Curiosity

Former Giovanni Bianchi Silk Workshop

Chiffon runs down an absurdly long table while looms clatter nearby. At Via Milano 26, Giovanni Bianchi built a silk business around handwork—before the family moved beyond Como and technology changed the plot.

Address: Via Milano 26, Como
Area: Como, Italy

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Why it is worth the detour

Hand-weaver Giovanni Bianchi opened his workshop here in 1866, filling it with looms and unusually long tables for printing silk and chiffon by hand. The family business later moved outside Como, adopted new technology, and developed into modern export production.

This hidden gem in Como was once the workshop of Giovanni Bianchi, who began hand-weaving and printing silk and chiffon here in 1866. It represents the rich textile history of the region.

The people behind this address

Documented connections, not celebrity trivia.

Giovanni Bianchi
Created here
The hand-weaver and son of weavers founded his silk weaving and printing workshop at this address in 1866.

What else is close by

The nearest places we have written up, with straight-line distance from here.

150 m
Porta Torre
In 1127, Milan had won, and Como’s Roman defenses lay demolished. The tower in front of you is Como’s reply—delivered in stone and aimed directly down the road toward its former enemy.
150 m
Gattoni Tower
Clouds gather over Como, but the street is still dry. Then bells ring and a pistol cracks from a medieval tower—not an attack, but an eighteenth-century storm warning powered by electricity in the air.
200 m
Alessandro Volta High School and Science Museum
A marble Alessandro Volta has presided over this institution since 1832, looking less like a former teacher and more like the patron saint of physics homework. The twist? The real Volta never taught in the building in front of you.
200 m
Roman Gate of Como
In 1914, builders broke ground for a Como school and found that someone had beaten them to the site by roughly two thousand years. Beneath their feet was the Roman city’s main southern gate.
200 m
Church and Former Monastery of Santa Cecilia
In 1339, Como’s defenses needed more room. One awkward detail: part of a convent was in the way.
250 m
Former Royal Silk School
Backpacks, lessons, the daily school run: the former Royal Silk School has found the perfect disguise. Como’s textile history is still here—it just looks busy with homework.