Industrial heritage museum · 19th–20th century · Galliate

Silkworm Museum

The Silkworm Museum in Galliate, Province of Novara, documents the history of sericulture — the cultivation of silkworms and the production of raw silk — that shaped the economy and landscape of the western Lombard–Piedmontese plain from the fifteenth century through the early twentieth century. The museum preserves tools, machinery, and archival materials relating to every stage of the silk cycle, from the mulberry tree cultivation on which Bombyx mori larvae feed to the reeling of cocoons and the preparation of raw thread. It stands as a record of an industry that was once the principal source of income for hundreds of thousands of rural families in this part of northern Italy.

At a glance

Type: Thematic industrial heritage museum / sericulture museum
Period: Sericulture in the region: 15th–20th century; museum collection assembled in the 20th century
Style: Industrial archaeology; agricultural heritage
Location: Galliate, Province of Novara, Piedmont / eastern Lombardy border
Coordinates: 45.6485° N, 8.5087° E

Overview

Sericulture reached the Po Valley in the Renaissance period and by the nineteenth century had become the region’s dominant rural industry, transforming the agricultural landscape with vast plantations of white mulberry trees. Galliate, situated at the eastern edge of the Province of Novara close to the Ticino river, was part of this silk-producing heartland. The Silkworm Museum preserves the memory of an industry that declined rapidly in the twentieth century, displaced first by Japanese competition and then by synthetic fibres.

History

The cultivation of silkworms in northern Italy spread under Sforza and Visconti patronage in the fifteenth century and expanded dramatically during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as demand for Lombard raw silk grew across European textile markets. Rural households throughout the area between Novara, Milan, and the Ticino reared silkworms in dedicated rooms (bigattiere) as a spring income supplement to grain farming. Industrial reeling mills — filande — concentrated production from the mid-nineteenth century onward, and it was this machinery and the domestic tools of the smallholders that the museum set out to preserve when the industry collapsed.

What you see

The museum displays the full material culture of sericulture: wooden trays and shelving used to rear larvae, dried cocoon specimens, hand-reeling tools, and later mechanical reeling frames of increasing sophistication. Archival photographs show the seasonal rhythm of the bigattiere and the women who managed the delicate work of rearing. Mulberry cultivation equipment, including pruning tools and the characteristic low-pollarded tree forms typical of the landscape, are also documented through objects and imagery.

Cultural significance

Sericulture was the economic backbone of rural Piedmont and Lombardy for over four centuries, and its memory is embedded in the local toponymy, the landscape of pollarded mulberry rows, and the social history of women’s work. The Silkworm Museum keeps this heritage legible at a time when the physical traces of the industry have nearly disappeared from the countryside.

Practical information

The museum is located in Galliate, Province of Novara. Opening hours and admission: check with the Galliate municipality or the local Pro Loco association, as opening may be by appointment or limited to certain days. No admission fee is typically charged for small civic museums of this type.

Getting there

Galliate is located approximately 7 kilometres northeast of Novara. The nearest railway station is Novara (Milan–Turin line, 30 minutes from Milan). Local buses connect Novara with Galliate. By car, take the A4 motorway and exit at Novara Est, then follow signs for Galliate.

Sources & resources

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