The fundamental problem for the development of the wool mills was essentially the need to be able to purchase machinery made in Italy and therefore have specialised technical personnel available without having to pay import duties or transport costs; it is true to say that these remained heavy for iron and coal though this expenditure was in part re-absorbed by the low cost of labour. These observations formed the basis for the creation of the first De Pretto nucleus, after its founder Silvio had worked for the Rossi Wool Mill as an engineer from 1871 to 1884.
In 1884, Silvio De Pretto started his factory(1), at the entrance to Schio near the railway, having eight workers and equipped with Francis turbines, a foundry, a pattern-making department as well as a workshop for repairing weaving loom mechanisms.
The chosen spot was on the Maestra Canal(2) in the premises of the ancient mill(3) which had been used since at least 1595; after which the building became the property of Baldo de' Baldi in the 1700s, then it was used as a ‘fuller with degumming and pile-raising device’ by Alberti, until it passed to Giovanni Pasini in 1850 from whom it was purchased by De Pretto in 1884.
In 1885 the factory covered an area of 250 sq m and the company became a Limited Partnership between Silvio and his brothers Olinto and Francesco.
In 1890 the number of workers had more than doubled (65) and in 1900 the establishment extended over a total of 6000 sq m of which an area of 3000 sq m was covered, and employed 150 workers.
Apart from repairing looms, the factory(4) began producing hydraulic turbines, still in their infancy, and paper mill machines. The motive power was provided by two engines, one was steam and the other hydraulic which produced a total of 30 horsepower. The plant and the employees came from the Lombardy and Liguria regions; hydraulic engines, transmission parts and turbines(5) were manufactured in the workshop for the entire area from the Agno Valley to the Astico Valley.
As far as the relationship with their employees was concerned, the De Pretto family followed an entrepreneurial middle class line based on the Rossi model; for this reason in 1888 they organised a training school, a School of Arts and Crafts, with the contribution of the Municipality of Schio, which remained open for 25 years.
Shortly before the Great War, there were 116 workers, and during the war the machinery was moved to safety in Bergamo until 1919. Resuming work in 1920 was difficult, the climate of protest which lasted for the period of the ‘two red years’ was felt by the workers, and even in Schio the social issue was expressed by strikes which lasted for as long as 20 days; however these were the dying embers, Fascism was just around the corner and even if there was objection to the attempt to reduce wages, the Schio area did not endure the same strike actions as Lombardy. Another serious problem concerned a leap in quality which was imposed on production by the move to construct turbines with over 1000 HP: the time was ripe for the merger with the Swiss Escher Wyss company which had already been operating since the beginning of the century and had been manufacturing turbines since 1840. The De Pretto Escher Wyss company went through a period of great expansion between 1920 and 1933: in 1932 alone, as many as 1200 turbines come out of the workshops.
In 1933 Silvio De Pretto died, after his brother Olinto whose tragic death in 1921 had caused him great suffering; in 1950 the ancient original mill was demolished to make room for new sheds(6).
In 1969 the DP-EW company went into partnership with Sulzer, a large Swiss industrial group.
Finally, as recently as 1992, the company merged with the Fonderie Vicentine (foundries) and the De Pretto foundry was moved out to the Schio industrial zone, as its permanence within the built-up area had been objected to for a long time owing to the smoke emitted by its tall chimney. The De Pretto company is presently(7) receiving prestigious orders from all over the world, from as far away as Egypt, China and the United States.