Keeping alive a three centuries old family tradition, the Antica Corderia Famiglia Verona, or the Museum of Hemp Processing and Spinning, is a unique museum devoted to the ancient art of processing and spinning hemp. The Verona Family Rope Factory was founded at the end of 18th century and was active until the 1980s, following the Renaissance methodology applied by the Venice Arsenale rope factory and refusing any modernisation – they even resisted electric light – to handmake both seafaring ropes and nets, twines and subtle ropes.
Deeply rooted in the economic and crafts history of Thiene and the surrounding area, which were formerly ruled by the Serenissima, the Museum offers an opportunity to time travel. Thanks to the efforts of Francesco Verona – in Venetian: uncle rope maker – the last family producer, this fascinating history has been memorialised. The building and the tools of the factory have been lovingly conserved and restored, and the structure is now both a museum and a laboratory, where visitors can experience the whole process of spinning hemp with the original equipment.