The Paper Museum in Toscolano reopens
La Valle delle Cartiere (Paper Mill Valley) in Toscolano Maderno is a one of a kind place, where nature inextricably blends with the history of man. Since the fourteenth century, the valley has been home to a renowned and flourishing paper tradition which, through many historical periods, has reached the present day.
The tale of this centuries-old adventure finds a new home in the Paper Museum, in the heart of the Paper Mill Valley. Set up in the ancient Maina Inferiore paper mill (which was active from the 15th century until 1962, then fully restored in 2007), the museum leads the visitor on a journey through time, to discover the history of paper.
The new exhibition space dedicated to Burgo Group, founding member of the Paper Mill Valley Foundation and supporter of the initiative, stands out among the new additions that welcomed visitors at the reopening of the Paper Museum on 1 June 2021.
The section creates a link between the traditional and the contemporary, telling an industrial story that is still alive and in the making: a story of innovation, transformation and progress. This section has been placed within the museum itinerary, in the large room which houses the paper machine of the 1950s and illustrates the modern paper making method. The new exhibition completes the visit itinerary, combining the past with the present of Toscolano. Explanatory panels, videos, period documents and current products tell the story of the Toscolano plant, the child of the paper mills in the Valley, from its origins in 1906 to the modern era under the guidance of the Marchi family and Burgo Group. The exhibition is the result of a collaboration between the Museum and Burgo Group and brings together the present of the Toscolano paper mill with its roots, that still run deep into the centuries-old history of the Paper Mill Valley.
From the article written for GoMagazine by Silvia Merigo, director of the Paper Museum – Paper Mill Valley.