HISTORY OF ITALIAN TEXTILE INDUSTRY
In Italy the first testimonies of textile manufacturers date back to the Norman period in Palermo, where the famous Royal manufactory of the noble workshops produced silk and precious fabrics with gold and gems. In the middle of 12ct the production began thanks to “La confraternita degli umiliati”, dedicated to wool procession located in Milan convents and it developed into
a prosperous industry that spread throughout the whole northern Italy. The textile manufactures in Umbria, Perugia, has been inserted in the international textile market since the 13th century. Other important Umbrian textile centres are represented by Città di Castello, Foligno, Gubbio and Todi. With the resumption of trades the wool industry gave wealth to the cities that practiced it (Milan, Vicenza, Bologna, Florence) and power to the guilds that managed the various sectors: Art of Calimala, art of wool, art of dyers, and art of silk. With its dedication to trades in the Renaissance is Florence which is affirmed as the center of import and export of weaving artifacts. In the modern age in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the seteries of San Leucio near Naples represent one of the most important examples of industrial textile manufacturing. The textile industry in Italy developed mainly in the north in Alto Milanese, in Biella, in Bergamo and in Alto Vicentino where still remain as a trace of industrial archaeology the remains of some flourishing textile industrie, for example, the villages Workers of Crespi d'Adda, new Schio, "Olcese" and Leumann Village in Collegno. Comasco industry specialized in the production of silk and in Mantua; in the area of Castel Goffredo, they specialized in the production of women's socks and pantyhoses. In central Italy it developed in the industrial district of Prato, the most important the number of textile companies in Italy.
In recent years Asian countries such as China and India have begun to enhance their industrial production by becoming in a short period formidable competitors for Italian textile industry. China is in fact the only breeder of Silkworm and is getting a monopoly in spinning and weaving this material.