Preceedings presentation - Paper Industrial Heritage
On the 25th May 2018 at 5.30pm at ‘Oratorio della Carità in Fabriano’, the ‘Istituto di Storia della Carta “Gianfranco Fedrigoni” (ISTOCARTA)’ presented the volume on the proceedings of 1st National Conference on the Paper Industrial Archaeology in Italy – Industrial paper heritage: its history, sites and enhancement, which was held on 27th-28th May 2016 in Fabriano, the “paper-manufacturing city” par excellence and the heiress of paper industrial archaeological heritage, whose origins date back to the XIII century, and that has developed into the industry today under the name of Cartiere Miliani Fabriano since 1782. Two years hence from the Conference, so strongly wanted and promoted by ISTOCARTA, and that saw the participation of professors, architects, historians from the North and South of Italy and from abroad, Prof. Marco Moroni former university lecturer on the History of Economics at the Università Politecnica of the Marche region and Prof. Aldo Castellano university lecturer on History of Architecture at the Politecnico of Milan, expert on Industrial Archaeology, are to present the XIV volume part of the book series the ‘HISTORY OF PAPER’ created by the Pia University of Papermakers in 1986, which has been published by ISTOCARTA since 2013 and managed since then by Dr. Giancarlo Castagnari (paper historian and Vice-Chairman of ISTOCARTA) who has edited the volume together with Dr. Livia Faggioni (Coordinator of ISTOCARTA).
The event was recognised for its cultural and national worth, has been sponsored by the Ministero dei Beni e delle Attività Culturali e del Turismo (MIBACT), and Comune di Fabriano, AIPAI, CIRP of the Politecnica University of the Marche as well as the International Paper Historians (IPH).
The volume (which is not on sale), has brought together influential scholars and university lecturers from all over Italy, who have all contributed to the Conference, with the aim of creating a route-map of all the paper-sites and relating archaeological heritage, as well as deepening the knowledge on the past and present history of industrial paper, and developing the topic of “Ecomuseum”, also commonly defined as ‘diffused museum’, through those realities in the Italian paper sector where a type of non-conventional museum has already been finalised and experimented, which is not surrounded by walls and which aims at protecting, enhancing and promoting environments of traditional life, natural and historical-artistic heritage of the territory concerned. The volume, which opens with a presentation by Mr. Alessandro Fedrigoni and representatives of the associations participating in the Conference, has been structured into two parts: the first part dedicated to ‘La produzione della carta in Italia tra storia e archeologia industriale: i quadri territoriali in una prospettiva di lungo periodo‘ (Paper manufacturing in Italy, between history and industrial archaeology: territorial frameworks over long-term perspective); the second one ‘Siti di produzione della carta ed ecomusei: casi, schedature, proposte di valorizzazione’ (Paper-manufacturing sites and ecomuseums: cases, filing and proposals for their enhancement). The essays are provided with colour images of Italian paper archaeological sites,and with the aim of enhancing the paper industrial archaeological heritage of Fabriano, photos have been provided that were taken during the guided visit which took place the second day of the conference on the discovery of the historical cultural heritage inherited by the Paper Mill of Fabriano, ‘Le cartiere Miliani di Fabriano: il sito, l’apparato produttivo, l’archivio e i beni storici (Miliani Paper mill: the site, production site, the archive and its historical heritage), along with a brief account of the day, edited by Livia Faggioni (Coordinator of ISTOCARTA).
Part of the work published is dedicated to the third volume of the prestigious book series on the history of paper ‘L’era del segno’ (The Era of the Sign), edited by Giancarlo Castagnari, LA FORMA. Formisti e Cartai nella Storia della Carta Occidentale (The MOULD- Mould-and papermakers in the history of western paper)– which has earned great success amongst experts the world over – including an essay by Prof. Ezio Ornato from ‘Laboratoire de Médiévistique Occidentale de Paris’ (CNRS - Université Paris I), who presented the volume at the Conference, and Dr. Claudia Caldari, who acted as officer of Historic Artistic and Ethno-anthropological Heritage Superintendency of the Marche region (presently Director of Rocca di Gradara).
A volume that is unique, in its kind, which deals with a science which is so dear to engineers and architects, ’Industrial Archaeology”, under the perspective of Italian paper, as has never been done before.
