Monti Silk Factory Civic Museum

On the bank of Lake Como, the town of Abbadia Lariana has a civic museum of the manufacture of silk thread, an important industry in the region from the sixteenth century. The silk manufacturer Pietro Monti came to Abbadia from the area south of Milan in 1818. In that year he opened a water-powered silk mill, which was expanded in 1869. It continued working until 1934. The local authority bought the five-storey mill and the adjacent building in 1978 and began the full restoration of the machinery, including one of Monti’s machines of 1818. A large waterwheel was also restored. The museum opened fully in 1998. It shows working machinery around the buildings and has displays where visitors can see live silkworms, spinning machinery, thread-twisting equipment, photographs and documents.