The monumental mill Stucky complex is located on Venice's biggest island, the Giudecca.
The mill, a majestic terra cotta monument in neo-Gothic style, was designed in 1895 by architect Ernst
Wullekopf of Hanover for Stucky, a Venetian entrepreneur.
In its heyday the mill employed 1500 workers 24 hours a day, churning out bread, pasta and biscuits and
becoming a model of its kind due to the technology employed in its plants and its strategic location for
transportation by sea.
The complex was abandoned after it was forced to close in 1955 due to competition from mills on the mainland.
Various attempts had been made to redevelop the mill, the most recent of which had been underway for a number
of years; the mill was due to be reopened soon. Redevelopment of this huge complex, promoted by the Acqua Pia
Antica Marcia association of Rome, which co-owns the complex along with Banco San Paolo of Turin, was intended
to make it into a miniature city, a big multifunctional centre featuring a large luxury hotel, a shopping
centre, a conference centre and a hundred or so residential units of various sizes.
But on April 15, 2003 a major fire broke out and seriously damaged the remaining mill structures.
The future of the complex is uncertain, though the initial reactions are encouraging: Francesco Caltagirone of
Acqua Pia Antica Marcia has said that he intends to start the work all over again, for he has promised the city
of Venice that he would restore mill Stucky.
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||20th April 2004, 17:00:23