• A walk in the
  Old Town Center
• All about the Old Town Center
  • History
  • Altessano
  • Ceronda
  • The "Corte Pagliere"
  • Palazzo Carignano
  • Piazza Annunziata
  • Church of the Nativity
  • Piazza Esedra
  • Via Maestra
  • The "Silk Lane"

THE "SILK LANE"

The 17th-century project by Court Architect Amedeo di Castellamonte for the construction of Venaria also envisaged craft shops and other production facilities.
According to the Duke of Savoy Carlo Emanuele II, who commissioned the project, the construction of what would become the “Versailles of Piedmont” was also expected to breathe new life in the local economy: it was decided that Venaria would become a major centre for silk production and manufacturing.

In this sense a large silk factory was planned where the spinning would be powered by the water of the nearby Ceronda river, with water wheels connected to the spinning machines.

To this end around 1670 a genuine “entrepreneur” – then a pioneering figure - was called to Venaria: Count Giovanni Francesco Galleani, who built an important spinning mill near what is today via Battisti.

Thus the silk industry started to blossom, with new factories cropping up everywhere in the area. Some were short lived, while others would remain in operation well into the 20th century. To this day the small town bears in its architecture the mark of its past as a silk production centre.

The "Silk Lane"