Subiaco, paper Made in Italy

We’re in Subiaco, a village that preserves the medieval atmosphere intact. From the Latin sub laqueum, “under the lakes”, Subiaco rises under the Simbruina Stagna, three artificial lakes created by the Aniene river The history of the city is indissolubly connected to the paper. Subiaco, in fact, owes its international fame and its rebirth to the production of this noble material and, consequently, also to the press.

After Lanificio Paoletti another article for Borghi Magazine, the magazine of the villages and territories, the charm of hidden Italy.

Born thanks to Pope Sixtus V in 1587, the Paper Factory of Subiaco, from a small mill soon became an industrial reality known in the whole Italy and abroad, for its production of fine paper. The one produced in Subiaco was, in fact, of great quality, distinguished by a particular watermark, which classified its origin. The Subiaco’s paper watermarks are found in many of the official documents of the Vatican and on precious prints such as those of Durer Noi.

Subiaco: paper Made in italy

Between the 18th and 19th centuries, the Paper Factory became excellence for innovation and for the production of very fine paper. During the long pontificate of Pius IX, it was modernized with the determining introduction of the first continuous cycle machine. After the Second World War, thanks to the wealthy Crespi, the Paper Factory was equipped with a second one machine and a new power station. The fame and consideration it enjoyed in the industrial world, even internationally, led in 1968 to an exclusive contract with 3M Italia S.p.A for the production of a copy paper, the “Action Paper“, intended for the domestic and foreign market. So it passed from the production of fine paper to chemical one.

Unfortunately, the difficulties were not long in coming. The logistical problems, such as the distance from the motorway, and of management, led to a decrease in production and sales: an irreversible recession that will culminate, in the 2000s, in the dismantling of the production plants and then the tender for the sale of the properties.

But the inhabitants of Subiaco did not give up and despite the fact that the Paper Factory is today a monument to Italian know-how, they have opened two centers that have transformed the ancient knowledge into a modern activity with cultural, tourist and economic value.

The Macs, Museum of Paper and Print Activities, and the Borgo dei Cartai. Both, in different ways, tell us the beautiful story of the paper and print that has marked the passing years of Subiaco.

The Macs, Museum of Paper and Print Activities, and the Borgo dei Cartai

A great job has been done by the Cultural Association L’Elice that, not accepting the loss of the Paper Mill and the immense patrimony that it represented, has started an incessant, loving and passionate study of the techniques and the history of their industry, economic engine and organization of the city for 400 years.

The Borgo dei Cartai is a place of making and knowledge, an immersive museum that combines museum fruition with the production of paper artifacts, but it is also a productive museum that assembles cultural experience with participation in work. Inside the Borgo, all the machinery of a perfectly functioning 800 paper mill is reconstructed, with which it is possible to produce Carta alla Forma and paper objects with artisan techniques.