Piazzo spinning wheel

Silk spinning-winding wheel of the early 19th century, located in Piazzo and still partially visible in its original form.

Since the XVII century, a waterwheel silk spinning mill had already been operating in Nogaredo. Piazzo’s spinning wheel also uses hydraulic power to move the machines that twisted the silk.

Inside the building there were three trees all of equal size, structured on 5 floors, just over 11 meters high, which were driven by a water wheel moved by the power of a waterfall in the nearby Rio.

Each tree (machine) could have 10 passes, each of them carrying 108 spindles: in total, therefore, between three and four thousand twist spindles per yarn and twist were moved. We can assume that there were about twenty people employed at this processing phase.

In the building, in addition to 5 workshops, 17 rooms and dressing rooms, 4 kitchens and 2 stables, there was also an incannatoio (funnel) to prepare the thread for the twisting operation.

The internal structure of the building suffered significant damage during the First World War and in the following years most of the wooden structures were used as firewood. Today, one rotating tree remains standing, with the upper part of its frame relating to the twisting machine, and residues to the planes relating to the second shaft. It is a rare European evidence of an original spinning-winding wheel.

The entire complex was owned by the Marzani family until the second half of the 19th century. In 1867, the last male descendant of the family allocated all his possessions, including the spinning wheel, to the foundation of a workhouse and home for the elderly.

The municipalities represented in the foundation could not agree on its use, and in 1898 it was stated that the building ‘is of very little income and damaged, it is difficult for its few amenities, having once been a silk spinning wheel (…)’.

We are talking about a building that has been closed for some time and of which it was not known what to do with, even then. The subsequent changes of ownership and the non-use of the structure led to its total decay.