Workshop: Genoese paper art

The experience

In the Leira Valley, the Apple Paper Museum It welcomes the visitor by leading him into the past, at a time when the migrations of men brought the knowledge of this art: people who came from the Far East and later from Fabriano to our territory, particularly suitable for the production of paper thanks to its morphology, geology, and hydrography.

The Mele Paper Museum is located in Acquasanta, inside the 1756 paper mill, called Sbaraggia, where the ancient machinery for the production of paper is kept.

The charm of this visit is mainly due to the fact that today the Museum is alive: visitors are welcomed by a young Master Papermaker who has returned to producing handmade paper, sheet by sheet, just as it happened in the past.

In every room of the Museum you can relive the hard work of the papermakers and their families and gradually discover how much art was needed to obtain a sheet of paper and how precious it still is today.

The experiential laboratory of paper art

This experience is intended to be a manual activity and at the same time a starting point for reflection on a very important moment in the lives of migrants: the story through a letter that was made to one’s family who remained miles away.

The archives contain thousands of correspondences covering a wide chronological span: from the period of the “great emigration” to the exodus of the 1950s and 1960s. Through these writings one can perceive the difficulty of taking possession by a people of “peasants” of a high instrument such as writing. Writing today is within everyone’s reach, what we are no longer used to is picking up a sheet of paper and writing a letter. Today we’re going to start right here, from the sheet of paper. With the help of the Master Papermaker of Apples, you will make it with your own hands starting from scratch and, once you have the finished product, it can become a precious support on which to write the emotions that your journey of roots has aroused or draw the family tree of your family on a precious support made by you.

The workshop and guided tour of the Museum that we offer is suitable for all members of your family, regardless of age.