Manifattura Tabacchi

In Borgo Sacco, the long façade and tall brick chimney of the former state tobacco factory recall the workers—mostly women, known as zigherane—whose labour shaped the quarter. After tobacco production ended, the complex was redeveloped as a green innovation hub.

Why it matters

The Manifattura opened in 1854 as a state tobacco factory; its operator describes it as one of the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s largest production plants. By the end of the nineteenth century more than a thousand people worked here, most of them women remembered as the zigherane, whose work forms part of Borgo Sacco’s industrial history. The factory shaped the district beyond its walls: the women championed the first company nursery in Trentino in 1924 and even taxed themselves to fund a bridge over the Leno that shortened their walk to work.

What to notice

The nineteenth-century core has a long façade and a tall chimney; later pavilions and warehouses record the factory’s expansion. The Be Factory, designed in collaboration with Kengo Kuma’s studio and begun in 2017, contrasts with the older brick buildings through its use of wood and glass and its extensive green roof. The two phases of construction place the site’s industrial past beside its later redevelopment.

Context and history

After cigarette production ended, the complex was redeveloped as Progetto Manifattura, a green innovation hub associated with the regional development agency Trentino Sviluppo. The project combines the historic factory buildings with new sustainable-technology facilities, while the workers known as zigherane remain part of Borgo Sacco’s industrial history.