Experience
The district that never moved
Four days in twenty kilometers of valley, where six textile companies opened their own archive and their own museum to the public. The subject is a single one: how a European textile district withstood forty years of Asian competition without moving from where it was, and what it had to change to manage it.
On this page
Fact sheet
- Days
- 4
- Cities
- Biella, Trivero, Pollone
- Recommended season
- March to June and September to November
- Group
- 15 to 18 participants
- Language of the visits
- Italian and English at the Fondazione FILA Museum, with tours also in Italian Sign Language; at the other sites it is confirmed on booking
- Schengen days used
- 4 out of 90, counting the day of entry and the day of exit
- Price
- Quotation on request
→ Request a quotation · Download the itinerary in PDF
Write which institution is bringing the group, how many participants there are and two possible dates. The head of international programs answers within two working days.
Itinerary day by day
Day 1 — Biella. A sports brand born from a wool mill
In the morning, the Fondazione FILA Museum, in the Brand Experience Center on via Cavour. The visit lasts an hour, is by compulsory booking and is free. It tells how a valley textile company became a global sports brand, and what was left in the valley from that transformation.
Visits run on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays, in two time bands: this route is built around those days.
In the afternoon, a two-hour working session: separating, in the story seen that morning, the product decisions from the brand decisions.
Day 2 — Trivero. A company that built the village around the factory
A full day at Casa Zegna, on via Marconi. It is the historical archive and cultural center of a textile group, inside a territory the same family reforested and equipped in the twentieth century. You work on a question an international programs office values more than it appears: what a company owes to a territory it took everything from.
Day 3 — Biella and Pollone. Two archives and a brewery
In the morning, Fondazione Sella, on via Corradino Sella: company archive and photographic archive of a family that did banking, industry and politics. You work with the sources.
In the afternoon, Archivio Piacenza 1733, in Pollone: a wool mill in operation since the eighteenth century, with its sample books. As an alternative, on request, MeBo — Menabrea Botalla Museum, the museum of the city's historic brewery and cheese dairy.
MeBo publishes no ordinary opening hours and no capacity: it is confirmed at the time of booking.
Day 4 — The comparison and the closing
In the morning, team work. Six companies, one chain, a radius of twenty kilometers: you build the map of who buys from whom, and you check whether the district still exists as a system or only as a geography.
In the afternoon, eight-minute presentations and discussion.
What you visit
| Place | What it is | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Fondazione FILA Museum, Biella | Company museum, one-hour visit by compulsory booking, Mondays Thursdays and Fridays | Bookable |
| Casa Zegna, Trivero | Historical archive and cultural center of a textile group | Bookable |
| Fondazione Sella, Biella | Company archive and photographic archive | On request |
| Archivio Piacenza 1733, Pollone | Archive of a wool mill in operation since 1733 | On request |
| MeBo — Menabrea Botalla Museum, Biella | Museum of a historic brewery and cheese dairy, with a tasting area | On request |
| Maglificio Maggia, Biella area | Company archive of the knitwear mill | On request |
Six sites in twenty kilometers, all in the same chain. Nobody sells this territory as a study route, and the reason we do is that six company archives close together are worth more than one famous one far away.
What is included and what is not
Included: admissions and guided visits to the confirmed sites, the booking and coordination with whoever receives the group, three working sessions totalling six hours, the materials, one person from the Istituto with the group throughout the experience and the certificate of participation in the experience. Not included: flight, transfers to and from the airport, travel within the Biella area, lodging, meals, personal travel insurance.
The season, and why
You travel from March to June and from September to November.
January and February are out: the Biella area is mountain country, in winter the days are short and transfers from one valley to another become slow. It is not a problem of charm, it is a problem of how many sites fit into a day.
August is out.
The reason, month by month, is on the Seasons page.
Logistics and capacity
All the sites are within a radius of about twenty kilometers and are covered by road; the group does not change hotel in four days.
The recommended group is 15 people: it is the size that reaches the group rates without going over the access limits of the visits, which at these sites go up to 20. Above 18 the itinerary splits into two slots, the day gets longer and the cost per person does not go down.
The constraint that shapes the calendar is not capacity, it is the opening days: the main site receives visitors on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays only, and everything else is built around those days.
Cover
The program includes an accident and public liability policy for the whole stay. The sums insured, the insurer and the policy number are published once it is taken out and are attached to the contract; until then they can be requested in writing, with an answer within two working days.
Do you want it to count as training, with a certificate? This experience can be built into an Istituto program, with classroom hours, a piece of work to deliver and a certificate of attendance. → For groups
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Let us talk about this route
We answer within two working days with the dates, the day by day program and the quotation.