Presentation

Fondazione Fedrigoni Fabriano FFF is a non-profit Foundation for the history, science and art of paper, created in honour of Gianfranco Fedrigoni, one of the most enlightened and determined entrepreneurs of both the Italian and international paper industry.

The FFF was established on 8 March 2011, upon the initiative of Alessandro Fedrigoni, who together with the firm Fedrigoni S.p.A., acquired the historic Cartiere Miliani Fabriano paper-mill and its valuable paper heritage in 2002. (Today, FABRIANO is a brand of the larger Fedrigoni Group.) The FFF is based in Fabriano, ‘city of paper’ par excellence, and located in the historic buildings of the Cartiere Miliani paper-mill, the only centre of paper production to have remained active for eight hundred years, and still trading throughout the world. The Cartiere Miliani has enriched the long history of papermaking with its own important cultural heritage traditions.  A large part of its onsite property and equipment dates from the second half of the nineteenth century.   In addition, important collections of archival, historical and archaeological assets from earlier periods form part of the Foundation’s valuable treasure to be preserved.

On behalf of Fedrigoni S.p.A. the Foundation not only curates the historic heritage assets conserved at Fabriano but also the Fedrigoni paper-mill archive complex in Verona, Casa Fedrigoni.

The industrial archive represents a place of memory for a community and its territory, a laboratory of inspiration for new products and applications, a path that joins techniques, specialised know-how, artistic expression and creativity.

Objective

Fondazione Fedrigoni Fabriano is a non-profit organization established to promote the study of the history of paper, watermarking and related disciplines, and to foster the development and dissemination of paper sciences and the art of papermaking in its various forms.

Moreover, the Foundation publishes the results of research projects aimed at enriching Italian and international paper historiography, organizes conferences and seminars involving Italian and foreign experts, maintains contact and cultural exchange with universities, academies, museums, libraries, public and private historical archives, independent experts and researchers, and promotes cultural initiatives in collaboration with Pia Università dei Cartai based in Fabriano. The Foundation carries out activities for the conservation and improvement of the archival and library heritage, archaeological finds, moulds and watermarking wire cloths, watermarks and the historic paper heritage of Cartiere Miliani Fabriano and Fedrigoni Verona, both owned by Fedrigoni S.p.A. It also provides valuable advice in the fields of historical, philological and watermarking analysis in the heritage of antique Fabriano papers, supporting the activities of academics, restorers and auction houses.

Since 2013, Fondazione Fedrigoni Fabriano - pursuing the publishing activity started by Pia Università dei Cartai in 1986 and Cartiere Miliani Fabriano since 1964 - has published two series of books entirely dedicated to paper: L’Era del Segno and Storia della Carta, the only ones of their kind in Italy.

Corporate by-laws

The Fondazione Fedrigoni Fabriano, which is non-profit, is engaged in promoting paper manufacturing, as well as studies, research, technological development and the propagation of paper sciences throughout the world.

The Foundation promotes and carries out cultural initiatives in collaboration with the Pia Università dei cartai, the medieval corporation of papermakers still active in the Fabriano area (Art. 3, paragraph H of the Statute). Find out more.

• Corporate by-laws