Among the ancient wool mills still surviving in Thiene, which have given the art of wool processing its industrial character by promoting the economic, social and demographic development of the small town, attention should be given to the one belonging to the Ferrarin family. The nineteenth/twentieth-century central building retains some strong signs of good architectonic quality, even though the productive structure has been continually modernised and enlarged. A particular feature of the company, which is the same for the Conte Wool Mill in Schio and the Marzotto Wool Mill in Valdagno, is that the management has jealously been maintained by the same family, who were initially dedicated to agriculture in the outskirts of Vicenza, and then towards the middle of the nineteenth century moved to Thiene with the specific intention of converting a large part of their landed interest to the textile sector.

On the 31st July 1845, Angelo and Giuseppe Ferrarin purchased the majestic eighteenth-century villa(1) and eight fields from Giuseppe Rossi, previously owned by the Fabretti family (who had bought it from the Farinon family), who had set up a small ‘wool fulling and spinning’ company around 1830, and exploited the water energy of the nearby municipal Canal at the northern corner of the old town walls.

The historical sources of the time record that at the beginning the Ferrarin factory only produced good quality yarn, which was appreciated during the ‘first exhibition of primary agricultural produce, industrial products, and the fine arts of the province of Vicenza’ held in Vicenza on the 15th August 1855. Weaving was introduced at a later date taking advantage of the favourable economic situation following the abolition of customs control between the states of the Po Plain.

By 1866, the small factory had become completely mechanised and in 1869-70 it was mentioned by the historian Errera as one of the five most important factories in Thiene, having mechanical looms - some of which were Jacquard - using Italian and American wool, and employing ten male and two female workers.
However, it was still a rather modest company when compared with other contemporary textile factories in Schio, in particular the Rossi Wool Mill.

The specific industrial development of the Ferrarin factory took place between the last decades of the last century and the beginning of the twentieth century, coinciding with the general economic recovery of the newly constituted Italian State.
The two centres of the factory (spinning and weaving) which can be recognised on a map of 1884, were still rather modest, while between 1888 and 1890 they became substantially developed and had 500 spindles, 50 looms, 2 hydraulic engines, 81 employees, and even had night shifts thanks to paraffin oil lighting.
Headed paper, maps and photographs of the time give visual evidence of the take off of the wool mill, following the addition of a new factory building constructed on the site of the vegetable gardens of the adjacent villa and the extension of the spinning plant towards the south.

Right from the beginning it was clear that the works were laid out following the horizontal model and thanks to the available land gradually taken away from the owner’s residence, which however remained separated from the production area by a boundary wall and had different gates.

In 1894, the good fortune of the wool mill was confirmed by the purchase of the Scarcerle Woll Mill(2) in Sarcedo, employing 80 workers, which had its plant and architecture completely renovated in 1906 and acquired a charming art nouveau appearance following the work by the engineer Cattaneo from Thiene, when it became the carded and combed spinning centre.

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