Long before France spun silk threads, Italy had been extracting silk threads from those magical little fluffy moth’s larvae since the Middle Ages. The Italian word for silk in Italian is seta.

There is a long history of silk-making in Como. The reasons are two-fold: the alpine lakes and streams supply an abundant supply of fresh water crucial in the manufacture of this magical fabric; there is an established agricultural presence of mulberry trees–the preferred food and habitat of silkworms.

Silk production using silk worms grown in Italy has been on the rise in recent years. The industry in Italy had suffered a collapse since the 1950s due to cheap prices of silk from Asia, especially from China.

At one time weavers worked by hand on antique looms but nowadays most production is industrialized. Claiming to be the European Capitol of Silk, here at Cristina Linassi – Venezia we choose our silks among the nearly 1000 companies in the Como silk industry: Italian fashionistas should be happy to know that.