Crespi d'Adda

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Image:Crespi d'Adda fabbrica.JPG Image:Crespi d'Adda.JPG

Crespi d'Adda is a worker village in Italy founded in the 19th century. it is located in the comune of Capriate San Gervasio, province of Bergamo (Lombardy). Since 1995 it has been on UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites.

The Village of Crespi d'Adda is certainly the most interesting example in Italy of the phenomenon of workers' villages. It has been perfectly preserved (in particular its urban layout and its architectural appearance are still unchanged) and it constituted one of the more complete and original realisations in the world.

Factory and village were built in the late 19th century by the Crespi family (cotton manufacturers), during the period of the first industrialisation in Italy. This was the epoch of the big enlightened industrialists, proprietors and philanthropists at the same time, who, inspired by a social doctrine, wished to satisfy their workers' needs, taking care of their lives inside and outside the factory. The idea was to give all the workers a cottage with a vegetable garden, and to furnish all the services necessary to their life: a church, a school, a hospital, a community centre, a theatre, public baths and others. Founded in 1878 on the bank of the river Adda, in Lombardy, this experiment of company paternalism collapsed at the end of the 1920s with the bankruptcy of its owners, and as a result of the transformations that took place in the 20th century.

Today the village is inhabited by a community which is mostly descending from the original workers. Besides, the factory has worked until 2004, its field of activity remaining always cotton textile production.