Clay extraction and processing represent one of the traditional activities in the Upper Vicenza Province. During the 1800s, the number of kilns increased to face the demand for bricks, mainly coming from industry and town centre development requirements; however processing was kept at a handicraft level for a long time. It was only after the Second World War that this situation took a different direction with the introduction of machinery which at first operated alongside manual work and later gradually replaced this, until it brought about the contemporary highly automated processing cycles.

Among the many 1800s plants dedicated to the art of terracotta, we would like to draw attention to the SILMA Kiln(1) in Malo. This was built by the Canova family from Malo, and in 1900 became the property of Cesare Marchioro. In 1961 it was purchased by SILMA (Società Italiana Laterieri e Materiali Affini - Italian Company for Brickwork and Related Materials), which still owns it today.
The new site, where the production cycle takes place, is located next to the old structures(2), among which the lofty terracotta chimney stands out together with the nearby multi-storey construction that Marchioro had built.
The primitive handicraft processing system (digging out the clay, transporting the raw material, preparing the unfired pieces, placing the pieces to be fired in the oven, transporting the terracotta to the driers and storing the finished product) which was based on handwork for nearly all the production stages, with the only aid of simple tools, was mechanised and automated during later periods.
This kiln specialises in the processing of hollow bricks and pots.

The Trevisan Kiln in Villaverla, which was built around 1869 in an area already involved in brickwork production, is one of the most important industrial sites in the Vicenza Province.
The historical nucleus(3) of the factory with its façade overlooking Via Capovilla, which was probably enlarged during the period from 1890 to 1898, comprises two buildings, one of which enriched by a terracotta decorated gable(4), and features three elegant brick chimneys(5).
The various clay processing phases were carried out in the area behind the buildings erected along Via Capovilla and Via Trevisan, and around the firing plants.
At the beginning of the 1900s(6), as related by the historian Gianna Riva, the Pietro Trevisan Kiln complex consisted of three continuous kilns, one steam plant for brickwork drying, two warehouses for material storage, one warehouse for raw materials, one mechanical workshop and office premises. The workers’ dwellings(7) reserved for the employees stood near the factory.
As from 1905, the company took on the name of Fornaci Venete Riunite (United Venetian Kilns) Trevisan - Domeniconi, which was later changed according to subsequent ownership and management. In spite of this, the old section of the kiln has been kept more or less intact, as the production activity has since been carried on in newly-built constructions.