Museo della Carta e della Filigrana

Fabriano's Paper and Watermark Museum preserves the history and craft of handmade paper in a former Dominican convent.

Why it matters

For more than seven centuries, paper-making shaped Fabriano's economy and reputation. The museum interprets the town's innovations, including the development of watermarks as marks of authenticity, while documenting the craft as a living industrial tradition.

What to notice

A reconstruction of a medieval water-powered beating mill shows how rags were reduced to pulp. Displays trace the handmade sheet-making process and present historic watermarked papers, security papers, documents and printing equipment. The collections connect technical developments in paper-making with the spread of writing and print.

Context and history

Paper production developed in Fabriano in the thirteenth century, when local craftsmen adapted milling technology to prepare pulp. The museum traces the craft through the Chiavelli period, the rise of the Miliani paper dynasty and the industry's post-war history. Fabriano joined UNESCO's Creative Cities Network in Crafts and Folk Art in 2013.