EX FABBRICHE RIVETTI E GIUSEPPE PAGANO A BIELLA: INTERSEZIONI FRA TUTELA, PROGETTO E VALORIZZAZIONE

The massive closure of production activities in the wool sector at the end of the last century, and the ensuing economic crisis, left Biella with a substantial legacy of former factories, whose fate remained uncertain. Among these sites, special attention should be given to the case of the former textile plants of the Rivetti Wool Mills, which were established in the early years of the twentieth century just beyond the city's historic perimeter. Recognized and protected for their historical and documentary value, this collection of former industrial buildings includes a work by Giuseppe Pagano, who in 1939 designed the “Pettinature Rivetti” factory. The future for this heritage, concentrated along the same fluvial strip that has recently gained recognition and protection for its environmental and landscape value, has long been difficult to envision. Yet in recent years, the interests of new economic stakeholders have helped alter the scenario, hastening the process of large-scale interventions. A further impetus may now arise from the intersection of initiatives capable of systematizing the industrial complex created by the Rivetti family in Biella with Pagano's work and other 20th-century architecture that characterizes the city.