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Biella, an industrial area dating back to roman times
THE FIRST LARGE FACTORIES, INCLUDING THAT OF QUINTINO SELLA'S FATHER, DATE BACK TO THE BEGINNING OF THE 19TH CENTURY.
 Rome (Adnkronos Multimedia) - An institution and a trademark that will be associated not only in Italy but all over the world with the Biella area's expertise and the quality of its fabrics, produced in an area with a centuries-old industrial tradition. This is the aim of the Biella Foundation, the Art of Excellence, launched by the Industrial Union of Biella - to protect and promote the production of woollen fabrics considered, quite rightly, as some of the best in the world and to honour a centuries-old tradition.
While Biella is today one of the twenty-nine industrial districts in Piedmont, it should also be underlined that it was perhaps one of Italy's first industrial experiences, and the cradle of the industrial revolution that took place between the 18th and 19th centuries here and in a few other areas. Its origins are ancient, and even in the Roman Age Biella was renowned for its textiles, and the Savoy laws covering these activities date back to the 15th century.
Then, at the beginning of the 19th century machines came into being, capable of harnessing energy from the water courses that found in all the valleys of the Biella region, and the first large factories were opened, starting with the one created by Pietro Sella, Quintino's father and one of the patriots behind the Unity of Italy, when he managed, in a somewhat audacious fashion, to smuggle into Italy the first rudimentary machine for carding wool from Holland. Two centuries later, they are still at the forefront: in the industrial district of Biella they use the most sophisticated machines and the best quality fibres to ensure they remain absolute world leaders in top-quality carded and combed woollen fabric for clothes (cashmere, alpaca and mohair). This is a productive milieu that has understood the importance of evolving, moving on from the large factories at the beginning of the 20th century to an integrated system based on a number of interacting enterprises: some providing combing, dyeing and finishing services, and working together with the woollen and spinning mills, and those businesses producing knitted goods, packaging and machine-made textiles.
There is a wide range of enterprises, most of them quite small, with a highly specialised and technological output that have taken the place of the large establishments of the past, and that permit the industrial zone of Biella to boast a number of records: with a total of 191 thousand inhabitants, 84 thousand people are in work, and the area around Biella has one of the lowest unemployment rates in Italy (3.8 per cent in 2003), not to mention Italy's highest level of industrial products destined for export, at over 40 percent.
Specialisation and quality, together with an extraordinary capacity to develop and adapt to the needs of the domestic and international markets, are the ingredients which have brought success to Biella. And if the textile sector makes up 60 percent of the turnover produced by over 1,300 enterprises, employing about 25 thousand workers, and a turnover of more than 4.3 billion euro in 2003, the industrial textiles sector does not lag far behind from a strategic point of view, with its 2 thousand workers and a turnover of over 300 million euro, over 50 percent coming from international markets. This sector makes use of machines for the preparation of the spun thread and spinning, dyeing, and finishing plants whose automation and production process control systems are considered among the most efficient and sophisticated in the world, and which are exported throughout Europe, as well as to the Americas and Australia.
This is an industrial area that looks to the future and to the large world markets without turning its back on its traditions and which, indeed, is extremely proud of its history. With the help of the Biella Foundation, the Art of Excellence, Biella intends to maintain and consolidate this supremacy, always building on and surpassing their manufacturing traditions and techniques, constantly investing in research and innovation and developing a competitive strategy based on trademarks and products, and always aware of their final customers' requirements.
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