The monumental Corielli Silk Mill(1) which can be seen in Via Cardinale Dellai in Malo, provides the most valuable evidence of silk craft in the Alto Vicentino area. The different structures of this large architectonic complex have been built at various times since 1889 between the Livergon torrent running almost parallel to the back of the main factory and the public road it overlooks. The original main body of the mill ended at the owner’s neo-classical villa(2), as shown by historical photographs and a painting by Cornaglia.
The two-storey building constructed at the end of the eighteenth century orthogonally to the rear façade of the owner’s residence is particularly evocative due to its unadorned geometric lines with rhythmical round-arched openings vividly cut out of the white surface and its characteristic interiors with large brickwork arches supporting the beams of the attic. In 1907, the establishment was remarkably enlarged by the construction of three single-storey(3) factory buildings laid out in the shape of a horseshoe with respect to the main body which faces the road. Consequently the internal courtyard(4), which is formed by the three lesser constructions, takes on the aspect of a cloister, introduced by a wide portico(5) and having a series of brick pilaster strips and large windowed openings(6) also outlined in brickwork. The edifice in Via Cardinale Dellai is stylistically closer to other industrial buildings in the area, as is shown by the lowered flat-arched windows, the terracotta pilaster strips, the relief decoration of the garret cornices and the majestic entrance portal(7). Thanks to its functional structure and ample spaciousness, today the silk mill houses the Fancon carpentry shop(8), while the owner’s villa, which was purchased by the municipality in 1958, has been restored and adapted to house the Municipal Library and the Museum(9) of the arts of silk-making(10) and bricklaying. The company even provided food and lodging for the seasonal female workers, and up to the Second World War had about 200 employees and an international market. It closed down in 1962.