Walking on a silk thread, in Rovereto
Among museums, irrigation ditches and spinning wheels
Itinerary in the historic centre of Rovereto, from the “Museo della Città” to “Colle Masotti” spinning mill.
There is a Rovereto that lies hidden behind the walls of the buildings in the city centre, where the town’s economic success was once quietly woven. This urban trekking route brings back to light the memory of a time when silk made Rovereto famous in the courts of European aristocracy.
The route begins at Palazzo Sichardt, home of the Museo della Città, where in the silk room a rare 19th-century papier-mâché model of a silkworm is on display. Made in France, it is one of the few remaining examples in the world.
The walk continues into the Santa Maria district, accompanied by the gurgling of the Leno stream, whose waters were essential to power twisting frames and spinning machines. Along the narrow streets, courtyards, water channels, and material traces of a productive vocation are revealed—one that profoundly shaped the city’s identity.
The itinerary ends at the Colle Masotti Silk Factory, one of the last surviving examples of industrial silk architecture in the city. It still preserves the Paiari water channel inside, which was essential for powering the machinery. A place where history becomes tangible again, through anecdotes, tools, and testimonies.
This trekking is also an invitation to rediscover a lesser-known Rovereto, where urban, social, and cultural transformations grew around the silk trade. Water channels, spinning mills, archival stories, and workers’ memories together paint the picture of an industrious, elegant, and surprising city.
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