Email
prenota@museosetacomo.com
Website
https://www.museosetacomo.com/
The Silk Museum is located in a complex that also houses the historic Como Silk Institute.
Como is deeply linked to silk processing. The origins of this activity in the area date back to the 16th century, but it was only in the mid-19th century that the city gained a leading role in Europe.
In the halls of this really large and very well-kept museum, one can understand the entire manufacturing process, from the raising of the silkworm to the dyeing and finishing of the fabric.
The most impressive detail of this incredible process was the use of the punch card system, the exact same principle that, a hundred years later, Thomas Watson (founder and president of the IBM Corporation) used to develop the first mechanographic machines.
Similarly, inside the museum are exposed some huge twisting machines driven by hydraulic propulsion systems and gears, that resemble some Leonardo da Vinci's innovative inventions.
Just think that before these inventions, production was so sophisticated and labor-intensive that a worker could produce at most only four inches of fabric per workday!
The Museum has audio guides available in Italian, English and French, and it is also possible to request a guided tour in the language.
