Full Description
The remarkable career of the architect Andrea Palladio (1508-1580) is largely due to an extraordinary moment of prosperity in the Veneto mainland, both in the city and in the countryside: a boom due in large measure to a little-studied revolution in manufacturing.
This book brings to light for the first time the architecture of these early industries, especially the production of textiles (wool, silk), mining and metalworking, paper manufacture, ceramics, sawmilling and leather-tanning.
The huge surge in patent applications to the Venetian Senate in the period highlights the parallel technological improvements in both efficiency and quality. Former proto-industrial buildings across the Veneto, studied at first-hand, reveal the efficiency of hydraulic power and smooth-running mechanical processes.
Water-power, a clean, renewable energy source, and structures made of natural, traditional materials, have much to teach today's civilisation.
Contents
Introduction Guido Beltramini, Howard Burns
Preface Deborah Howard
1. Manufacturing and proto-industrial activity in the medieval Veneto by Francesco Bianchi
2. The proto-industrial architecture of the Veneto by Deborah Howard
3. The role of water: A multi-purpose resource by Simone Rauch
4. The typology of water-wheels in the Venetoby Walter Panciera
5. Invention and reality: Patent applications presented to the Venetian Senate by Deborah Howard
6. The Veneto: crossroads between Germany and Italy by Davide Martino
7. Merchants, businessmen and noble "industrialists" of the Venetian Terraferma in the Renaissance by Edoardo Demo
8. Hydraulic Installations and Water Resources in the Venetian Republic: Reflections on the archive of the Provveditori sopra i Beni Inculti by Rachele Scuro
9. The value of oral history byAnna Massignani
Case studies
A. Urban context
B. Water systems
C. Flour-mills
D. Rice mill
E. Forges
F. Sawmills
G. Wool manufacture
H. Silk manufacture
J. Paper manufacture
K. Ceramics
L. Leather tanneries
M. Mines and quarries
N. Furnaces
Film stills by Fausto Caliari
Indexes
