Paper Museum in Pescia

Ground floor

On the ground floor, there is a large room with cross vaults where the processing phases that used hydraulic energy were once allocated. In the first multimedia room, a touch screen station and a three-dimensional scale reconstruction of the building allow one to visit the whole paper mill; some videos show all the processing phases related to the creation of hand-made paper: from the arrival of the bales of rags to reams of paper; a narrating voice follows the images with excerpts from the book by Carlo Magnani, Memories of a card maker. A second touchscreen station allows one to discover the museum's collections. The tour continues in the restored Sala dei Tini, where it is possible to witness the creation of hand-made paper by the master papermakers of the Carlo Magnani Pescia Company; then proceed to the Sala delle Pile a Maglio; finally, visit the Sala delle Filigrane of the Magnani historical archive where a selection of watermarked paper shapes is exhibited.

Third floor

This part of the building, equipped with characteristic "windows" with adjustable closures, is called a spanditoio; it was used to dry the sheets of paper made. The spanditoio will host a conference room, an educational room, and spaces for temporary exhibitions.

CCartierLe Carte

The ancient paper factory, called Le Carte, is one of the most important monuments of industrial archeology in the area. It is representative of the typical development model of the Genoese-Tuscan paper manufacturing in the Middle Ages and the entire modern age, both as regards the location, almost in the center of the "paper district" of the Pescia stream, both for the architectural canons and for the ancient equipment it still retains.

Built in 1712, it was enlarged in 1725 by the Ansaldi family who then sold it to Agostino Calamari in 1825. In 1860 it was then purchased by the Magnani family and continued to produce hand-made paper until 1992.

Trivia

The Paper Museum in Pescia is not just a museum but also a functioning paper mill, where visitors can watch master papermakers create handmade paper from rags using traditional 18th-century methods. Guests can even participate in workshops to make their own sheet of paper, following the same process used centuries ago.