Monumento alle tessitrici di seta

The Monument to the Silk Weavers stands on Menaggio's lakefront. Created in 1990 by Francesco Somaini on a commission from the Mantero family, it commemorates the women who worked in the local silk industry.

Why it matters

The sculpture gives industrial labour a prominent place in civic memory. Its subject connects the lakeside town with the textile works of the Sanagra valley, including the Mantero family's factory at Burgatto.

What to notice

The ten-metre stele combines white Carrara marble with bronze drapery. High in the stone, the negative outline of a woman working at a vertical loom emerges above descending folds. The bronze repeats the drapery motif in positive form, creating a contrast between hollowed image and projecting material.

Context and history

The Mantero commission linked a manufacturing family's history with a public tribute to its workers. Somaini used a modern sculptural language to make the weaver, rather than an industrialist or military figure, the centre of the composition. The work joins the economic history of the inland valley to the public landscape of Menaggio's shore.