“With time and patience, the mulberry leaf becomes a silk gown,” goes the ancient Chinese proverb. Considered the noblest, softest and finest of all natural fibres, warm in the winter and cool in the summer, silk is a fine and lustrous continuous fibre. The silk bave consists of twin filaments with a triangular cross-section that the silkworm spins around itself in several layers, until making a cocoon where it transforms into a chrysalis and, finally, a moth.
History of sericulture
Sericulture presumably started in China in 2600 BC. Today, Chinese silk still provides two thirds of the raw yarn that is processed all over the world.
In this historical overview, it should be remembered that silk had already been discovered by the ancient Greeks and Romans in the first century BC, flaunted in the form of precious gowns. In the texts of authors such as Seneca, Horace and Pliny, mention is made of silk dresses, described as precious garments. Since they were considered extremely lustful, these garments were forbidden for men.
Silk fabric acquired more and more importance, throughout the historical eras, since it was considered a bargaining chip between East and West. It was during the reign of Justinian that the first experiments in sericulture took place in the Mediterranean basin; in fact, it is said that in 552 AD the emperor himself commissioned two merchants, under the guise of monks, to master the secret of silk spinning.
The spread of silk
Spain was the first European country to concretely start its own silk industry, followed by France, England, Germany and the Netherlands. In Italy, the golden era was undoubtedly the sixteenth century, when cities such as Venice, Florence and Milan in particular became important centres for the production and marketing of the fabric. Indeed, local artisans appropriated the art of silk spinning and silk weaving, creating splendid patterned fabrics that were used to make garments for the courts of Italy and Europe.
The art of silk in the Como area
In the Como area, the development of the art of silk dates back to the fifteenth century, a golden age in which Italian production turned towards a luxury product, for which Italy is still famous in the world today, so much so that in Europe the expression ouvrage de Lombardiehas become synonymous with precious workmanship.
The production of silk had been introduced in Europe from the East a short time before, challenging the death penalty imposed by Chinese and Japanese emperors for those who violated the secret protecting the techniques used to make this precious fabric.
The Duke of Milan and lord of the Como area, Ludovico Sforza, gave a considerable stimulus to the silk world. The duke forced farmers to plant mulberry trees in the fields, whose leaves are the sole food of silkworms. Consequently, in the course of a few decades, the traditional production of wool gave way to silk. A forward-looking vision that, according to many economic historians, represented the first seed of Lombardy’s characteristic entrepreneurial spirit.
Thus began a process that, in the seventeenth century, made Italy, and Como in particular, a leading district for the production of fabrics with wonderful designs and colours. The industrial revolution in the eighteenth and first half of the nineteenth century marked the spread of twisting and spinning machines across the region.
Mulberry farmers and spinners became entrepreneurs in the most modern sense of the term, capable of creating a new culture as the only custodians of a wealth of knowledge and inimitable mastery. The twentieth century then consecrated Italian style around the world, with Como at the forefront in the circuit of large Italian and international luxury and fashion groups. For more detailed information, please refer to the full article “The ancient but ever new art of silk” by Ratti, now a leading world pl
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