itself is largely closed. The village is still lived in and asks for quiet.

Before you go

The factory interior is not generally open and some areas are private. Tours are limited to certain days. It is a residential village, not a museum site.

Nearby

Bergamo lies northeast; the Adda river park runs alongside.

Key facts